Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
Resident Historian
On the time-trial subject, I saw the following posts on letsrun by D. Katz, a professional course measurer, on a course length question. He's very knowledgeable. This may give you a start if you're trying to figure out a course. Google Earth + a 20 meter cushion (rather than the standard 10 meters) seems like a reasonable compromise if there are no certified course readily available.(wonder how it would work on Auckland hills and bridges like I see on some of your routes!)
D. Katz
Actually if you use Google Earth (not Google Maps) you could actually get a relatively accurate measurement to within 10-20 meters for a 10k course. I use it several hours each day to help plan out my race courses but I am also very careful to do the following:1. zoom in as much as possible2. follow the shortest possible route that would be within the parameters of the designated race course.3. use the "historical" image option which allows you to view the same area but from an earlier satellite date. This is helpful when trees might block the image of the roads (fall and winter - less leaves).4. Take your time.
The accuracy of this method of measuring is increased dramatically if the course is in a wide open area (not blocked by building and trees), few turns and the elevation is relatively stable. Also bridges can often give some inaccurate readings.
I was hired to design, measure and manage the marathon course for the World Championships in Doha last year. We were very restricted to using a short section of one of the main seaside roads - the Corniche. Because of space and logistics I was only able to design a 7 km loop.The course was totally flat and open without any overhead obstructions.Prior to going to Doha for the first time I spent time measuring the course on Google Earth. When I got there and performed the measurement, the local organizers where blown away because my calibrated bicycle measurement was within a few meters of 7 km.
I use the tool for every one of my courses plus it also helps me identify the approximate location of all my split points within a 10-20 m range, thereby eliminating gross errors.
NOTE: World Athletics & USATF does not accept Google Earth measurements for Certification because there could be problems with the images and obstructions as well as other inconsistencies with Google Earth that would produce a measurement outside of the range of accuracy required by WA & USATF BUT it can be a great tool for training.2nd Post: The short course prevention factor that is added into certified course is 0.1% the distance =1 mile - 1.609 meters5k - 5 meters10k - 10 metersHalf Marathon (21.0975 km) -21.1 m (approx)Marathon (42.195 km) 42.2 m (approx)This extra distance is added proportionately throughout the course and not just added at the end.
Neil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I'm here to tell you that fast is better. I've always believed this, in spite of the trouble it's caused me. - Hunter S. Thompson
Longboat - isn't D. Katz basically THE course measurer? I'm sure he did the last Olympic marathon and probably others too.
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"
Yeah hes " the man " Mark I think that Jmac talks about.
It's funny on letsrun when you get the douches putting in their 2 cents on course accuracy and a guy like this comes on and tells them how it really works
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 "
RIP Milkman
Yeah hes " the man " Mark I think that Jmac talks about. It's funny on letsrun when you get the douches putting in their 2 cents on course accuracy and a guy like this comes on and tells them how it really works
Yep, that’s the guy! I’ve pointed out before he is local to New York so I’ve run some charity 5Ks with like 200 people in it that are measured by the same guy who measured the Olympic Marathon course
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Yes, indeed. That's why I woke up and paid attention while killing time on letsrun.
I run three times a week with SportMe and monitoring my progress made me a less anxious and more self confident person. It's aazing what running can do for you!
The Google Earth approach is interesting. I've tried using gmap-pedometer.com, which uses Google Maps but it's a little dumbed down - it allows you to trace distances along known running/biking/car routes, i.e. it's not for measuring point to point across a map. I think that that leads to bigger mismeasurement due to turns, and preventing you from actually measuring along the tangent. But it's a great site otherwise for more generic, non-TT type runs.
Flavio - I hear you about having a coach. Although I've never used one for running I think it could be beneficial to me. I noticed at the end of last week I was a bit more sore in my hamstring than usual, and even though I don't have a race I'm training for I still have this dumb voice inside me that suggests pushing through it since I'm on a good roll with overall activity. I think a coach would have told me right away to back off and take it easy. This time though, I think I've learned my lesson and will at least take it earlier this week.
Watson - With Nordic hamstring curls and your single leg hamstring curls on a Swiss ball you must be developing some serious hamstring strength. I just tried the double leg curls on a Swiss ball and that was hard! You're also getting some good mileage now.
Mark - Nice week last week (although it must wee next weekend there now or something like that, right?) I was trying to look at your 800s to see what times you had but couldn't really figure it out from your Strava laps. Also, Breaking 2:30
Piwi - I'd call it a win with 50 km running in a week while injured. If you upgrade your Strava membership maybe you can start chasing bike segments as well . But really, I have no problem paying Strava for the cool features that they bring and that they now took away from their basic membership. I had downgraded for a long time, but with my increased activity level and after they actually started implementing requested athlete oriented fixes (swimming HR and load), and stuff like going back to chronological ordering of activities, I decided to start paying again.
Marco - Good to see you're on your way back and that you're kicking Covid's ass.
Corey - Nice week, 50 miles is solid.
DPS - 90 miles! . 6 days of 10+ mile runs should help build a really solid base for whenever you can race again.
Zebano - Solid week as well.
Keen - Nice week. Looks like 10-mile runs are kind of a staple for you!
Dwave - Hope you can figure your nerve stuff out. Anything that changes your gait is not good and can show up in lots of other places. Just taping one foot several years back completely threw my back out to the point where I could barely move.
I am trying to keep some sort of consistency going. My miles are low and slow but I hope that over time, combined with bicycling, strength (and hopefully some swimming soon) I can fully work my way back. I will just have to find the right balance in my load while trying to slowly improve strength and fitness and see if I can get my hamstring tendon completely free of symptoms (although I've heard that sometimes the symptoms never go completely away). At least my shoulder is pretty much all recovered now.
5k: 20:32 (1/17) | HM: 1:34:37 (2/18) | FM: 3:31:37 (3/18)
Getting back into it
Rune good work keep up your mixture of cycling and jogging.
Yes I should stop been a tight arse and pay the $6/month or whatever it is . I enjoy Strava and hope it can survive.
Lots of sick or injured people on here. Hopefully we can all get back to normal soon.
Finally some track news in the world as well. A special 5k road race was held in Norway, with runners starting in small groups (6 I think). Jacob Ingebrigtsen broke the Norwegian record of 13:37, set by the fastest non-African born marathon runner of all time, and clocked a 13:28 for his first race of the season. His older brother Henrik also managed to squeeze under the old record with 13:32. The race started kind of slow with 2:50 on the first km, and 7:00 at 2.5 km. But with a strong finish and 1:11 on the last 500 m he ran a 32 second negative split.
Rune I just watched that. Was a winding course too. Hes run almost 13 flat on the track and I'm sure can go better than 13.28 but still a good job with only 5 runners.
Intl. correspondent
Corey - yet another great week. Some great consistency on your training!
DPS - the truly elite coaches (Patrick Sang et al) would never coach a mere mortal like myself haha.
Anyway, Matt is at the same price point as Ben. By the way, tell Ben and Candice to purchase a domain, it’s hard to find them online on the current url https://mandarin-wedge-e53g.squarespace.com/who-we-are .
In the end it comes down to affinity and trust. I’ve signed up with Matt as it had a 2 week free trial to see how he works.
Steve - Wrap yourself in plastic bubble the next few days.
Zebano - don’t sweat that mile time trial. Just flush it down and forget about it.
Since you’re doing time trials, keep training with consistency, one of these days you will wake up super bouncy, then give it another go.
mRakers - I agree detoxing from online activity is great. The max I’ve gone was 3 days though...
Keen - Just 64 miles, slacker!!!
Darkwave - ugh you’re hitting quite a few nerve issues, hopefully they’re all gone soon.
It’s impressive that you post on Letsrun, it’s a weird place. You can find Dr Katz and Renato Canova giving great insights and then there are a few thousand mouth breathers posting there as well.
I remember I found a while ago a few advanced running threads there (like sub 2h30 marathon) which were full of great information though.
It’s also incredible that you will voluntarily post your age and weight online
Rune/Corey - a coach is a great investment so long as you can afford it. It’s like before/after owning a car or a smartphone, you can’t believe you went so long without one.
me - it's great that live sports are coming back so people can go back to their usual discussions instead of talking non stop about chloroquine.
3 UFC events in a week, that was super cool.
Anyway, I did my "Long run" today around 47 minutes. My muscular endurance is completely gone.I'm hammered after 9km. My aerobic endurance seems about the same as before the lockdown, same heart rate for the same easy pace.
I have decided on a "race". I'll target a local Strava segment in a couple of months. It should keep me focused.
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
Speaking of non-live sports, has anyone watched the Jordan/90s Bulls documentary? I keep meaning to watch that and Rocky, which for some reason I've never seen (shrug).
The google earth info is great, I have a bunch of roads around here that should qualify. I think I'm paying for Strava because I just accidentally took a crown and it sounds like the guy I took it from wants to throw down (he's faster than me, but I pride myself on being able to run up hills well, and he has a few other segments near my house that are weak). Probably a stupid idea.
The Ingebritsens have got to have a nice advantage in always having training / racing partners.
I ran with (well chatted for 10 seconds then passed) other people today for the first time in months. It was pleasant. I've missed my club runs. I can tell it's about to get hot and humid so be prepared for me to complain every week =)
Rune take care of those hamstrings, they're fickle and recovery is forever.
Also it's really hard to be upset with the time trial since it's essentially identical to my track one a month back. I'll take that.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Cobra Commander Keen
DWave - I figured that was a copy/paste from somewhere else, but it gave the opportunity for a bit of conversation. I do totally get people being more naturally suited for different distances, leading to steeper or flatter performance curves. It could be that race conditions and my own fitness have just coincidentally lined up to create this, but my own perception is that my own strongest-performing distances lie in the 10k-25k range. That doesn't quite jive with what I think I'd like to do running-wise, though. I have an interest in marathons (really feel like I need to get at least one sub-3 out of the way), and I'd like to do some ultras as well. I don't think I could tell you why, other than perhaps that those seem interesting to me. Perhaps I should re-evaluate my running goals/wants.
Rune - I do think 10 miles is just kind of a sweet-spot for me. Not too short, not too long, but it does give me a decent amount of time to myself each morning before my day *really* starts. Keep up the consistency you have going now, it looks like you're really working your way back safely.
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
Flavio - I feel you on that muscular issue (literally), I was lazy the last two weeks and the day after an easy run I was as sore as if I had run a half marathon. It's amazing how quickly muscular endurance goes.
Zebano - yes, I watched the Last Dance. It was very good, albeit a bit biased (which isn't surprising given it was produced by Jordan). Anyway, totally worth a watch.
Me - decided to get the antibody test for COVID. They only asked me one question: "are you a runner?" I asked why, and they said they were concerned about the low pulse rate (48 as of that reading). Other than that, no other questions and I was in/out in under 10 minutes. Here's to hoping I'm positive!