Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition (Read 448 times)

Quick drive-by. I'll try getting a proper RR up soon, along with more shout-outs.

Flavio - Bother that lockdown business!

Mick - I do use a Stryd, and have for probably 5 years or so at this point. I love the thing, really. For easy runs I use my 1st power zone as a "do not exceed", even if running harder feels easier. For workouts I translate race-distance intensity to a power number and use that rather than pace. This (along with doing workouts by time rather than distance) helps with doing workouts on roads and rolling hills and keeping the intensity where it should be, rather than trying to adjust by pace.
It's a good deal less expensive here in the states, and I only know of them ever putting it on sale (and even then only ~10% off) one time per year: Black Friday.

RP - Great job on the race-like 5k distance run. Still sounds like a great concept.

Zebano - Thanks! Aside from perhaps having to get up somewhere between 30-45 minutes earlier than I have been I don't think the new gig will interfere with running at all. And well done on the Goggins-inspired craziness.

Okie Half Race Report

My (initial) goal race for the spring was the Okie Half, a second-year race that also served as the USATF state HM championship. A combination of this designation, a very flat course (nary an elevation blip to be seen), and it being one of the very few "real" races since the previous spring lead to a pretty solid turn-out in terms of participant numbers (140+) and speed (winner in 1:10:51).

Having not run much volume (relatively speaking) and few workouts from the middle of September to the start of January, my main training focus was to build back volume, reintroduce workouts, and make it to the race healthy so I could put in an honest effort. For the first couple months of workouts I rotated through a 3x (13x :30 on, :15 off) workout ("on" portions being 3k-5k effort) and 1k repeats at just at 8k-10k effort with 1 minute recovery, changing out the faster workout for tempo workouts (1 hour race effort) during the last month or so for more specificity.

Despite DD2 having the sniffles the week prior to the race, I managed to make it to race day without getting sick!

Race day was warmer and more humid than the weather had been in weeks preceding (~60F/15.5C temp and dew point), with rain off on from the few days and night before the race. Winds were ~10mph/16kmh from the SE. I figured that with the roughly triangle-shaped, multi-loop nature of the course that the wind wouldn't play much part overall, but this turned out to be incorrect.

The race course was on and around a converted civilian airport. From the starting arch the race took a quick right hand turn down a (former) runway, made a left onto a paved rail trail with trees on both sides that first ran SW, made a very gentle counterclockwise (anti-clockwise to non-Americans) turn to ENE, then back North before coming back around to the start area to complete the first 5k (finish line was literally inside an old aircraft hangar). The HM course then added in a multiple out/back section (~1.25mi/2km total) of a different runway (running NW/SE) before heading out on the initial 5k loop plus an extra ~300m out-and-back. Two laps of this secondary loop finished the course.

I went in to the race wanting to hold at least the running power Stryd suggested for the race (300W), thinking that anything around 1:26 would be a good result and a solid place to build from. After a warm-up and scout of the first mile or so of the course I changed into my race shoes (Saucony Endorphin Pro) and put myself somewhere in the second/third line of runners.

After the gun everyone strung out rather rapidly, with two groups of 3-4 people ahead of me and the rest by themselves and myself in 18th place. I settled into the effort I wanted quite quickly (it seems oddly more easy to hold a specific effort in the Endorphin Pros than any other shoes I've ever worn), and over the first two miles moved myself into 8th place.
The rail trail the majority of the race was on was perfectly flat and had tree cover on both sides. I at first thought this would take most of the wind's influence away, but for the mile after the gentle CCW curve in the course we were quartering into the wind and the trees served more as a funnel for the wind than anything else. After that mile the course turned and wound its way back to the finish hangar. The last .1 mile of this was on dirt/gravel with some puddles left over from the previous night's rain, but footing was still decent.

Mile 1: 6:32, 302W
Mile 2: 6:37, 306W
Mile 3: 6:34, 306W

The two water stops on the course were after mile 2 and in the hangar immediately after the finish mats. I skipped the first stop, and the second was set off to the side a bit to where a cup couldn't be grabbed off the table at a run (no volunteers holding cups out), so no water for me until halfway through the second loop.
After running through the hangar we made a left-hand turn for the first leg of the big additional out-and-back section on a runway, which turned us directly into the wind for the first 1/4 of this distance. A turn-around loop that was just big enough to be comfortable (rather than a hairpin around a cone) put us downwind for the next half of this out-and-back, and another turn-around loop brought us back into the wind before heading back out for the rail trail loop.
Just before the first of these turn-around loops I was passed by a single person, and during this section I got a good look at most of the racers ahead of me, though the leaders were sufficiently ahead of me that I didn't see much of them at all. I was also able to verify that I had about a 10-15 second gap on the person who was (now) next behind me. The one person ahead of me who stood out was a man about my height (6'1"-ish) but probably 50lbs heavier than me. Not super-lean, but he obviously spends a good amount of time in the gym. "Surely there's no way he can keep this pace and I'll catch him before the end" I tell myself.

The second loop of the course was largely uneventful. The person who passed me very slowly continued to pull away, I maintained about the same space ahead of the few people closest behind me, and I started to pass the walkers/slower runners in the 5k (which started 15-20 minutes after the half) by my mile 6. I did manage to grab a cup of water off the table this time, though.

Mile 4: 6:32, 315W
Mile 5: 6:42, 305W
Mile 6: 6:35, 303W
Mile 7 & 8: 13:18 304W

I took a gel at mile 6.5-ish, mostly as a way to tell my brain "you're not going to run out of fuel" rather than out of a physiological need for the sugar. Mile marker 7 was just after the hairpin turn-around on a small out-and-back stuck in the last portion of the course. The sign for this was on the left-hand side of the trail (traffic being on the righthand side), and also faced the "wrong" way - meaning the printed side wasn't facing runners when we actually hit the mile 7 mark. I absolutely saw the sign the first time I went past it, but missed seeing it after the turnaround.

After passing through the hangar for the second time it was back to the against/with/against the wind out-and-back section where I was again passed at almost the same point I had been on the previous loop. I also get a look at weight room guy on each of the turnaround loops and he's every step ahead of me that he was the lap before (perhaps 40 seconds). "How the deuce is he running this far this fast with all that muscle up top?" I ask myself.

Back into the tree-tunnel of a rail trail I'm starting to feel the effort more and more in my legs while starting to pass the back of the HM pack without seeming to make any progress on the two HMers directly ahead of me in the race. After hitting the 10 mile mark I tried pushing a bit harder, telling myself that I wasn't hurting quite enough yet and that "it's only a 5k" to finish. Thinking of my missing the mile 7 mile marker the first time around (now the mile 12 marker), I hit my lap button when I passed the sign *before* the turnaround - effectively hitting it a good deal early. Oops. Nothing like messing up the same lap in a race twice, each time a different way.

Thanks to the hairpin turnaround just prior to mile 12 I was able to see that the last person to pass me had passed Muscle Man, and I had gained just a bit on him as well (perhaps 30 seconds behind). Shortly after that turn around we hit the somewhat meandering final mile, and a volunteer who directed us onto the turn for this excitedly told me "you've got a man just up ahead, maybe 10 seconds! Go get him!"

"10 seconds? Don't lie to me!" I thought. Still, I pushed about as hard as I felt like I could this last mile, weaving around more people as I lapped them. I did manage to close perhaps half of the gap between myself and Muscle Man and gap the people immediately behind me a bit more, and finished in 10th OA in 1:26:40.

Mile 9: 6:41, 309W
Mile 10: 6:45, 301W
Mile 11: 6:32, 308W
Mile 12 & 13: 13:13, 306W
Last bit: :39 (6:07/mi, 3:48/km), 322W
Average wattage: 306W

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the result of the race. It was my first real race in a year, and my wattage was higher than what was predicted that I could do (2% more, but I'll take it!), even though I was a bit slower than anticipated (Stryd predicted 1:26:28 - let's blame the weather and wind for those 12 seconds). I fully intended on talking to Muscle Man after the race, but he simply disappeared immediately afterwards. There was a BBQ food truck on site with a free meal included for all HMers, so I certainly availed myself of that (brisket!) before heading out.

Up next: A recovery week before probably just one or two little workouts before an 8 miler, 15k, and 5k in the next several weeks. Followed by likely working towards breaking 18 in the 5k and perhaps jumping into an odd 50k (completely unrelated to training, I know!) before hopefully starting a build-up to a fall marathon (fingers crossed for CIM).

Nice one Keen. You didn't mention anything about the course been long. Did you notice others strava were long?

The gel at halfway is always a good tactic to fool the brain .

Edit i checked 4 others in your race Keen who had it at 21.2kms so maybe your GPS reading long

Zeb - Hope the recovery goes well

Yeah those workouts were copy/pasted from the Hansons plan pretty much.

Next time I’ll likely add a bit more variety but keep many of them.

RP - using that app would require me to carry my phone with me. I have a gigantic phone (Huawei mate 20x), not so comfy to carry around.

The GoPro does have however 2 displays where I can see what it’s filming

I have no idea about the yellow before green, to be honest I never noticed that.

Keen - thanks for the race report! How is recovery going?

Mick - That is hilarious in many ways. There are so many tourist traps and restaurants with bad food.

I’ve learned that if they offer spaghetti bolognese they’re absolutely a tourist trap.

The locals from Emilia Romagna would spit on their plate if they see that.

Apparently Ragù Bolognese sauce (what is called Bolognese outside of Italy) is meant to be had with Tagliatelle, not spaghetti.

I can confirm it tastes much better. Also Ragù is a meat sauce that takes time for preparation.

In our previous visits to Italy we also had bad food experience many times in Rome, Milan, Venice and Florence.

It's bizarre to think there are so many good places to eat and somehow we tourists all flock to the worst places.

By the way I was furious the other day cause we ordered takeaway food and I ordered a Lasagna, and they delivered supermarket lasagna (those that come in a box).

Ok, this is the good stuff  Tagliatelle ragù. Note it's home made pasta, the sauce if full of meat and fat (scroll down for the bad stuff)

This is an offense to every Italian person in the world:

DWave - I do think the rocker sole does play a part since I don't feel that effect at all with my Altras, but I think the plate is involved as well. While I do feel a bit of that same ease of settling into a pace with the Endorphin Speeds it's far more noticeable in the Pros, and aside from a couple differences in upper construction the biggest difference is the nylon plate vs carbon plate in the sole.

Piwi - I had fiddled with how my watch converted distance from Stryd a bit in the days before the race, and I don't think I should have. The distance being off didn't have any effect on pacing, since that was based on perceived effort and power (power calculations being completely separate from distance/pace in Stryd). Most people I talked to afterwards had a distance much closer to the actual race distance.

MJ - As I mentioned above, I think the reading wrong was just due to me fiddling with a setting (that I changed back mid race, actually). I kept messing up the splits after making this change, though, so I couldn't validate the result in real-time like I planned.
Also, I counted everyone ahead of me within the first km or so. Multiple times, actually, to make sure I didn't mess up since I have trouble with math during races as well.

Flavio - Recovery is going oddly well. In the 10 days or so before the race my resting HR and HR for pace/effort were a good deal higher than usual (I had no other symptoms, so I don't think I was sick). Since the race my resting HR and HR for pace/effort are way back down to where I would expect them to be, and I've even been motoring along much faster than I would have expected at easy effort after the race. My legs are feeling great, so I might even do a workout Thursday rather than taking this whole week easy.

Zebano - Thanks! The Ronnestad workout is actually a slight modification of a cycling workout - I extended the rest between sets a bit to account for having to support my own bodyweight while running, instead of the bike supporting me and aiding recovery. It's difficult but oddly fun, which is why I do it so frequently. The super-short recoveries help with spending plenty of time at VO2Max. The first set is quite doable, the worst part is usually the last 3-4 intervals of the second set, but if you get through that there's a good mental boost that aids in getting the whole thing done.
Dear Daughter #2 - you were most of the way there. Of course when she misbehaves that first "D" could conceivably change to mean something else...

Tri nationals - Oof! That could sting just a bit! Good for your son, though.

CK - Great race and thanks for the RR.  I agree with RP that you are due to put it all together in the full soon.

zebano - Thanks also for write up, in theory it sounds easy but having to get up then power down so many times in such a short window would be very hard going.  Lex Friedman is friends with David Goggins I think, and also does Brazilian jiu jitsu so his podcast is more varied than just robotics and science.

Flavio - Ha, no wnder my 70 minute runs that vary from 70-75 drive you so crazy!

Zeb/Steve - that's interesting. I do foam rolling and drills before the run. And stretching always after the run if any. I haven't done much stretching lately though. For Workouts I set them up on Garmin and sync to the watch. I always keep warm up and cool down set to "Lap press" though so I can do longer or shorter depending on the day.

The one thing I can't get right is that I always press STOP when the watch reaches :00, but I'm slow and end up pressing it after half a second so Garmin registers it as :01  instead of a perfectly round (and usually even) minute like 50:00.

 

 

Have you considered just cropping your run after the fact? or does your OCD not work like that?

Keen - nice race.

RP - nice race.

Zebano - I don't whether to congratulate or call in the men with white coats for what you did

I have been very busy, with work, a tech User Group, cricket coaching and exam preparation.  I passed the exam today, and cricket finishes this weekend.  So I will have time to post here.

Shoulder slowly getting better.  Hardly ran recently.  Old leg injuries/niggles have improved, so hopefully time off has helped.

Got a 18km with 1000m elevation race in a month.  I have a 43km with 2000m elevation race in July.  So I really need to start running!