Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
Flavio still a very solid outing and almost identical time to my last effort but yours was only a time trial with dog obstacles!
Zebano Russell Westbrook is amazing but can be a one man dude and ruins the team dynamics. Adam's has really solidified the Pelicans defense and with Zion they are strong. 4-1 so far.
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 "
Cobra Commander Keen
Mick - Welcome back, and best of luck this year.
Flavio - I ran in the snow (on the ground and in the air) on the 1st, but then wimped out and spent some time on the treadmill. I also have the same view of the new year. I would also take your "not my day" TT time! Thanks for the RR, that was good.
Piwi - Nice week, and thanks for my update on the Thunder!
James - Good to hear things are moving the right way for you. Here's hoping that continues.
DWave - That's quite the list! I bet it took a good long while to get all that figured outAside from me essentially subbing some dairy (primarily skyr, cream, cottage cheese) for the rice/corn our diets are likely pretty darn similar. A cardiologist would also not approve of how much red meat and salt I get. At a physical a while back I was told "well, your LDL is a touch high, but with a cholesterol ratio like this who cares?".
Mark - Nice week! I likely would have had something smart alec-y to say as well if she didn't seem so amused that I was out running before dawn in a snow storm.
Zebano - All running and no chess makes Jack a dull boy. I've had issues at times playing too many correspondence games at once and my play suffering as a result. And I've also had issues with playing too few and not getting all the enjoyment I want out of it. One of these days I'll get the mix right. Until 40... c4 I would have taken a draw at pretty much any time.
Had a pretty good week myself, with the highlight (oddly enough) being a treadmill run. Roads were iced over and hadn't been cleared from snow melting the previous day, so I opted to do my LR on the treadmill. I felt really good and ended up getting 4-5 more miles than I planned on, and only later in the day realized that that run was the first time I've run 20 miles continuously outside of a race. This has been quite a motivational piece for me since I didn't think I had anywhere near the capabilities for that right now, and thought 15 or so would be about all I could handle.
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
Keen - Really good week. 20 on the treadmill uff-da. I'll send you some simple analysis on chess.com but the game was lost for me before c4 because my a-pawn was too far advanced and your king could go attack my pawns while mine was tied to your f-pawn.
My week had 2 goals:
* Time trial (5k - 20:39 see last thread)
* Recover.
I'm very loosely basing my training on a mix of Joe Rubio's Middle Distance Guide with the addition of hill sprints from BRad Hudson instead of the usual "speed maintenance" days that Joe prescribes; Joe suggests it's reasonable to recover for 4-5 days then run a race at the end of a recovery week. I got in backwards in order to avoid an incoming blizzard but I'm happy with the result. I also signed up for my first race, a sprint Triathlon in May, so I need to start cycling and swimming again even though it's not a goal race.
Mon 20 min ez + 4 hill sprints to prime the legs. + 20 min dog jog PM
Tue WU + 5k TT _+ CD = 9 miles. RR in the 2020 thread. + 15 min Bodyweight work + 90 min shoveling 8" snow.
Wed 35 min recovery run. A bit too fast because I was leashed to my pup who was pulling. + another 90 minutes shoveling.
Thur 42 min EZ AM + 37 min EZ PM - legs starting to feel good by the afternoon
Fri 95 min long "run" + 15 min bodyweight work + 20 min EZ spin. The first 45 minutes included a failed hurdle over a snow pile but mostly normal running. At some point I ran out of shoveled trail and went "post-holing" for a mile and a half through 12" of snow.
Sat 35 min recovery
Sun 1:40 lake loop in snow! Tried to stay in the snowmobile tracks but it was just rough going. Wore the pooch out however! Did an 800m swim w/ my boy in the afternoon to kick off that piece of training.
7h17m / 47.5 mi running
20 min spin
800m / 20 min swim.
A good week, if it weren't for how hard today's lake loop was it would be a total success, but it was a nice adventure so I'm ok with that (especially since I'm still in a base phase).On a slightly sad note, if you include the shoveling as activity I surpassed what I did previous weeks even though my running is down. I'm going to play it by ear but the legs feel solid so I'm going to try and run a normal week next week.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Mmmm Bop
Piwi - I noticed on Strava that Paul Martelletti is running round the Auckland quarantine prison camp like a caged animal - 15 miles/160 laps. https://www.strava.com/activities/4557892663
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Keen - 20 miles on the treadmill... that is madness indeed, but well done!
Flavio - it's a bit of a fine line getting the balance right between peaking and overtraining. There's a lot to be said for shorter training blocks, I think. But, you were not far off and that despite some pesky dogs messing with your plans and probably your head a bit, so you should still take something positive from it.
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"
Mikey good on him. I think I would do the same to be honest.
Mark forgot to comment on your week but great job really nice paces. The days off worked well.
I was trying to find where I entered the thread last year and it looks to be a bit later in the year which means I'm probably much better set up for racing this year as I haven't slackened off this summer.
Hi all,
I enjoyed reading when possible iin the last few months. Congrats Flavio for the effort, I agree with Mark, all in, you can take something good out of the run.
Sorry for my absence. I guess I never really recovered from last April/May period when I had a fairly bad experience with what was never diagnosed as covid but it felt really strange (could not breathe at night for a week or so and my legs feel funny ever since). In the last 3-4 months I did not manage to get more than 20-30 miles in and as soon as I try to increase I get super tired and do not recover for days.
But I am trying to get back training and be more present here, so I will start with a quick intro: I am Marco, 37 (38 in Febraury actually) years old, male, married, two kids, a boy and a girl, both aged 9 (twins!!! They'll be 10 in March... increadible!).
I used to be a proper runner in my teens (but not as fast as many of you guys!!!).
My favourite races were the 800 mt. (PR at 2'06'' in 2003) and the 1,500 (PR at 4'22'' in 2003). as I mentioned last year, when I started university I realised that running would not give me a salary, and that I really needed to focus on my future if I wanted to change my life around. So I stopped running, got a couple of university degrees in Italy and a PhD in Northern Ireland. I have been an academic for a while and then moved into consultancy 5 years ago. I started running again in 2013 after about 10 years of stop (during a health check I realised I was at risk if I wasn't going to change my habits and get back in shape) and I decided to run long distances. My first HM was not very well prepared and I finished in 1h 52'. Two years ago I managed to achieve 1h30' (09' ... I know... ) in the HM and 40' 16'' (again I know!!!) in the 10K. In 2019 I decided to add some miles to my start of the year. I managed a very good Belfast city marathon getting my PR down from over 4 hours to 3:25. Then work and travel took over my life and covid (or something similar) took over my body in 2020.
2020 was also bad because I gained a lot of weight (stress and not runing didn't help). I am now way over weight (90Kg with a BMI dangerously close to 29 and a waist over 100). So it is time to stop finding excuses and get back to work, drop some kilos and run more; and I guarantee you, I will try as hard as I can.
My 2020 aims are:
- Make a strong come back to training
- get in shape again
- Improve my body strength (need to get some muscles in the arms as well).
- Increase mileage and quality
My last week was 38 miles, so not too bad. But today I have that feeling of extreme fatigue I have been experiencing lately, so no real workout for me for another while. Just get out and run.
It's good to see all this discussion in the forum, I hope to manage writing more often this year.
happy 2021!
Marco
PRs since re-started in 2013:
5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18)
HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)
Upcoming races:
???
Intl. correspondent
Zeb - Yeah, in hindsight I started too fast, but that’s the design of it. I start at PR pace and either fade badly or PR. I don’t personally care for anything in between as Father Time is catching up to me very quickly and the time of life time PRs might not last.
Piwi - LOL a time trial with dog obstacles hahaha, excellent!
Keen - oooo, that’s really tough weather. Kudos for running 20 miles on the treadmill, that requires a ton of mental strength.
Mikkey - as honorary poster, would you also copy/paste your intro here?
Mark - yeah, it’s a very fine line between peaking and being over the hill.
Amusingly, after my run today my Garmin watch is telling me that I’m now peaking, where as yesterday it was saying “detraining”.
Interestingly, a few weeks back it told me my vo2max was 63 (it’s obviously not) but that was the peak and I’m thinking I was in peak fitness back then.
I then started with the 2h long runs and everything went downhill after that.
This peaking thing is super important and I’ll have to study it better.
I’ve learned that VO2Max work produces results quickly and that I race better when very well rested.
I had a 5 day taper for this time trial and it was not enough. Next time I’ll go for the 10 day taper and see what happens.
Marco - It’s good to see you’re still around. Nobody thought COVID would cause anything other than respiratory issues and the general consensus was that it only impacted 80+ years old.
Though that’s the case for most of the cases, we have now abundant evidence that it also impacts the younger generation.
You are the prime example on this thread, but in MMA for instance there’s been several cases of high level athletes with severe impact from the disease. Leon Edwards is a prime example, he lost 10lbs in a week. While some of that is water, surely he lost some muscle mass too.
Cody Garbrandt is also famously fighting the lasting symptoms for months now.
Recently Khamzat Chimaev had a bout scrapped because his lungs didn’t recover even though he had mostly light symptoms.
These guys are the creme of the creme, top of the top in terms of fitness, strength, agility, you name it. If they can be impacted, then so can us.
Even if you don’t die, there’s enough evidence of long term muscular, respiratory and cardiac damage that can give any of us passionate about running a very hard time.
There’s a thread here on this board for people managing long term symptoms, it might help you out somehow.
https://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/b6aa61a294994cf9bb5925bd3698bd86#focus
Re: the comeback, I’d SUPER STRONGLY recommend that you do not increase mileage much, but rather spend extra time with strength training, to recover the lost mass.
I’d target shorter races, at least for the first semester. Think 800, 1500, maybe a 3000. These allow you to recover much quicker and you can get fitness gauges along the way, like one every month.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Flavio - I have no idea how to peak properly, I just know I've done it wrong a number of times. If you figure it out, be sure to share. That said, I don't think I'd put any stock into the watch VO2 estimates. They seem to be rather whimsical to me and I think they're based on HR at certain paces which given the weakness of wrist based HR, makes it a big crapshoot. I was paying attention to Strava's freshness/fitness score until I realized it had the same limitation.
Marco welcome back. It sounds like you have some unfortunate long term covid effects. My condolences, take it easy on yourself.
Piwi I would love to root for Russ, he's a much more interesting player than D'Angelo Russel. sigh.
Thanks Flavio for the great advice and links! I am not sure it was actually covid. there was no test back then, and when I could have done the antibody test, it was over 6 months after, so I didn't do it. Nobody really thought i had covid and I never really bothered worrying about it cause there was no treatment anyway...
It could very much be loss of training and weight gain... but I will take your advice and try to do my best to get back into shape (covid or not )
looking forward to a better 2021...
Marco good to have you back. What a nasty year you had.
The extra weight will really be making running very difficult.
How is your diet at the moment?
ZEB I see you guys beat the Clippers so that is some better news
Flavio 3.30 1st km is fine for you and where you were at last year. I think it was still a good 1st hit out. A time trial 5k is mentally very tough. Once you have others to race sub 18 will happen.
JT - Thanks for starting the thread and I somehow missed that you were a speedy college runner! If you can put me down for London 3rd October for now as I don’t think any proper races will go ahead in the UK before Spring.
Me - Will be 55 in a couple of weeks time and originally from Belfast NI, moved to London for 10 years and now living in sunny/windy Brighton on the South coast of England.
Started running in 2007 at the age of 41 and ran my first marathon a year later in 3:46. I’ve now run a total of 40 marathons (5 as a pacer) and my 2 goals from 2012 onwards - run sub 2:50 and win a Moose Mug....I ran a couple of 2:51s in 2013 and 2016...and then I had a purple patch in 2019 and PRd the 5k and then the marathon 2 weeks later and finally got my MM which was very surprising as I was pretty stressed out with other stuff at the time! London goal TBD.
Btw, congrats on a great year! I don’t have any halfs planned, but it’s always good to check this thread out. 👍
Flavio - that Garmin VO2Max throws up some weird stuff. It had me as 'detraining' prior to my marathon and then 'peaking' once I was on recovery runs after the race, similar to what you noticed. It also think I am less fit when I am running hilly courses on hot days, than when I run flat courses on colder days. If you had just plugged 2 hour long runs back in to your training then your body is probably still catching up with that too.
Piwi - hehe no worries. Yeah I think you were on 'hiatus' around this time last summer but came back in not too long after that (certainly pre-Covid).
Marco - welcome back!! Sounds like a tough year for you last year, be patient getting back into it!
Problem Child
I remember why I was so intimidated by people in this thread. The abilities of people here just blow my mind. , sub 20 5K is a bad day, 1:30s for a first half marathon, Chess....20 MILE LONG RUNS ON A TREADMILL!!!! Sheesh! My best days are y'alls WORST days. Well....at least running wise.
I skipped all running after 2020 ended. Mostly to spend time with the kid, I kept waking up with a headache focused on the back of my head around the Occipital bone that just made running the LAST thing I wanted to do. I even had some good titles and memes to share.
diet I noticed no one mentioned Oreos. 2 lines of family sized double stuff is my go to. Also sugar free energy drinks (rockstars are my prefered brand) and becuase of this I'm 10 pounds heavier than usual.
Right now I need to get something of consistency going. The "downside" of starting now is my next son is due in 6 or so weeks (I know the day, just not how far out it is) so I anticipate the amount of effort put into running will be limited. It is kid #2 so no one is going to come over and volunteer their time. Plus "due to COVID 19" we might just tell a few people they have to wear a mask.
Marco Don't you usually train for a marathon around March? Belfast right?
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
Mother of Cats
Darkwave - I’m curious on the logic behind wearing the spring board shoes instead of flat shoes for a 5k. I’m sure you’ve written about it before but I can’t remember. If I understood it correctly, the spring board shoes are an advantage on the longer races because they keep the legs fresher, they reduce the impact, while also helping to keep momentum forward. But a 5k is so short and higher cadence, you’d think the flats would have an advantage there.
Darkwave - I’m curious on the logic behind wearing the spring board shoes instead of flat shoes for a 5k. I’m sure you’ve written about it before but I can’t remember.
If I understood it correctly, the spring board shoes are an advantage on the longer races because they keep the legs fresher, they reduce the impact, while also helping to keep momentum forward.
But a 5k is so short and higher cadence, you’d think the flats would have an advantage there.
I get your point. For myself, the Next% has actually felt great as a shorter distance shoe (I've run 5:25 for the mile twice, and one of those two was in the Next%). But I do think it's a close call between the Next% and flats
FLavio & DWave - tough races. DWave, do you often race people or the clock? Just wondering about your tactic of letting the other lady take the lead and do the work. Flavio, condolences about the dogs and I can empathize with starting too fast.
So...my personal prioritization is competition over times - given a choice between a win or a fast time I'll take the win. Just how I'm wired.
To be clear - I didn't let her take the lead - I did the work for much of the race until she outkicked me. I think in restrospect not the best choice.
Marco - like others have said - it's very good to have you back. Your experience is a learning experience for us all.
Flavio - in reading your report, I'm struck by how difficult it must be to run all out when you have to be continually revising your route. I think you'd have been much faster on a reliable route.
***
Belated, but here's my last week:
60 miles, 1000 yards swimming, and 1:40 hours of pool-runningM: 50 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.T: 12.5 miles, including a short workout of 4x400m with 100m float recoveries (about 31-33 seconds) followed by 8x200m with full recovery. Splits were 96, 92, 93, 93 and then 44, 42, 42, 42, 42, 41, 41, 41 W: 5.5 miles very easy (9:03), streaming yoga, 3 miles very easy (9:01), drills and two hill strides.Th: 50 minutes pool-running and light upperbody weights/core.F: 4 mile warm-up and then a 5K race in 20:11 Later 5 miles very easy on treadmill (9:00),Sa: 7 miles very easy (9:15), upper body weights/core, 4 miles very easy (9:05), drills and two hill strides.Su: 14 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles averaging 9:10, next 4 miles averaging 7:47, and then the last 5 miles averaging 7:05 pace. Followed with a 2 mile jog to make 16. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.
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.