Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
Darkwave thats a great time and shows you are in sub 1.30 form on a faster course. Congrats on your placing.
On a Kiwi course you ran 1.28
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 "
Flavio - stellar tempo, I've always wanted to be able to tempo a sub-20 5k. I just googled Valencia, that's superb, I'll watch a replay when I next get on my bicycle to spin. Good week!
DW - it feels like just yesterday you were injured, 91 minutes is stellar especially on a non-flat/fast course. I'll read the RR shortly.
Mark - I hope the coworker running goes well. I've had a few coworkers who were stellar running partners and few others who wanted to race everything but you find out who they are really quickly.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Darkwave - nice race and report. Yes, let's blame the shoes. Maybe the Next % may have been marginally better, maybe not. Why ditch the 4%'s? Couldn't you just use them for tempo training runs if you don't want to race in them? Also, a higher drop would mean a greater ankle extension, so I'm not sure a higher drop would help downhill.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
James - I hope you're getting better.
Flavio, Steve and Piwi - nice weeks.
My injuries are getting better. Elbow (Radius) is quite a bit better, I have a follow up x-ray on Wednesday which should show good progress. Shoulder is slower, but getting better, still moderate join pain, but ROM is getting better. Hopefully will start some running in two weeks.
Mother of Cats
First rule: ALWAYS BLAME THE SHOES.
And I agree, who knows if another shoe would have been better.
I don't tempo or train in any of the plated shoes - too hard on my ankles. Race day only.
As for the drop, I'm a heelstriker at longer distances, and that gets pronounced on steep downhills. I've found the Nexts awkward on steep downhills; the VFs definitely feel better.
Also, though I didn't note it in my blog, these are the VFs that I attempted to customize to add grip last year. I suspect I may have been too clever....
I am glad your shoulder/arm injuries are improving. It's always especially frustrating when an upper body injury prevents one from engaging in a sport that primarily uses the legs...
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.
I have some Zoom Fly v2 with a nylon-carbon plate (v3 is carbon) which has the same grip as the 4% (except foam is different). I have raced a little in them and done tempos in wet conditions and have found the grip fine. Admittedly I haven't ran hills in them.
I am midfoot. Although downhill I go heel striking. And when I get tired, I heel strike.
Speaking of shoes, given London and Valencia, it looks like the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro is a match to Nike in the half and full. Except for the name!
Also, I am not sure the shoe modification was a great idea.
I would go so far as to say it was most likely not a good idea.
You are not the only one I know of who says that they have no traction problems with the VF. From what I've seen, the majority has no issue. But there's a definite section on the running boards that have this issue, especially when it's wet. I keep thinking it has to do with gait - how you plant and then push off.
4 days down, 3 days to go. I'm getting impatient to run but still staying the course in terms of this week off.
I wear my Garmin all the time (except when the battery needs charging) and it's been interesting to keep an eye on a couple of things that it tracks. I think it probably confirms that my body needed a bit of a rest and is now responding accordingly.
Firstly my resting heart rate has dropped from ~43-45 (which would be on the high side of normal) to ~40-42 (low side of normal) over the last few days.
Secondly and more interestingly my HRV (heart rate variability) is much improved too. For HRV, higher is better (a lower HRV indicates that your body is more stressed; higher HRV = more relaxed), although Garmin presents it as a stress score where lower = better. When I looked back through the data it kicked up around 2 weeks after the marathon (probably around the time I started to ramp up the mileage a bit again) and had been above normal ever since. The last few days its indicating stress levels well below normal, even allowing for the fact it's normally better on non-running days (since your body is naturally more stressed in the few hours following a workout or longer run). Hopefully this is a sign that my body has sorted out whatever random stress was still floating around and I can properly get back into it later this week!
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"
Good luck to everyone! Break a leg
All good news! It's nice when making a training decision gets you the results you wanted.
4 days down, 3 days to go. I'm getting impatient to run but still staying the course in terms of this week off. I wear my Garmin all the time (except when the battery needs charging) and it's been interesting to keep an eye on a couple of things that it tracks. I think it probably confirms that my body needed a bit of a rest and is now responding accordingly. Firstly my resting heart rate has dropped from ~43-45 (which would be on the high side of normal) to ~40-42 (low side of normal) over the last few days. Secondly and more interestingly my HRV (heart rate variability) is much improved too. For HRV, higher is better (a lower HRV indicates that your body is more stressed; higher HRV = more relaxed), although Garmin presents it as a stress score where lower = better. When I looked back through the data it kicked up around 2 weeks after the marathon (probably around the time I started to ramp up the mileage a bit again) and had been above normal ever since. The last few days its indicating stress levels well below normal, even allowing for the fact it's normally better on non-running days (since your body is naturally more stressed in the few hours following a workout or longer run). Hopefully this is a sign that my body has sorted out whatever random stress was still floating around and I can properly get back into it later this week!
Good news Mark! HRV is one of those things I wish my watch tracked but isn't quite fancy enough to do. That said, there seems to be quite a bit of science supporting it's use.
DW why did you try to modify your VFs? I've heard they corner really poorly but that seems risky even if the cost of the shoe is sunk.
Keen - You might be on your way to a second win here. I have been blundering all over the place lately and it's time to take a vacation. Apologies.
A quick query for the board... how do you all handle racing twice in two weeks? The race that was postponed last weekend will happen on the 12th instead. I guess I just keep mileage really low and hope the legs bounce back quickly. The unfortunate thing is I had one faster runner ready to pace me and help me chance that 90 minute barrier, it looks like I'll be running solo now. Oh well.
Problem Child
DW I don't recall hearing about you modifying the shoes last year. I think l'd remember that just because I figured the shoes were why I WASN'T running fast enough to BQ. What did you add to the bottom to add more grip. Also, how many miles are on yours? I know everyone is different but it seems like I MIGHT be able to get 1 or 2 more 5ks in mine and I'm at 150 miles. I can't stop dragging my heel/heel striking (assumption since I've not had a recent gait analysis at any speed).
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
Re: shoe modification. I have three pairs of VF 4%s - two of the original (one pair semi-retired, one pair saved for marathons only) and then a pair of the flyknits. I also have a pair of Next%s.
I don't wear the flyknit VFs very often - the last time I raced in them was the Garry Bjorklund Half last summer (right after I modified them this way).
Basically, I race marathons in the original non-flyknit VF4%, wear the Next% for any shorter races, and do all of my workouts and long runs in the Adios Boost.
As for the modification, I had previously had a LOT of problems with VF 4% traction on wet pavement. So I bought these non-slip patches, superglued them onto my semi-retired pair, and found that they had better traction in the rain. Only problem was - the superglue would only hold for about 3 miles. So I tried shoe goo and the non-slip pads on the flyknits, and the non-slip pads stayed.
My sense is that the non-slip pads improve traction in wet conditions, but don't work very well on dry pavement (probably because they interfere with the entire forefoot keeping contact with the pavement when I push off). But I don't have any proof of that - just a sense.
In any event, I don't think it made a huge difference in my performance one way or the other. Certainly less difference than my lack of fitness . I was just making a note for future reference.
That's some serious thought process and some awesome results. I can only imagine Nike gave up on racing in wet conditions and focused on the perfect race (CIM) weather.