Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Hot Weather Complainer
watson - Great to see you back. Here's hoping you get a run of good luck for some time now.
piwi - you're on fire! Huge weeks and impressive workouts.
flavio - Nice week. I've got 70 minutes easy scheduled for today...will it be 71, or will it be 70:01....who knows!
Mark - That's a huge week too, impressive. I'm not confident about anything in the next few weeks now. You would have thought we'd have come up with a way to avoid these lockdowns by now. We've had hundreds of cases in quarantine over the last few months but not a single person in hospital that I can recall.
James - Nice week, you're building some very good consistency.
JMac - glad you're okay and I hope the recovery continues. We miss you around here!
me - I'm continuing to build back up nicely. My knee isn't perfect but is handling the increased load without any increased pain. 8 weeks until the Christchurch half - my running coach is leaning towards keeping it at marathon pace rather than 10 secs/km quicker, and may add in a 4km warm up and 4km warm down. He wants to keep it slower so I don't need my usual cautious recovery and can continue on the following week. This is always a target race for me so it will be weird to do it at what will feel like slightly faster than easy effort. Maybe I'll enjoy it more. They usually have plenty of people willing to be pacers but I might enquire about pacing the 1:40 group to force myself to stick to the plan.
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Piwi - I meant to say also that there is some amusing footage on Distance Running NZ (posted by Nick Willis!) of Sam Tanner heaving into a rubbish bin after that 1500m effort. Talk about leaving it all out there!
Steve - nice week, positive that the knee is handling the load increase without any adverse consequences (sounds like a niggle rather than an injury now!).
I will be a bit gutted if this race gets canned as it's basically my 'home' event on a loop I've run probably more than any other person. But, the main game is Southern Lakes, I just need to make sure I get a decent race in before that to sharpen up. There's still Whenuapai half in 5 weeks too though.
Flavio - that was a lucky save on that fall, phew! Glad it sounds like you avoided anything serious.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Mother of Cats
Jmac - !!! I'm glad you're doing better. That's scary stuff.
Piwi - I see how you JUST had to overachieve with the extra 430m. You couldn't just stop your watch and walk home like a normal person?
James D - "I made a point of running exactly 50 miles even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't exactly 50 miles" - makes total sense - it's runner logic.
Marky_Mark - fingers crossed that you get to race.
Watson - sounds like you are making more good progress on the shoulder. I hope your race goes also.
Flavio - glad the fall wasn't much worse.
It's funny...I have a background in horse riding so I've obviously fallen off a horse quite a few times (if you ride, you fall). I find falling while running a bit more jarring, to be honest. When you fall from a horse, you usually have enough air time to tuck into a ball, drop a shoulder, and basically set yourself up to not be hurt. If you fall while running, there's no prep time. You're just up and then down.
Steve - pacing a group sounds like a really good way to commit yourself to the specified pace. And you get some karma points also.
***
My week:
59 miles, 1500 yards swimming, and 2 hours of pool-running
M: 50 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.
T: 12 miles, including 7 Iwo Jima hill repeats (2:00 up, 90 second jog, 25 second stride, 75 second jog). Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming
W: 10 miles very easy (9:28) and streaming yoga.
Th: 50 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.
F: 12 miles on Fluffy the treadmill including an alternation tempo workout that mixed six 4 minute segments at 6:54 pace with five 1 minute segments at 6:36 pace for 29 minutes of continuous work. Full recovery and then 4x30 seconds at mile effort with 90 second jog in between. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming
Sa: 10.5 miles very easy (9:22) drills, 2 hill strides, followed with streaming yoga.
Su: 14 miles progressive on Fluffy the treadmill, split as first 5 averaging 9:12, next 5 averaging 7:52, next 4 averaging 7:10, and then a ~.5 mile cooldown. Followed with streaming yoga, injury prevention stuff, and 500 yards recovery swimming + 20 minutes pool-running.
I tried the alternation workout again on Friday - this time with only 1 minute faster and 4 minutes slower. That felt just about right - challenging but doable. It was fascinating how it felt like a relief to bump up to 6:36 pace, and much harder to drop down to 6:55 and hold it. I'm pretty sure that's due to lack of aerobic fitness - it's just easier to run a bit faster and let my anaerobic system take on some of the work.
Also notable that my HR did not change at ALL during the pace changes - another indication of a lack of development, I think - I just don't recover when I back off of the pace slightly.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
My week started strong and just petered out. The cold & wind (regular windchill of -15 - -25F) is simply brutal and while slathering vasoline over my face helps a lot, the joy of running has been stripped away and it feels like a chore. Add onto that some heavy work stress and I think I'll be taking the first half of this week really as well.
Mon - morning 30' min shake out run + 20 min bike + 15 min bodyweight strength work. Noontime Fartlek 1-2-3-2-1 + 10 min steady went well if judged by effort but there's so much snow and ice on the ground that's really the only choice.
Tue - First day the cold really got to me, skipped the morning run and just did 15 min on the bike before work. Noontime I did an easy 65 min jog + 8 minutes of drills and some mobility work. I swam a mile in the evening and felt really good.
Wed - 30 min EZ + 15 min plyometrics (hill sprints + box jumps + burpees). Noontime - 3x ~mile on 2 min recoveries for a total of 6 miles and a 25 minute cooldown ride.
Thur - My usual club run / lake loop... there was soo much snow it was absurdly slow. Kept the HR under control by hiking some hills at the end. relaxed KM swim in the afternoon.
Fri - 25 min EZ jog
Sat - 90 min jog with a buddy or I would have been done at 20 minutes. HR was really high really early.
Sun - 30 min jog. HR was once again high and I just couldn't settle into a truly easy pace.
52 miles / 8.25 hours running
1 hour cycling
1 hour swimming
53 min of drills/strength/plyo/shoveling
That's over 10 hours so that's a win, I just want warm weather.
Will catch up with the rest of you after I do some work.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
JMac- That's rough, glad you're recovering
Watson welcome back! I'm jealous that you might get to race.
Piwi Your average pace is awesome now! You need to race something!
Flavio - Your tempos are great. I think I'll steal the 3MT10k one. Glad your fall turned out alright
Steve Pacing sounds like a great way to stick to the plan.
DWave - The HR data point is really strange, it didn't even spike with the first faster effort? running at LT usually implies a steadily rising HR, so if you get to a Z5 quickly I guess I could see it just sitting there. As a side note: the 1 min faster / 4 min LT is exactly how Pfitz prescribes it in Faster Road Racing.
Cobra Commander Keen
JMac - An infection that minor isn't cause to ignore all of your step-up-from-imaginary friends here. We need you to do better.
Ok, in all seriousness I hate to hear that, and I'm glad you seem to be doing better based on that you uploaded a run to Strava. Here's to the rest of your recovery.
Piwi - Awesome week, especially the two runs you got to share with Grayson.
James - Well done. You've been doing great with the consistency lately.
Mark - Good week. Looking forward to how that race shapes up later.
Flavio - Good week, and nice save on that patch of black ice.
Steve - Nice week. I'd say definitely see if you can pace. It's a lot of fun if you can get a gig doing it.
DWave - Solid week, and interesting insights on the alternation/over-under workout.
Zebano - Nice week especially with the cold.
RP - Any big news from your end?
I had a bit of a puny end to my week. Workouts on the treadmill due to ice, and the shorter run Friday was on purpose to keep my mileage where I wanted for the week while testing clothes for a LR with wind chills well below zero F - a LR that didn't happen because I finally succumbed to the same cold but that hit my 3x daughters and wife in the past week. Based on how I feel this morning I'm cautiously optimistic I'll be back to normal around Wednesday. I'm quite bummed about this bug since I was quite looking forward to getting in some solid runs in these really cold temps.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Keen 40' @ T is awesome. Good work. At least you got the bug now, and not on say, the 10th of next month. It's a preventative measure.
Thanks, and good point on getting it now vs later. Amusing anecdote: When my oldest found out that I wasn't feeling well she immediately asked if I had a race coming up - because she and her sisters have a bad habit of getting me sick right before races.
Keen great job on that workout. Looks like you were hitting 3.53/km on those. What do you think you could run a 10k in right now ?
Hope the cold bug isnt too bad. Love running with my son Grayson. It gives me a double day too as its later in the day with him.
Zebano big kudos to you getting it done in that extreme weather. Pace goes out the window in those conditions. Work stress sucks. I had a call out last night after midnight which always messes with my sleep.
Darkwave I feel similar on tempo runs where 3.55/km and 4.05/km both feel equally hard. Keep up the great training.
Mark thats funny about Tanner, he looked fine after the race sitting on the track. He started spewing in that 1 hour race with Wilde as well. I see Wilde ran a 13.29 5000m in the weekend and then went over to Kinlock and won the triathlon
Hope you come out of level 3 soon.
Steve I might check out the Christchurch half and see if I can make it work. There is the Tauranga Half in April here too.
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
Problem Child
https://youtu.be/nop1PRMiiPY
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Interesting on the Pfitz - I'll have to reread that one. Good to know I got something right!
Here's the Garmin data for the workout. It's for the entire run, so ignore the fartlek stuff in the beginning and the 4x30 seconds I included at the end. When you look at the HR data for the alternation, it sure looks like a steady tempo HR to me.
BTW, that weather sounds just awful and soul sucking to run in.
CK - funny comment about you getting sick near races. As I recall, you do have awful luck with that.
Piwi - The cold isn't terrible - I just have zero energy and have a lot of congestion - but after a short run today I'm concerned that I might be developing a sinus infection. Pain at the top of a tooth in my upper jaw while running being a tell-tale sign of that. Eh, I'll just treat this as a awkwardly-placed down week. Pace on those treadmill workouts is inflated a bit. While the effort was correct, there's no air resistance on the treadmill to slow me down. I figure I'm in ~39 min 10k shape, give or take a bit.
Darkwave - that is weird. You can even see how your stride length (and to a lesser extent cadence) kick up at the higher pace but the HR looks totally like a tempo. I found with the 1 mile @ MP / 400m at 5k effort repeats I used to do, my HR would generally kick up around 10bpm on the overs.
Zebano - ugh, wind is the worst. Nice job getting it done.
Keen - hope you're feeling better soon - I love your daughter's sense of humour!
Piwi - those young guys are amazing. They'll smash out some ridiculously fast race and then back it up a day or two later.
Will probably find out tomorrow what happens with our lockdown and whether Sunday's race is going ahead. I'll be a bit gutted if my 'local' gets canned, I really haven't had a good run with races after we came out of our major lockdown back in June with 3 of 5 getting postponed, cancelled or run virtually. They likely have a reserve date for it but their calendar is pretty busy through March/April so hard to say when it would be.
Keen apart from your cold you are in great shape. Hopefully you get to race this year.
Mark what shoe did you end up getting?
I picked up some more Zante pursuits for $115 delivered out of Kogan in Australia.
The New Balance fuelcell rebel shoe has a 2nd version out now. The first version is in my rotation. I used it for my 10k time trial. I got them cheap too.
I'm not quite ready to pay up for carbon plate shoes yet so have to use these alternative old school shoes. I still have the Takumi Sens for 5ks. Not sure if my old legs do them justice though 🤔
Piwi - I got the Beacons but probably won't try them until I've worn out one of my current pairs. A few people are starting to use carbon plate shoes for training but honestly I struggle to justify the cost of that. I will probably continue the strategy of using Vaporflies that are past their race lifetime for key workouts and otherwise just using regular lightweight trainers.
Positive news on the reduced alert levels here but given we're still at Level 2, my race has been postponed until March 7, can you please update the table Keen? Cheers.