Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition
RIP Milkman
Congrats to you too!! CFA is definitely very tough. That Level 2 exam was probably the hardest exam I've sat in my entire life.
I gave up on the CFA after level 1. But I did complete all my actuarial exams, so I have a leg up :-)
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
No kidding? CFA is a walk in the park compared to actuarial exams, or so I understand. Impressive!
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"
Hey everyone - will post a bio soon for those who don't know me. But I did want to check in here.
I took 4 weeks off for paternity leave with my daughter (now 5 months old). At the end of that, I really didn't feel like getting back into running, and seriously considered just quitting for good. But a few things are having me come back (plus other thoughts):
1) I am getting zero exercise during COVID with work at home. Normally, my commute alone would give me a good 30 minutes of walking per day. I'd also walk to get lunch, around the office, etc. I probably went from walking 3-4 miles per day plus 60-70 mpw of running to almost zero.
2) I still am not sure how I can juggle work, commute, child, and running. But for now, with no commute, I don't have much of an excuse
3) I still refuse to wake up at 5 am to run. It's not in my blood. It's also not in my digestive system. No matter how much I try, I cannot time that correctly and 20-30% of my runs have to be aborted in the morning. Maybe that can be trained, but I can't figure out how. I also just DESPISE waking up that early.
4) I really enjoyed not feeling that pressure to run, especially on weekends. Some Sundays I absolutely hate running, but it was nice just to be lazy and not feel the need to do anything on a Sunday.
For now, I think I will wake up with my daughter and handle the pre-work child care and let my wife handle the post-work care. That should work for now so that I can run. So given all of that, I am going to keep at it casually. No race plans for now, at all. May give up again if this arraingmenet doesn't work, e.g. she can't get home in time. We shall see.
Yes, I'm actually an actuary . CFA Level 1 definitely was a joke compared to the exams, Level 2 is comparable to the other actuarial exams. After finishing 7 of those things though, I just couldn't do it. That's exactly when I picked up running and gave up on more letters to my name. I'm glad I did.
Cobra Commander Keen
RP - I've considered that marathon (and one other in Anchorage), as well as a really small one that is basically unsupported (water stops are just a cooler on the side of the road) and has a mix of pavement and gravel roads. That one requires a plane or boat ride to get to, though, since it's on an island. Oh, and some years people have to wait for bears to clear the roadway before continuing.
Mark - That little half I've done for the last 4 years has been really hot a couple times (73F/22.7C to start one year) since they moved the race from the end of October to the beginning of October, but that's my favorite race and I'm not going to skip it. I'm definitely looking for more northern marathons in the fall simply for the better chance of favorable temperatures.
JMac! - Good to see you back here again, and posting a run on Strava. I trust things are going well with the little one and your wife. Getting it all fit in takes work, but it's certainly possible. It just takes time to learn how. I HIGHLY recommend running in the morning for this. I was very much not a morning person when I started to run, but that's what it took to make it work and now I've completely turned around on that whole "not a morning person" thing. Of course, YMMV.
I know this doesn't at all fit in with my current plans of training for a HM, but a month before that race there's a 135 miler I'm considering trying to pace someone for. Similar to what I did for a random friend-of-my-brother-in-law last October, only I should be in much better shape for it.
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
Ha, what a coincidence I gave up the actuarial route after the probabilities exam or was it called P1? @Mark: I also thought that L2 was the toughest; it has an incredibly low pass rate and that out of a pool of really clever and studious people that managed to pass level 1...
RP: I have family in SF but me preferring the Athletics over the Giants that's because of Jose Conseco Mark McGwire Jason Giambi Henderson. So actually the pre Moneyball times. And yes I love Golden State but why the heck are they moving to Oakland Rune will kill me if he comes around.
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Problem Child
Mick Warriors are the one who moved. Out of Oakland. TO San Francisco. Then they made shirts celebrating Oakland after YEARS of celebrating "The City" (SF for those who don't know) and I just can't seem to pick a winner, or claim I was a Tim Hardaway or Chris Mullen fan. Only two names I remember from basketball from being a kid. Might as well become a Kings fan. Tickets are probably cheaper or easy to find.
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
Intl. correspondent
Some entertaining nerdy debate about something related to financial stuff I guess...
Mick - Who'd thought that to summon you we could also talk about financial certifications
How's life in Swiss land by the way?
Jmac - it's all about enjoyment. If running was not enjoyable to you then no sense in keeping doing it. I guess you'll now take "Surfing absences" from time to time like Piwi did for the past few years.
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
Jmac good to hear from you. When I joined last year you said the thread was in danger of falling into life talk rather than running . From the above posts it looks like we all do it now .
Hopefully you can get your motivation back. I identify with your morning struggles as afternoons are the same for me.
Early to bed is the secret and get into a habitual routine for morning stuff. Can take longer to warm up.
Mark/Jmac I did have to Google that word actuary
Flavio I think surfing around New York is an actual thing but not well known. Winter would suck
Mick I see Curry had a 60+ point game yesterday.
It amazes me how NBA teams go from 1st to last and the whole trading thing.
I'm just about to head off for 21kms with a guy whose running a heap of those this month.
I tried some 400s yesterday 8x400 with 90 sec jog rest. They came out around 78 secs each. Feels good to try these shorter intervals to build some leg speed.
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 "
Ha, what a coincidence I gave up the actuarial route after the probabilities exam or was it called P1? @Mark: I also thought that L2 was the toughest; it has an incredibly low pass rate and that out of a pool of really clever and studious people that managed to pass level 1... RP: I have family in SF but me preferring the Athletics over the Giants that's because of Jose Conseco Mark McGwire Jason Giambi Henderson. So actually the pre Moneyball times. And yes I love Golden State but why the heck are they moving to Oakland Rune will kill me if he comes around.
Ahh I remember Canseco.
The A's might be my (second) least favorite team because of how dominant those Canseco/McGuire/Henderson teams were and then they followed it up by bating the Twins a number of times in the postseason. The Yankees are worse on all counts however.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Hey everyone - will post a bio soon for those who don't know me. But I did want to check in here. I took 4 weeks off for paternity leave with my daughter (now 5 months old). At the end of that, I really didn't feel like getting back into running, and seriously considered just quitting for good. But a few things are having me come back (plus other thoughts): 1) I am getting zero exercise during COVID with work at home. Normally, my commute alone would give me a good 30 minutes of walking per day. I'd also walk to get lunch, around the office, etc. I probably went from walking 3-4 miles per day plus 60-70 mpw of running to almost zero. 2) I still am not sure how I can juggle work, commute, child, and running. But for now, with no commute, I don't have much of an excuse 3) I still refuse to wake up at 5 am to run. It's not in my blood. It's also not in my digestive system. No matter how much I try, I cannot time that correctly and 20-30% of my runs have to be aborted in the morning. Maybe that can be trained, but I can't figure out how. I also just DESPISE waking up that early. 4) I really enjoyed not feeling that pressure to run, especially on weekends. Some Sundays I absolutely hate running, but it was nice just to be lazy and not feel the need to do anything on a Sunday. For now, I think I will wake up with my daughter and handle the pre-work child care and let my wife handle the post-work care. That should work for now so that I can run. So given all of that, I am going to keep at it casually. No race plans for now, at all. May give up again if this arraingmenet doesn't work, e.g. she can't get home in time. We shall see.
I'll echo Keen that morning runs just fit the schedule better but I sure am glad to be past that phase of life so I can go back to my lunch runs. Nowadays the only time I really run early is to run with someone and that just hasn't happened much over the past year. I'm also a big advocate for taking long breaks where you just run for 20-30 minutes 3 times a week to maintain a tiny bit for your health and then you can ramp up when it starts being fun & convenient again.
Keen - how much of the 135 miler are you planning to pace? 20 miles at 100mile pace (unless they're an absolute beast) shouldn't mess you up at all (except maybe the sleep schedule).
Piwi those were some well paced 400s, you got faster instead of fading, I've gotta learn that skill.
Thanks for the welcome back.
I figured by age 34, I would have gotten to be more of a morning person. I just haven't. I know I need to if I want to run another successful marathon, but it's just not me. On weekends, if I have the choice, I will stay up until 3 am and sleep in until noon. I'm still a teenager when it comes to sleep.
I also require more sleep than most. Maybe I'll start a poll on this. If you had a week to sleep as long as you want (i.e. not just catching up on lost sleep), how long would you sleep? For me, it's 9-10 hours a night, and I could easily take a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. I have a crazy need for sleep.
I also see it with work. You know what my most efficient hour is in terms of work plus brain power? The hours of 9 to 11 PM. That's been one good thing about working from home: I tend to work those hours more because that's when I'm at my best.
So this was all a lot to say that waking up for 5 am runs would be miserable. Maybe, just maybe, I will do it for the pursuit of one more PR. But I'm not going to become a morning runner the rest of my life, being miserable just to keep running. It's not in the cards.
One benefit of the work at home, as zebano does, is running mid day. That is a great solution for me while I don't have to be in the office, if my schedule gives me a 2 hour break in the middle of the day. And for now, I will probably just be following the casual run when you can as zebano also stated just to keep my fitness at least decent, and then ramp up if I can. As flavio stated, this is supposed to be enjoyable. Of course, there are runs where you have no desire to go out, but the pursuit of a PR gets you out the door. But I wouldn't look forward to a single morning run.
Of course, hanging over all of this is the unknown with races. I want to do the NYC marathon this fall, but I don't know if it's happening. I don't really have a desire to run some small town marathon. CIM was great, so maybe that could be an option too.
All this random actuarial talk popping up when the only actuary I've ever known is my FiL.
Zebano - Total distance I'd pace for is very much up in the air. A full loop is ~13 miles, and I could join or leave at either the start/finish or an aid station halfway through. I paced ~18.5mi for a guy in October and the pace was gentle enough and there were enough walking breaks that I didn't really feel it at all. 20-31mi or so wouldn't be out of the question, but also shouldn't be overly taxing given the relatively low intensity.
JMac - If I could sleep whenever I wanted I'd probably fall asleep between 8:30-9 and wake up around 5. Family life ensures that I never meet those bedtimes, though. I will say that ever since I made a couple small tweaks to my diet I've been sleeping really well, and completely through the night. There was certainly a time in which I'd wake up 3-4 times per night for no apparent reason and I simply thought I'd never sleep through the night.
Hot Weather Complainer
Wow, this place moves fast when you are nursing a niggle and can't bear to check in more than every few days...
watson - great to see you're getting back into it. So frustrating for you after all the work you did to get over the hamstring issue, then just when you were back at sub 90 fitness you have a freak accident.
Actuary talk - I almost got talked into going down this road in second year uni by a maths professor but in the end stuck to theoretical maths, stats and physics...before heading in a direction that could get me an actual job.
Baseball - A close friend of mine grew up just outside San Francisco and is a season ticket holder at the A's so they became my second team after a visit. My main team is the Red Sox (I won't try and explain why), but I feel like I cheated because I'd only been following baseball for about 5 years when they reversed the curse. As a stats nerd, I also love Moneyball and have read the book many many times...the movie is good too but needs to be 10 hours longer to cover everything properly.
JMac - I think the running bug will keep biting you but understandable that you've taken a break. I would LOVE 9-10 hours of sleep every night but I think I'd probably be sluggish after that. I'm very lucky to get 7. Running at 5am generally doesn't work for me unless it's a mid-length easy run because I need to fuel for long runs and workouts which means getting up at 4am for a 5am run.
CK - I hope you do manage to find something and get a result that truly represents your ability. I remember when you came second in a trail marathon in 3:03 I think, and to me it was a matter of time before you went sub 3. I was so disappointed for you with your races that RP hilariously said included 4 hours of walking
piwi - That's right, I'd forgotten you'd gone off the radar this time last year - the comment in the opening post about getting you out of lurk mode must have worked!
me - It's now 2 weeks since my knee got sore and in that time I've tried some easy 30 min jogs. The pain was low but enough to worry me so I took 5 days off then had a zoom call with my running coach. We agreed that right now the marathon in April is 50-50, but the plan is to try and manage my way through, unless the pain level increases. So on alternate days for a week I'll do run/walks and slowly increase the run part - if the knee is okay I'll push on and try and get back to marathon training. I haven't lost much time so far but if I can't increase my mileage in a big way in the next 2 weeks then it's over for the marathon. WHY DID THEY MOVE IT FROM JUNE TO APRIL!!! Dammit, June would be fine and I'd have less pressure to get back into it. If I don't make it, I'll do the half in April. I've looked at potential alternatives for a full in June and now Christchurch has moved there really isn't much....except Wellington which for the non-kiwis is a massive gamble when it comes to weather. Beautiful mostly flat course but high likelihood of gale to severe gale wind.
Anyway, my first run/walk yesterday went really well and if there was any knee pain it was 0.25/10 at most - barely registering and normally I wouldn't pay any attention to it. It's come up okay today so I'm far more optimistic than I was a few days ago.
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
Speaking of books, I'm currently reading a book called "Peter Snell and the Kiwis who flew" by Vern Walker which focuses on the beginnings of the Lydiard training method and talks about a lot of the athletes involved, not just the ones we've all heard of. The author was part of the training group who did the infamous Lydiard Loop in the Waitakeres so he has a unique perspective. There's a simple yet brilliant quote in the chapter about Barry Magee (bronze medallist in the Rome Olympics): "Racing a marathon is a matter of siphoning out energy like a miser. The aim: to reach the finish line when none remains."