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

darkwave


Mother of Cats

     

     

    As someone who has done a 9 hour looped race, it's surprisingly fun. I especially liked "throwing down" (everything is relative) the final hour as everyone else is basically sitting down and calling it quits.

     

    Oh yes, sounds like a blast.  Absolutely.....

     

    Steve - I think you're taking the right approach.  Just remember that it's not a bad thing in a marathon to feel good at 13 or even 18.

     

    When I ran my first, I intentionally targeted a goal time 5-10 minutes slower than what I thought I was capable of.  My training had pointed towards a possible 3:05 - I went out targeting between 3:10-3:15.  It worked out great- I ran 3:08 split as 1:36/1:32 -  had a wonderful positive experience.

     

    Did I leave a few minutes on the table?  Almost certainly.  But you're never going to get the first one perfect - you're either going to leave time on the table or blow up.  Leaving a little time on the table and having a great experience are the way to go, IMHO.  Then you can take your experience and push the envelope a bit more on the next race.

    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.

    Marky_Mark_17


       

      There are many who say the same thing about what we do....

       

       

      Fair challenge.  Ten years ago I thought running would probably be boring compared to team sports like hockey which have a team component and a much more obvious competitive dynamic too.

       

       

      Oh yes, sounds like a blast.  Absolutely.....

       

      Steve - I think you're taking the right approach.  Just remember that it's not a bad thing in a marathon to feel good at 13 or even 18.

       

      When I ran my first, I intentionally targeted a goal time 5-10 minutes slower than what I thought I was capable of.  My training had pointed towards a possible 3:05 - I went out targeting between 3:10-3:15.  It worked out great- I ran 3:08 split as 1:36/1:32 -  had a wonderful positive experience.

       

      Did I leave a few minutes on the table?  Almost certainly.  But you're never going to get the first one perfect - you're either going to leave time on the table or blow up.  Leaving a little time on the table and having a great experience are the way to go, IMHO.  Then you can take your experience and push the envelope a bit more on the next race.

       

      My first one went the other way.  I got a bit too excited and went out at probably around 2:50 pace.  Bad negative split but still got a 2:57.  Your way is much better.  Steve - listen to Darkwave and not me.

      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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

      Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

      "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

        Mark you were well under 1.20 half marathoner when you ran your first full right?

         

        Darkwave some would say you sandbagged that first marathon  but you would have learnt alot.

        I went 1.27 and 1.32 in mine with hills in the first half. Needless to say I felt terrible at the end and afterwards.

        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 "      

         

        SteveChCh


        Hot Weather Complainer

           

          Oh yes, sounds like a blast.  Absolutely.....

           

          Steve - I think you're taking the right approach.  Just remember that it's not a bad thing in a marathon to feel good at 13 or even 18.

           

          When I ran my first, I intentionally targeted a goal time 5-10 minutes slower than what I thought I was capable of.  My training had pointed towards a possible 3:05 - I went out targeting between 3:10-3:15.  It worked out great- I ran 3:08 split as 1:36/1:32 -  had a wonderful positive experience.

           

          Did I leave a few minutes on the table?  Almost certainly.  But you're never going to get the first one perfect - you're either going to leave time on the table or blow up.  Leaving a little time on the table and having a great experience are the way to go, IMHO.  Then you can take your experience and push the envelope a bit more on the next race.

           

          I'm really enjoying hearing about first marathon experiences.  Your advice is just what I need to hear.  Assuming I'm a 1:31 half marathoner at the moment (I think I'm faster but the times don't lie), most calculators have me at 3:10-15.  I think if I target that my chances of blowing up and having a terrible experience tends greater than 50%.  If I stick with my goal, end up achieving it but potentially leave a minute or 2 out there, I'm 100% fine with that.  Of course, the weather lottery in Wellington could throw all targets out the window.  Here's some planes landing at Wellington airport, which the marathon course runs past:

           

          Wellington Airport Landings

           

          Days like this are pretty common in Wellington.  Edit:  Maybe "landings" isn't the best title.  Most of the ones I've seen so far are aborted landings

          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

            Steve the marathon prediction of 2 x half plus 10 mins seems to work if a runner is putting in 100kms per week or more for 3 months or more so your more cautious target is better.

            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 "      

             

            Mikkey


            Mmmm Bop

               

              I'm really enjoying hearing about first marathon experiences.  Your advice is just what I need to hear.  Assuming I'm a 1:31 half marathoner at the moment (I think I'm faster but the times don't lie), most calculators have me at 3:10-15.  I think if I target that my chances of blowing up and having a terrible experience tends greater than 50%.  If I stick with my goal, end up achieving it but potentially leave a minute or 2 out there, I'm 100% fine with that.  Of course, the weather lottery in Wellington could throw all targets out the window.  Here's some planes landing at Wellington airport, which the marathon course runs past:

               

              Wellington Airport Landings

               

              Days like this are pretty common in Wellington.  Edit:  Maybe "landings" isn't the best title.  Most of the ones I've seen so far are aborted landings

               

              That’s one of the reasons why I suggested racing the half - get an update on your current fitness rather than just assuming.  I get the be conservative and enjoy your first marathon experience, but you’ve still got another 3 months of training?  You should see some decent fitness gains (assuming you don’t get injured) so it’s far too early to be focusing on a particular goal time imo.

               

              As for possible gales on race day....that is something you don’t need to worry or think about until a week before the race!

              5k - 17:53 (4/19)   10k - 37:53 (11/18)   Half - 1:23:18 (4/19)   Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)

              SteveChCh


              Hot Weather Complainer

                Mikkey- same reason as before. Racing 11 weeks out takes out 3-4 weeks of crucial training. I know what my half fitness is, give or take a minute. And with my conservative approach it’s less important to know within the second what my potential is

                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

                flavio80


                Intl. correspondent

                  Keen - awesome race picture. I’d bet on you as winner if I only had that picture as info.

                  Any pictures from the finish line?

                   

                  me - I've done a silly thing. I've joined Toptal's (company I work for) April running challenge.

                  Top 3 to run the most km-age/mileage during the entire month of April will get some gear. I was actually thinking of ways to base build so this comes in handy. Let's see if I can get my competitive self restrained and stay injury free.

                  The challenge has 70 participants and I'm currently in 2nd place with 12.4km, but the Americans are still sleeping.

                  You might see something silly from me like going out for a 10 minute run this evening 

                  PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                  Up next: no idea

                  Tool to generate Strava weekly

                  darkwave


                  Mother of Cats

                     

                    That’s one of the reasons why I suggested racing the half - get an update on your current fitness rather than just assuming.  I get the be conservative and enjoy your first marathon experience, but you’ve still got another 3 months of training?  You should see some decent fitness gains (assuming you don’t get injured) so it’s far too early to be focusing on a particular goal time imo.

                     

                    As for possible gales on race day....that is something you don’t need to worry or think about until a week before the race!

                     

                    Of course, the counterpoint is...his fitness today may be very different from his fitness 3 months from now (as you later acknowledge)

                     

                    That being said, I like the idea of racing half-marathons and 10 milers all out because I find I get a nice fitness boost from doing so that makes the taper and recovery worth it.

                     

                    If it were me, I'd also be working pretty hard to make sure I had some sort of race within a month of the marathon - whether it was a 10 miler/half 3 weeks out or a 5K-10K two weeks out.  It's just important to knock the rust off before the big day, IME.

                     

                    Agreed that the proper time to worry about weather is a week out.

                     

                    (should also note that Steve knows his body better than the rest of us - if he says that racing a half won't work for him based on his recovery needs, then that's the final word.  I know how frustrating it is when people insist I should be able to do something that simply does not work for me and always results in failure)

                     

                    Flavio - my employer uses to have a steps challenge (not specifically running).  I assumed that since I was marathon training at the time that I would be competitive.  Nope.  I was way down the list, behind a large number of people who were laying down ultra-runner level mileage, but were not to my knowledge into sports much.

                     

                    And then I figured it out - the leaders in the competition were all in regions where many commuted by train daily.  And...if you've ever worn a wrist pedometer while riding a train, you know how quickly you can accumulate "steps"....

                    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.

                    Running Problem


                    Problem Child

                       

                      I'm really enjoying hearing about first marathon experiences.  Your advice is just what I need to hear.  Assuming I'm a 1:31 half marathoner at the moment (I think I'm faster but the times don't lie), most calculators have me at 3:10-15.  I think if I target that my chances of blowing up and having a terrible experience tends greater than 50%.  If I stick with my goal, end up achieving it but potentially leave a minute or 2 out there, I'm 100% fine with that.  Of course, the weather lottery in Wellington could throw all targets out the window.  Here's some planes landing at Wellington airport, which the marathon course runs past:

                       

                      Wellington Airport Landings

                       

                      Days like this are pretty common in Wellington.  Edit:  Maybe "landings" isn't the best title.  Most of the ones I've seen so far are aborted landings

                       

                      I death marched during my first. Cliche "went out too fast" and totally hit the wall. Aimed for a 3:30 based on some long training runs, and went 3:56. I signed up for CIM in December. My first one was the April before. I signed up for it because my wife said "how about you do the local one before we spend all this money to go to CIM?" We were dating and I had lots of disposable income. So my first marathon was for cost savings.

                       

                      https://youtu.be/3ItnxJLAOeY

                       

                      Pretty much this. It was an out and back course in town I'd never run before race day. At the turn around I thought "I HAVE TWO MORE HOURS OF RUNNING?!?!?! THATS SO LONG!?!?!"

                      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

                      Running Problem


                      Problem Child

                        https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/745358713

                        Back then my race stories were more concise.

                         

                        Goal pace for 7 miles. Hills killed me. Gatorade mile 5 cramped my stomach. Watered GU didn't help much. Good first half. Started walking water stations and during Mile 17. Much more demanding than any training I'd done. Feet extremely sore after the race. Ran out of water and refilled at mile 21. very tough hilly course coming back.

                         

                        Laps Time Cumulative Time Distance Avg Pace Avg HR
                        1 8:03.2 8:03.2 1.00 8:03 176
                        2 8:01.6 16:05 1.00 8:02 171
                        3 7:54.4 23:59 1.00 7:54 171
                        4 7:52.6 31:52 1.00 7:53 172
                        5 7:57.5 39:49 1.00 7:57 173
                        6 7:56.6 47:46 1.00 7:57 172
                        7 8:13.6 56:00 1.00 8:14 172
                        8 8:02.9 1:04:02 1.00 8:03 173
                        9 9:17.2 1:13:20 1.00 9:17 173
                        10 8:08.1 1:21:28 1.00 8:08 172
                        11 8:34.7 1:30:02 1.00 8:35 171
                        12 9:15.2 1:39:18 1.00 9:15 172
                        13 8:36.0 1:47:54 1.00 8:36 172
                        14 9:21.1 1:57:15 1.00 9:21 170
                        15 8:38.4 2:05:53 1.00 8:38 172
                        16 8:36.5 2:14:30 1.00 8:36 169
                        17 8:54.8 2:23:24 1.00 8:55 162
                        18 9:49.7 2:33:14 1.00 9:50 161
                        19 8:32.8 2:41:47 1.00 8:33 164
                        20 10:37 2:52:24 1.00 10:37 155
                        21 10:05 3:02:29 1.00 10:05 150
                        22 10:49 3:13:17 1.00 10:49 157
                        23 9:29.1 3:22:46 1.00 9:29 156
                        24 12:06 3:34:53 1.00 12:06 143
                        25 10:10 3:45:03 1.00 10:10 150
                        26 9:27.6 3:54:30 1.00 9:28 157
                        27 2:14.8 3:56:45

                        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

                        zebano


                          DW - Type II fun is the best sort of fun.

                           

                          Piwi  - That's still a respectable first marathon even if not very fun.

                           

                          Lets just say that my first marathon involved an IT band injury 6 (?) weeks out and minimal running after that. I ran the first 7 miles then had regular stretch breaks to deal with the IT band and probably walked half of the last 6 miles, finishing in 4:30.  It was awful and I swore to never run another one.

                           

                          Steve - don't think about the white elephant on the course either.  Mikkey's advice is sound, worry about the things you can control, I just always laugh when I get told not to think about something because naturally my mind does the opposite.

                           

                          Flavio  You just hit your big HM and 5k goals. If you don't need more recovery, then a month of higher mileage is likely a great springboard toward your next goals.

                           

                          Step challenges - My work issued one last year but when I read it, only steps during your working hours counted so it was basically set up for the warehouse employees to win. Plus walking all the warehouses is about .75 miles depending on route but if you do that more than twice a day (not at lunch) you start to lose productivity.

                           

                          Speaking of pedometers / trains etc. are the step counts on your watches even halfway reliable? It's honestly a technology I've never paid much attention to because it always seemed easy to game the system.

                          1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                          Running Problem


                          Problem Child

                            Zeb My "office" (state employee) had one and people did all kinds of stupid things to try and "win" the challenge. I don't actually CARE about my steps, but I have walked while staring at the counter on my Garmin and it was accurate within 1 step of a 10 step. I guess a 10% error isn't horrible, but there are a lot of reviews talking about how accurate/inaccurate the step counters. Seems like the ones that are the best give you the most credit for walking.

                             

                            dwave did I read this correctly? Your debut marathon was something like a 3:10 or faster?

                             

                            Flavio good luck on the challenge. A friend has told me he was coaxed into some online running community where you sign up for a challenge, pay the wager ($10 sometimes) and at the end all the winners get a share of the pot. He doesn't know how the website makes any money, and I don't think he was sure how he withdrawls the money from the website account. I said "so you signed up for online gambling? Yeah you're going to run anyways so you might as well make money like you said, but you're now into online gambling. Well when it's $100/week and you're talking about how you need to run 60 miles a week just know it isn't gambling." he said something about not using his money and using the online money. I like your kind of challenge better.

                             

                            wife gets her second shot today, plus a couple other scheduled visits today means I'm probably tapering for my trail half marathon I haven't trained for this weekend. I'm guessing 2.5 hours.

                            https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2641284071

                            Similar to this one. I think they changed the course. I'll have to remember to look for the WELL MARKED turns. Oh and the race only has gatorade. No food like years past. Because respiratory virus and surfaces I think. Maybe cost though.

                            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

                            zebano


                              woof, RP that's some serious elevation! Have fun with that 

                              1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)

                                I like RP's note: Made a wrong turn at mile 5 after North loop, missed the turn to start climbing and missed ANOTHER turn after the Summit aid station. It was awesome.   Good luck this weekend RP.

                                 

                                Keen - awesome picture thanks for sharing. With those speedos - where do you put your car keys??? And most importantly - what is that armband for?

                                 

                                Flavio: I had never heard of Toptal so I googled it. The best was: The company does not have a headquarter. How awesome is that. Are you happy with work?

                                HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

                                 

                                2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!