Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020 (Read 618 times)

Zebano - thank you for that great article. It confirms I was doing this wrong by just doing slow running with some strides. I think throwing in a tempo run will help. The one confusing thing is what constitutes "hard" running, or anaerobic. A marathon training plan doesn't really have much hard/anaerobic running, yet I certainly wouldn't call that base building. So I may take some exception to that, but I think the point around getting in something other than easy is important.

Zebano - thank you for that great article. It confirms I was doing this wrong by just doing slow running with some strides. I think throwing in a tempo run will help. The one confusing thing is what constitutes "hard" running, or anaerobic. A marathon training plan doesn't really have much hard/anaerobic running, yet I certainly wouldn't call that base building. So I may take some exception to that, but I think the point around getting in something other than easy is important.

JMac,

I know JD likes to use "hard" and "Interval" interchangeably, but in the more standard definition of hard meaning "difficult" I think it makes a lot of sense. Remember all workouts have 4 variables: reps, duration of said reps,  recovery and effort. Even an easy effort run for long enough without break will become difficult. On the other hand a very quick effort will quickly become hard unless the duration is kept really short with longish recoveries. By the same token a 5 minute run at threshold isn't a big deal but do 6 or more of them with minute breaks and all of a sudden you're working hard (as always this scales based on what fitness you're in).

Last time I did a true marathon plan was Hanson Advance and yup, those Thursday's always hard even though the pace was easy initially.

Well you know I struggle through this all the time Mark. Piwi is a great model for us, but you see his struggles too. The high mileage of marathon training can definitely lead to burnout. I find I'm enjoying things more in the 50-60 mile range (with down weeks in the 30s) than the 70+ range. I also think there's something to only having X good years of racing in your body, no matter what age you start.

 

It woul be great if you did the NYCM given you have relatives here. Cant imagine how different it is than what you guys normally race, so it woul be quite the experience. Maybe in 2022 

Kinda feel like that 50-60 mile zone is my mileage sweet spot too!  I'm not clocking the mileage that you and Keen do but even so I'm finding it a bit of a grind getting through the work at the moment.

I'd still really love to do NYCM some day it just feels like a long way away right now!!

Zebano I think the longer you do this the harder it is to get that adrenalin boost. I dont think I'm willing to go to the " well " like I used too in races. My family dont come anymore so I dont have any cheerleaders either 

 

It's funny you mention this because I actually have a race on Saturday .... and I'm just not that excited about it. I'm so bleh that I'm going to run my normal 12 mile group run tomorrow for the camaraderie and just train through the race letting the chips fall where they may. That said, I have no desire to skip out on training, in a lot of ways I enjoy training more than racing ... which is really odd. I dream of big races and breakthroughs but I think I only had 3 races last year where I got to the start line and had that nervous feeling of this absolutely matters to me.

No surprise at all over this, but the OKC marathon decided to cancel go virtual. No big deal for me since it was rescheduled from late April to early October and clashed with the date of my favorite half marathon (still hoping this small race will go forward, too). I know the reason for the usual mid/late April time frame, but it's remarkable how they manage to schedule this thing for practically the worst possible times of the year for running a marathon.

There's no indication as to how they'll track if anyone actually runs the distance (they give a time frame of Oct. 4-18 to do so), but say that anyone doing this will get $20 off next year's registration or can opt to defer to either of the next two years. That seems like it's becoming something of a standard these days.

JMac - Interesting that your wife showed antibodies yet you didn't show any. Pretty similar to my in-laws' experience with it as well. MIL had it but no discernible symptoms outside of some annoyingly lingering symptoms of a (separately diagnosed & months prior) respiratory infection.

Somewhat sucky workout this morning between GI issues and the temp and dew points both being ~10F/5C higher than they have been for a week, but here are some notes on the Endorphin Speed:

• Upper fit is nice and snug, without creating any hot spots and the toe box feels like it has plenty of room. Obviously less toe room than Altras, but a good deal more than Nikes. Very breathable, as well. 
• The laces are actually an appropriate length! Long enough to use a heel lock if you want, but even without that they're short enough to tie a proper knot and not have to worry about tag ends flopping around or getting caught beneath a shoe. A small touch, but one I appreciate.
• Being a pretty high stack shoe (nearly double that of my usual Escalantes), ground feel isn't really there at all and stability around tight corners is worse than a softer/lower daily trainer, but both are better than the 4%. 
• Pretty similar "bounciness" to the foam as the 4%, but without the wonky instability at lower efforts. 
• The nylon plate is quite firm, though not to the degree of a carbon plate. 
• These shoes have something of a rocker design to the sole, which after this one run I'm not sure if I like or not. It almost seemed to mess with my biomechanics a bit at ~10k effort - like it took just a bit of concentration to get a perfectly smooth foot strike instead of being completely natural and effortless. I think I started to feel the effects of in my calfs about halfway through the workout. Running any race beyond a 5k will probably require a good amount of time/distance in these to get use to the sole design to the point at which it doesn't cause unnecessary fatigue or soreness. I don't recall noticing this at all during the recovery portions of the run. 

All in all I'm definitely looking forward to putting more miles on these to see how they feel once I get more used to the slight rocker design - I'll probably wear them for my entire next workout (warm-up/cool-down included) rather than just the speed portion.

Did I miss anything anyone's interested in hearing about?

Piwi - There's no visible wear & tear on the shoes yet (there better not be after less than 5 miles!), but the majority of the discoloration/debris on the bottom is about here. MId-foot-ish, I guess?

I think feeling it a bit in my calfs while running at the faster paces is mostly not being used to the different geometry, but I'm certainly going to keep an eye on it just because it's kind of interesting.

Is a heel lock the same as runners knot?  I have been doing runners knot for a few months - I am not sure it makes any significant difference to me.

Yeah, they're the same. To me it seems like it changes how the pressure from the laces being cinched feels, but I don't know that it makes me any difference. Mostly I use it just to eat up some extra lace length because they're so blasted long on altra escalantes.

Enjoyed doing hill sprints on a bike path Monday, and my speed wasn’t bad - second or third fastest out of nine tries of this workout over the last few years.  On my next-to-last repeat, I even passed two (very casual) bicyclists who had underestimated the hill.  The hill work may have contributed to my feeling stronger and going somewhat faster than usual -- around 8:30 pace instead of ~8:50 -- on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  It’s not quite as hot as it was a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve been getting out later in the morning than usual, thus the high TDPs.  That problem should end soon; my son starts school on Wednesday, so I’ll be getting up and out earlier.

Most of my family has no clue about running, but a cousin’s granddaughter runs in AAU meets.  She did well at the national age-group championships this week - 14.3 in the 100 and 29.5 in the 200.  The child is 10 years old.  I can probably still take her in a 10K or a half, but she also plays soccer, so I expect she could beat me in anything 5K or shorter.

Sun - off

Mon - 5.3 miles including 10 ~180-meter hills/~1:45 rest

Tues - 7.7 slow recovery

Weds - 10.7 not as slow as usual, esp. with TDP 161

Thurs - 29 minutes swimming

Fri - 12.1 steady, not as slow as usual

Sat - 8 including a few strides, easy but not as slow as usual, TDP 160

Total - about 43.8 miles

12/26/52-week averages - 46/44/38 mpw