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

Marky_Mark_17


    Darkwave - haha fair call on the long runs.  But I honestly think my progress in 2019 was due in no small part to doing more long runs (20 > 25km, vs. 10 in 2018), particularly when I was often battling a big hill at the end of them.  It's a lot easier to dig deep towards the end of a half marathon when you're used to running further than that.  Anyway coincidence or not, I hope that asthma medication continues to do the job.  Really nice long run with MP work too.

     

    Zebano - ah work stress is a pain.  Good week despite all of that going on.  I like the theory about touching on different paces too.  Just remembering the different 'gears' that you have and maintaining them is important.


    Piwi - Dominos barely qualifies as food!!  Haha that sounded snobby but I just don't trust any place that sells pizza that cheaply haha.

    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"

    zebano


      DWave/Steve the balance is what I'm trying to figure out with the  touching all paces. I also figure once every two weeks is probably good enough, cycles don't have to be a week. Those are two great sessions, especially the M paced one.

       

      Dominos ... might need to be this years Gaga costume. Fail to break 20, eat  a whole Dominos abomination pizza. That said, Little Caesars is clearly worse.

       

      Piwi Yes, I'd consider myself rather fit right now.... unfortunately I'm also fat and not fast 😂

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

      SteveChCh


      Hot Weather Complainer

        Steve - tough call but I think the right one.  Marathons are tough enough without compromised preparation.  Wellington two years ago had perfect weather on race day so it does happen.  Depending how things pan out I might do the half down there.  Although, after my August experience, I'm still at the stage of not entering anything until immediately before late entry fees kick in (and booking fully refundable Airbnb's!).

         

        You should definitely go to Wellington!  The half starts 1 hour 15 mins after the full so there's a good chance you'll storm past me around the time I question my life choices.  I've booked a room at the Rydges close to the start line with free cancellation.  There seems to have been a ramping up of preparing people for a lockdown for a single case of community transmission (bite tongue) so anything is possible.

        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

        Marky_Mark_17


          Dominos ... might need to be this years Gaga costume. Fail to break 20, eat  a whole Dominos abomination pizza.

           

          If you didn't break 20 before eating the Dominos "pizza", you're sure not doing it after!

          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"

          Marky_Mark_17


             

            You should definitely go to Wellington!  The half starts 1 hour 15 mins after the full so there's a good chance you'll storm past me around the time I question my life choices.  I've booked a room at the Rydges close to the start line with free cancellation.  There seems to have been a ramping up of preparing people for a lockdown for a single case of community transmission (bite tongue) so anything is possible.

             

            I’m pretty tempted. Not sure what I’ll do after Southern Lakes (COVID permitting) other than possibly club cross country season building up to National Road Champs in early Sept. I’d be tempted to do National HM Champs again but Athletics NZ have yet to announce where that’s being hosted.

            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 last time we were in Christchurch we got Domino's.

              Everyone got a sensible little pizza 🍕 but I was greedy and ordered The New Yorker which was huge and disgusting 😐

              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 "      

               

              zebano


                Mark last time we were in Christchurch we got Domino's.

                Everyone got a sensible little pizza 🍕 but I was greedy and ordered The New Yorker which was huge and disgusting 😐

                 


                🤮

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

                JMac11


                RIP Milkman

                  Sorry for the delay on bio everyone! Here is mine. It was nice reading everyone's and reminding myself of some of the history here.

                   

                  Age 34, wife, 5 month old daughter.

                   

                  Ran in HS, was decent but not good enough to actually be a top runner (most ran 19:XX in the 5K).

                   

                  Barely ran in college, and almost none right after graduating, focusing on those FUN actuarial exams as we all just spoke about.

                   

                  After that, got back into running in 2014 with a goal of running a marathon in 2015. Ran my first half in 1:43ish, almost passed out at the finish. Marathon in 2015, which was supposed to be my only one, was run in 3:12. Decided at the bar that night that I was going to attempt another one, and here I am since then. The marathon is my best distance I've learned, but I still enjoy shorter races. I don't think I'd train for another cycle though for Time Trials. That was fun for 2020, but for now, I'd only be interested in racing.

                   

                  I didn't keep diligent mileage back then, but from 2016 on:

                  1281

                  1975

                  2123

                  2635

                  2212

                   

                  No idea what the plan is for this year. I am very driven by PRs, which obviously is nearing the end of its useful life for me with how much I've driven down my times. Additionally, not sure how I will juggle everything (I'm not a morning person), but I am back into just hobby jogging for now for fitness purposes. We'll see how the winter/spring goes. I really want to run a marathon this fall, but it's hard to know what the fall racing season will look like. I also, for now, just enjoy jogging when I can, rather than being a slave to a schedule, which you almost have to in order to be successful at the marathon.

                  5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                   

                   

                  flavio80


                  Intl. correspondent

                    Mick - Rune had a nasty injury that kept him away from running for a very long time.

                    I met him in San Francisco a couple of years ago, great dude.

                     

                    Zeb - I have made a small tweak to avoid accumulating distance for non running activities. I’m planning on putting some extra time on the tool soon to rewrite it in Rust (which should make it considerably faster), I’ll then perhaps put some time towards tabulating the total distances for each activity type in the summary.

                    Like if you only had run activities it would only show the total for runs.

                    But if you also had swimming activities, it’d show an extra summary line with the totals for swimming.

                     

                    Darkwave - Not sure what is the correct English expression, but I was running while it was snowing and the snow flakes kept hitting my eyes and it was hard to see more than 5m ahead. In hindsight noob mistake not wearing a hat.

                    Thankfully it had just started when I got out running, so it had not accumulated on the ground yet by the end of the run.

                     

                    Piwi/Mark - funny how chains are perceived differently in different places. In Brazil Dominos and McDonalds are nearly premium brands as compared to most.

                    I’ve had Dominos before and they’re not bad.

                    Since moving to Italy I’ve started to notice somethings.

                    - Pizza baked on wood oven tastes better than those from regular oven.

                    - Pizza with long fermentation is more digestible, that is, it’s as good for input as is for output, so it does not make you fat.

                    - sticky cheese is bad for you and it will make a knot of your internals. Non sticky cheese is superior. If you pull a cheese piece apart it should break right away.

                    - ketchup and mayo on pizza are criminal offenses and should be punishable to the full extend of the law.

                     

                    Jmac - Once you're out of the current running funk you will be back stronger than ever.

                    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

                      Italians don't know how to make a decent deep dish pizza. And they dont have the New York magic tap water for a proper Little Italy Lombardis Pizza. Pizza was invented in the US lets get real. Same as Döner Kebap that was actually invented in Germany by Turkish immigrants. I am always underwhelmed when I order Pizza in bella Italia.

                       

                      Even Madrid is covered in snow. Crazy what is happening in Europe but that helps with social distancing I hope.

                       

                      Rune has started running again. So thats why I thought where the heck is he and will he come back from his injury? I love SF; not Oakland so much but someone mentioned a favorit run north of SF (I think it was Steve or Watson) and I am over in the Bay Area every other year and would love to go there and potentially meet up with Rune in Berkeley if he is around (and his doggo, I love dogs).

                       

                      Jmac is only now learning what a badass Mark really is for running those crazy times after being a sleep deprived daddy Smile

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

                       

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

                      Running Problem


                      Problem Child

                        Piwi So if that podcast about sleep makes you think less sleep leads to MORE injury potential it explains why someone like Courtney Dauwalter sleeps for a minute, then ends up injured and taken out for an entire YEAR. I kind of sleep when I can and find sometimes I feel great with a few hours. Lately...with the 7 mile runs it puts me to bed earlier and I wake up feeling older and more tired. Hopefully it helps with base training for a marathon cycle. I can't imagine cranking up my current running to a 70 mile training week and seeing how I'd stay awake.

                        Crossing a union strike...kudos to you. I've never had to do it.

                         

                        JamesD Does your treadmill start at 0 and count up? The one treadmill I owned (old, free, craigslist find) would let you set a time and count down with the maximum being 99, but if I started at 0 and hit START it would just round over, or maybe I have that backwards. Either way it made me think of offering the advice.

                         

                        dwave I'd say the people in LA have less in common with people outside of LA about the same as DC and LA. Heck I even think the people in San Francisco, CA have less in common with anyone outside their (biased opinion incomin) tiny little sheltered bubble of the state than anyone else in the state. I believe they never lost an hour of electricity when PG&E was turning off power all over the state. Something about "San Francisco is too important" so the rest of the state can bend to SF's will. Politics might follow these same lines. DC and Oakland/SF might agree on some things *cough8 KAMALA HARRIS* cough* Chico, or Magalia, CA might not.

                        Oh yeah...be careful with those lousy weeks outside of running. Find a way to look at the positive or you'll end up bitter and hateful like me. I say that in the nicest of ways. 

                        Does YOUR treamill have an upper limit on time? Did you ever get some stickers for it or is that not a thing (putting stickers on bikes/water bottles/treamills/GPS watches) in 2021?

                         

                        Keen did I see you got a Fenix6x on strava?!?!?! I thought you were still a COROS fan....but I guess you've stayed away from the COROS due to other people's problems with them. I was thinking about your strides. Do you just surge up to a sprint for 15 seconds then shut it down? I saw a coyote on a run and though "guess I need a stride" then had no clue how to do it. Also thought I could do it with dogs, or horses, but horses might be a lot less frequent on my runs these days.

                         

                        zebano I think Little Ceasers makes the crust out of their boxes. Their $5.38 (after tax) pizza was a staple for lunch at one point in my life (college) and it was a penny less than a subway sandwich. This was pre-running days.

                         

                        JMac Whatever race you run I hope there is live tracking. It's crazy to me to watch you run and the training paces you it. It's next level. It's crazy to me to see where you're at now, comprehend where you were at in high school, compare that to a D2 cross country athlete I know, and then see what it takes to hit D1, olympics, and all that stuff. Look forward to a photo op if you hit up CIM or Boston 2021.

                         

                        Flavio for some reason I thought it was a surgery that took him out. It must still really hurt him to run because he does a TON more swimming, and his runs just aren't at the speed they were back then.

                         

                        Mick You want to talk about "magic tap water" needed for pizza? I still have an iDip Smart Water toy. I could recreate the water from all over the world when making beer. Want to make a dark beer with the same water they have in Ireland? How about an IPA with the beer from Santa Rosa? It was a fun toy to play with and now it just sits around.

                         

                         

                        My week

                        50 miles. All easy. Mostly 7 mile loops because it is just at a 1 hour run. Getting back to base building and consistency seemed to work well and not kill me. I use the Theragun (I feel old) after a session which MIGHT actually help, but I should probably stretch. Eventually I want to work in some TRX I just can't figure out what days to do it, or what day to start. Mostly afraid I'll end up being too tired/sore to run the next day.

                         

                        For some reason I can't get  Flavio's app to work.

                         

                        Monday 7.0

                        Tuesday 7.0

                        Wednesday 7.0

                        Thursday 4.04 (potential sugar crash so I ran/walked home)

                        Friday 7.0

                        Saturday 10.75 (My wife likes the scene in The Incredibles 2 where IncrediDad freaks out and "rolls with the punches")

                        Sunday 5.8 Mt. Charleston Marathon discussion. Girl I was running with wanted to do it. The finish line area SUCKS! There is a race recap on Strava.

                         

                        Plus a few dog walks. Helps mentally unwind as well as feels like it hits a different set of muscles that running doesn't work. Might help when I get too old to run Sub 3 marathons or I decide I want to start a belt buckle collection.

                        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

                        CommanderKeen


                        Cobra Commander Keen

                          Steve - (this comment a bit out of date) Thanks, and I'm looking for that result, too! Aside from the embarrassment of being passed by people wearing costumes, just about the worst part of that really bad marathon in Dallas was that months later they sent me an email that basically said "sign up now for the next race to see if you can beat your 4 hour 50 minute PR!"


                          Flavio - Solid week. Looks like your import app is calculating things a bit off. I adjusted my output below, but originally it thinks I had 56.96mi for the week. Just a note, and thanks for your work on that app again, btw.


                          Piwi, Mark, Zebano, - Good weeks, all.


                          James - Good that you're making more progress.


                          Kimba - Nice to see you back - do stick around.


                          Steve - (Up-to-date now!) I do agree with Mark. That may have been a difficult decision, but assuredly the right one regarding a marathon attempt without a proper build-up.


                          JMac - With the triumphant return! I hope April and her mother are also doing well.


                          RP - Solid week. No, I have a Fenix 5XPlus. Never used a Coros, and don't plan on it based on numerous factors (ripping off Garmin designs down to the font, lack of features I use frequently / "we'll add it in a software update later" approach, et. al).

                          Are you using a VPN? Mine isn't playing well with the app.


                          Had a solid week, though I did have to switch a recovery and regular easy run around. I'm pretty psyched to have finished one of my tougher workouts strongly on Monday, though I'd like the intervals to have been faster. Eh, it'll come.

                           

                          Weekly for period: From: 01/04/2021 To 01/10/2021

                          Date Name Distance
                          in mi
                          Duration Avg Pace
                          per mi
                          Elevation Gain
                          in ft
                          01/04/2021 3 deer (3 strides) & 1 owl 9.65 01:25:25 08:51 367
                          01/05/2021 2 owls & 1 hawk 10.05 01:25:41 08:32 495
                          01/06/2021 5x 4min CP (1 min recovery) + 4x 3 min (3 minute recovery) 11.05 01:21:29 07:22 272
                          01/07/2021 Should have worn gloves - Richmond 9.06 01:13:30 08:07 0
                          01/08/2021 I have zero recall of turning off my alarm this morning - NYC 4.05 00:33:27 08:16 0
                          01/09/2021 13 deer (13 strides), 6 hawks, 3 owls, & 1 rabbit 16.11 02:11:49 08:11 768
                          01/10/2021 6 deer (6 strides), 2 herons, & 1 owl 10.10 01:24:32 08:22 390

                          Total distance: 70mi

                          5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                           

                          Upcoming Races:

                           

                           

                          flavio80


                          Intl. correspondent

                            Mick - Where the hell in Italy are you going? I mean, there is bad pizza in Italy (also bad pasta).

                            Normally the bad pasta is pasta from a packet instead of home made. Easy to find in very touristic places.

                            Now Pizza, if you go to a legit place baking Napolitan pizza with long fermentation, quality olive oil and a wood oven and you still dislike it then I’m not your friend anymore LOL

                             

                            RP - to access the tool you will need to be able to reach herokuapp.com (the heroku server) + Strava + not have any browser Add-on that blocks redirects.

                             

                            Keen - Sorry about that, I’ve pushed a small change earlier today which contained a bug as it didn’t count your workout activity (11.0something miles).

                            Could you please just try to load the tool again and see if it now shows you the proper total distance?

                            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

                            Marky_Mark_17


                              JMac- I'm actually genuinely surprised I've run more mileage than you every year except probably 2016.  I guess I've tended to have steady mileage throughout the year whereas you've pumped some really big weeks in marathon cycles but had more down periods as well (which I have now learned the value of!).

                               

                              Flavio - here in NZ, KFC < Burger King < McDonalds < "insert premium burger joint here".  We go to McDonalds a bit, mostly because of Miss 3.  I kinda like it tbh.  One of the most popular pizza chains, Hell Pizza, is actually pretty decent so it makes Dominos look pretty poor by comparison.

                               

                              Keen - nice week.  I looked at the 5X but got the 5S because the smaller profile behaves a bit more nicely with the business shirts / jackets I sometimes have to wear.  It still goes fine but I think when it's time for a new one I might look at the FR745 or 945.

                              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"

                              runethechamp


                                Hi everyone, figured it was time to check in again here! After reading through the first 10 pages of the thread I'm happy to see I'm not completely forgotten 

                                 

                                I think most of you know me from before, but I'll give a quick introduction and recap of the last 2 years.

                                 

                                My name is Rune, 47, from Norway, but I've lived in the SF Bay Area since 1997. I ran some in HS with a short stint in track but mostly to support other sports (boxing for instance). Kind of picked up things at the end of 2010 when I decided I needed to get in shape, but was very inconsistent. Finally started running more seriously in 2015, had pretty good years in 2017 and 18, but ran myself into a hamstring tendon injury in August that year when training for the Amsterdam Marathon. In hindsight I blame the injury on a hard interval session 3 days after a HM. I ignored the injury (it was just kid of a dull pain), ran the race in October, and developed terrible cramps at mile 18 or 19 or so. Saw a doctor, was diagnosed with proximal hamstring tendinopathy and it took me 13 months to be able to load the hamstring with no pain, so I started running again, slowly, a little bit more than a year ago. During rehab I started swimming more and managed to swim myself into triceps tendinitis the summer of 2019. I tried one more swim workout and shut it down, and was good after 2 weeks of rest. Wish I had done that with my hamstring . I also screwed up my left shoulder in September from riding a mechanical bull (maybe some drinks were involved), so clearly I'm fun at parties.

                                 

                                On my way back in 2020 I tried focusing on overall fitness and strength to (hopefully) prepare me for a good comeback to running. My shoulder was fixed by February through some good PT, and things were going well. But similar to an instance in 2011 when I felt like I should be getting in better shape based on the work I was doing (turns out back in 2011 I was anemic, and starting taking iron supplements fixed that back then). Soo, when I developed a fever in August (first thought was COVID, but thankfully it was not) due to a UTI we took a whole bunch of blood tests to make sure it wasn't anything more serious behind the infection, we established that I was in fact anemic again, and iron and B12 levels were very low. I was put on Ciproflaxin for the infection, realized it came with the nice side effect of increasing the chance of tendon injuries, which I had just recovered from, so I had to shut things down for a while. Then due to a crazy busy period at work and at home, I never really got back to a good training schedule for the rest of the year. I know, lame, but that's how it's been. I've been on regular iron infusions and B12 shots since then and will be for at least another month and then we will see where my blood values are.

                                 

                                Regarding my anemia, which is kind of counterproductive when you do endurance sports, it's related to the fact that I have Crohn's disease. Looks like my intestines have decided they don't want to absorb iron and B12 anymore. Because of the Crohn's and the medication I'm on, I get to take blood tests here and there, and I decided to tabulate all my previous results to see what I could read from them. I have learned over time that any NSAIDs really screw with my stomach, and lo and behold any time I've used any more than one here and one there of those, my blood levels drop. And when I took a test right after Amsterdam, where I had taken some ibuprofen in the weeks before to see how that could help the pain from the tendon injury (didn't know it was a tendon thing back then though), my blood levels were really low again. Coincidence with less than stellar performance and cramps, probably not?

                                 

                                Anyway, I miss discussing running with people and I realized I missed this place, so here I am again. I run slow and short right now but hope to progress that as the year goes by. Last week's training was as follows: 8 miles total running, 2 sessions of light strength training, one OW swim. And I can still do pistol squats even if I put on a few pounds over Christmas! So Mick, let me know when/if you're in the area! There are so many cool places to run around here.

                                5k: 20:32 (1/17)  |  HM: 1:34:37 (2/18)  |  FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)

                                 

                                Getting back into it