Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition (Read 447 times)

2021 - Year in Review

I think everyone knows the challenges us Kiwis have had with getting races in so this won't be too long.  I started the year aiming to do the full marathon on April 9 in Christchurch but soon changed this to Wellington on June 27 due to some knee pain that cost me a few weeks.  Beyond that, I figured I'd have a crack at a half PB but to be honest, I wasn't looking past the marathon.  I entered Queenstown half but I knew that wouldn't be a PB attempt so I expected I'd have to find another race somewhere.

In the end, Covid restrictions dominated the year so I only did 2 races, one of which was the Christchurch half which I used as a marathon pace tune up (I had an entry rolled over from 2020, otherwise I probably wouldn't have run).  After Wellington was postponed I only looked at doing a half because marathon training with the uncertainty of ever racing is just too much.  From there, the year went:

June 27                  Wellington marathon - postponed

September 12        Dunedin half-marathon - postponed

October 10             Wellington half-marathon new date - cancelled

November 7           Dunedin half-marathon new date - cancelled

November 7           Selwyn half-marathon 1:29:32

November 20         Queenstown half-marathon - postponed (essentially cancelled as the new date doesn't fit for me)

I was lucky that Selwyn managed to run at the restriction levels we had, and I'm grateful to have had a really good race, just missing my target but battling quite a strong wind for about one third of the race.

Because I kept training for races that didn't happen, and often were postponed before I started a taper, my mileage is higher than ever before.  My goal from here is to do the Christchurch marathon on April 10, and I have rolled over entries for the Wellington and Queenstown halfs (I waited to enter Dunedin to avoid another potentially wasted entry).  I will do Queenstown but Wellington is probably too soon after Christchurch to have a real PB attempt.  So I'm looking at either the South Island half in August or the Dunedin half in September.  I'm away for the rest of this year so I'll estimate my total based on my planned runs:

Mileage Totals

2021  3859km (2398 miles)  Estimating the mileage on the last few days of the year

2020  3442.36km (2139 miles)

2019  2331.46km (1449 miles)

2018  2308.67km (1435 miles)

2017  2291.61km (1424 miles)

2016  2796.60km (1738 miles)

 

200 meter or feet? 200-400m over 1.5 miles is massive...

Zebano - I may not have phrased that ideally.  The portions of my loop with inclines are 200 and 400 meters long, not high, so good for steady efforts.  They're not very steep, though the long one does get close to small hill status near the end.  As for the 5K PR, I didn't run much between 1987 and the mid-2000s, and no more than twice a week until about 2014, and the since-1987 PR is from 2017, so not that long ago.  I do find that I have to keep increasing the mileage if I want to improve or even stay about the same, though.

New Thread this way -> Advanded Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition

Hey now, we still have 3 days (and Watson has at least 1 more year)

 We only have a few days left, but this belongs on the front page