Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
JamesD
JamesD - it's been a crazy crazy winter. And...I didn't realize you were from the DC area. I guess I missed that?.
I'm not, so you didn't. At the time of the Coke Consumption Caffeine Catastrophe I was living in Rockville working as a programmer, but I joined the foreign service soon afterwards and lived in the DC area several times between overseas assignments. Including before I got the job in Rockville, I lived for at least a few months in Upper 16th Street, Crystal City, Cleveland Park, Dupont Circle, and Ballston, plus a few weeks in various hotels around the area over the course of 29 years. When I retired in 2013, we moved back to my hometown of Columbus, GA. Enjoyed the area; I don't miss the winters, but I do envy you having a club & so many people to run with.
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
Ahh the most important questions!! I'm an IPA guy but I don't love them post race. The Pale ale or Blonde are both good choices though I would personally avoid the Jetty (I don't like Creme ales).
Flavio - when you're convinced you have coronavirus, we'll know you've hit peak taper madness Clothing - can't believe you guys can all run in 35 degrees without at least arm warmers. I think my forearms would be officially frostbitten if I did that. Very jealous, but then again, that means I also don't melt at temps around 60 for racing. Important Race Questions - Which should be my first beer of the ones they are serving? Blonde Ambition Blonde Ale BLONDE ALE BREWED WITH PILSNER MALT, HOPPED WITH HALLERTAU MITTILFRUH, AND FLAVORED WITH APRICOT FOR A SWEET AND LIGHT FINISH. Blood Orange Pale Ale BREWED WITH 2-ROW BARLEY AS THE BASE MALT WITH VIENNA AND CRYSTAL GIVING IT A DEEP GOLDEN COLOR. OATS ADDED FOR A SMOOTH MOUTH FEEL. HOPPED WITH CASCADE AND BLOOD ORANGE OIL ADDED TO COMPLETE THIS CRISP REFRESHING ALE. Jetty Ale PERENNIAL AWARD WINNING CREAM ALE MADE WITH GENEROUS AMOUNTS OF ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY. THE PILSNER BASE MALT AND CORN ADJUNT CREATES A LIGHT AND SWEET DELIGHT Therapy Session IPA SESSION IPA BREWED WITH 2-ROW AND FLAKED OATS. HOPPED WITH MOSAIC THEN DRY HOPPED WITH MOSAIC. FULL FLAVOR BUT LIGHTER ABV, NOTES OF GRAPEFRUIT AND AROMA OF FRESH PINE
Flavio - when you're convinced you have coronavirus, we'll know you've hit peak taper madness
Clothing - can't believe you guys can all run in 35 degrees without at least arm warmers. I think my forearms would be officially frostbitten if I did that. Very jealous, but then again, that means I also don't melt at temps around 60 for racing.
Important Race Questions - Which should be my first beer of the ones they are serving?
Blonde Ambition Blonde Ale
BLONDE ALE BREWED WITH PILSNER MALT, HOPPED WITH HALLERTAU MITTILFRUH, AND FLAVORED WITH APRICOT FOR A SWEET AND LIGHT FINISH.
Blood Orange Pale Ale
BREWED WITH 2-ROW BARLEY AS THE BASE MALT WITH VIENNA AND CRYSTAL GIVING IT A DEEP GOLDEN COLOR. OATS ADDED FOR A SMOOTH MOUTH FEEL. HOPPED WITH CASCADE AND BLOOD ORANGE OIL ADDED TO COMPLETE THIS CRISP REFRESHING ALE.
Jetty Ale
PERENNIAL AWARD WINNING CREAM ALE MADE WITH GENEROUS AMOUNTS OF ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY. THE PILSNER BASE MALT AND CORN ADJUNT CREATES A LIGHT AND SWEET DELIGHT
Therapy Session IPA
SESSION IPA BREWED WITH 2-ROW AND FLAKED OATS. HOPPED WITH MOSAIC THEN DRY HOPPED WITH MOSAIC. FULL FLAVOR BUT LIGHTER ABV, NOTES OF GRAPEFRUIT AND AROMA OF FRESH PINE
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Just finished up my week, I'm really happy with how things are progressing and managed to fit in a good amount of training even with one of my boys getting sick.
Monday AM- 1400m swim, mostly drills + weights (squat day)
PM - easy 4.1 miles, very sore from my mile attempt on Sunday and weights today. First 1.5 w/ my oldest son!
Tuesday AM - 45 min spin class
PM - 5.1 mile tempo-y fartlek thing (pace wasn't consistent but when I slowed down for the CD it was more M pace than anything).
Wednesday AM - 1200m swim, mostly drills trying to keep effort really easy
PM - easy 4.4, A ran with me again, another 1.5mi.
Thursday AM- 800m swim w/ 8x50 "smooth"
PM - 5 mi fartlek (1-2-3-3-2-1 min runs w/ 2 min recovery jogs) which went really well. I was super happy to see four of the 6 intervals have paces starting with fives and the other two were uphill and low 6s!
Weights - deadlift day!
Bike (spin) 10min up/down 10 min tempo
Friday AM- 1700m swim, super slow, super easy
PM - 4.9mi run, once again joined by the doggo and second eldest spawn for 1.5 miles.;
Saturday - kid got sick, total rest. Being totally honest I was sore when I woke up and needed it.
Sunday - Felt amazing when I woke up so I got back to training:
10 min/1.2 mi Jog/WU
Weights - 5 rep squat is almost at 200lbs which makes me pretty happy.
Spin bike - 75' "long" ride
10 min / 1.2 mi CD/brick practice
went home, grabbed the pupper and ran for almost an hour, 7 miles, the longest run since Dec!
Bike: 2:30
Run: 34 mi / 4:43
Swim: 3.2 mi / 2 hr
Weights: 1:09
10hr 21 min!!
I'm skipping my 5k race next Saturday because one of my younger sons qualified for a "silver" swim meet based on his times! If I can replicate this week I'll be super happy and set for a small cutback the following week going into a 10 mile trail race (I really hope the endurance, foot and leg hold up).
Good week for me.
M - 8 miles outside easy
Tu - 9 mile interval on treadmill: 2 mile warm up, 4x400 @ 1:29, 2x800 @ 2:54, 1x 1 mile at 5:44, cool down
W - 7.5 on treadmill super easy (8:48)
Th - 6.25 super easy on treadmill
Fr - 4.25 recovery (9:00+)
Sat - 3 mile race was a major success: 17:53 (total of 15.6 miles for the day with warm up and cool down)
Sun - 4.4 easy on treadmill
Total: 55 miles
The 3 mile result is a qualifier for wave 1 for the half marathon I’m planning on. My buddy I’m wanting to run it with me is still waiting to register so I’m left up in the air but it seems promising.
5k on the 29 and then March is moving to HM focus.
Intl. correspondent
Jack - I run with long sleeves and cover my hands with the tip of the long sleeve if in sub 0 temps. i.e. under the temperature where water freezes, as God intended.
So, I might be too late but here is my evaluation of the beers.
They are all trash.
No beer should ever have fruits in it.
Hop in the supermarket on the way there and grab a Guinness can. It will be good if it’s cold and full of calories.
James - good lord that’s over 7 litters of Coke in a few hours. I don’t understand how you didn’t end up in the ER.
Awesome week by the way.
Watson - hang in there!
Mark - that sounds like a nice target, win it outright. If Nick Willis shows up you can hire a local Irish Pastor to take him down.
DPS - Strong week. You’ve now officially replaced Brent Hansen, our previously official white walker.
Darkwave - most beer are crap (or should I say piss?).
You’ve been very consistent, I guess yield if you see a truck? Heh jk I was once in a Uber drive and a truck stopped cm from hitting it from my side. Super scary!
Steve - I’m racing the Scandicci half the next weekend. If I survive the next 6 days.
Driving somewhere to run anything that is not a race sounds weird to me. I guess some people live in truly un-runnable neighbourhoods or want to run with a group.
Rakers - as expected you nailed that 3 mile race. Nice one! A 5k should be sub 18:30
My week: Everything in KM.
I can see the coach abbreviated my last tempo as he’s trying to get me to the start line.
Yesterday we visited San Marino in the afternoon and that involved a lot of walking up hill so no leg strength work today.
6 days to go!
Will I be able to break a PR from nearly 5 years ago?
Will I be able to relax and forget it’s a nearly 5 year old record?
M: Off
T: 10E
W: 10E
T: 3E + 5T + 2E
F: weights
S: 10E
S: 15LR
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
3 months til Masters
Dark and marky- moments in Marathoning thread.
Steve- nice wed run. Smart to give yourself time to absorb your work and then take the next step up.
Zebano- impressive mix of cross training and running. Good luck to your kid in the race.
Mraker nice race and way to go sub 6/ mile
Flavio- get to the line healthy and make sure you prep mentally for the negative split.
2023 Goals
Marathon Sub 2:37 (CIM) 2:41:18
10k Sub 35:00 (Victory 10k 34:19)
5k Sub 16:00 (Hot Dash 5k in March (16:48), Brian Kraft in May (16:20), Twilight 5000 in July and August (16:20/16:25 Both heat index 102-103F)
Sub 1:16 Half Marathon City of Lakes Half Marathon 1:15:47)
Sub 56:30 in 10 mile (Twin Cities 10 mile, Canceled due to weather, 56:35 as a workout)
2024 Goals
Sub 2:37 Marathon
Sub 1:15 Half
Sub 34 10k
Sub 16 5k
RIP Milkman
James - that soda story was crazy. I used to be really bad in college, but the most I ever put down was a 2L in a single day.
Mark - I agree with Watson on the goal: you're just hoping someone good doesn't show up, or in the other direction, if nobody near your level shows up, the goal is too easy. I also want to make it clear that I did not have any taper madness my last 2 marathons, so I may be losing my title.
DW - you know i understand not drinking beer, but it's one of those things I feel like is such a running thing: you have a beer after a race to celebrate, not another alcoholic beverage. I also agree with your assessment: just nab the PR. I know you don't look at your watch during races, but what do you do with clocks on the course? Do you just ignore them?
Steve - I agree with what you said, no need to drive across town for hills!
Flavio - wow that's a strong opinion on beers! No fruit??? Unfortunately Guinness is about the only beer I refuse to drink, because I had a horrible experience with it in college and the smell of it still makes me nauseous almost 15 years later.
For your race, best of luck! Don't go crazy this last week, I feel like you're prone for taper madness.
Me - Ended up 2nd OA in my race with a time of 40:25, for an overall pace of 5:41. I was expecting around 5:45 pace given my recent workouts. It wasn't a PR at the 10K distance, so I'm not counting it as one. However, it did exactly what I wanted: it really helped me remember racing. I felt really good at mile 1, bad at mile 2, and then horrible at mile 3. That's when the bad thoughts started creeping in regarding "how am I ever going to finish this race without walking?" I seriously thought about DW's comment about asking questions and answering them appropriately during races, and it really motivated me! It was a really rough patch at that point, as I was completely by myself in third place, and the guy in 2nd was a good 20-30 seconds ahead of me. Just thought about easing the effort on down a bit so that the pain would stop, but I just kept telling myself to keep the legs going, keep the legs going. I ended up actually speeding up during mile 4, which was a huge shock and a big motivation boost. I ended up catching the guy in 2nd with about 1.5 miles to go (he was the leader for the first 3 miles, so I knew he was falling back a bit). At this point, he got a 2nd wind and kept up with me, so I decided to actually put a tiny surge in to try to dishearten him a bit, which worked perfectly. I only got a bit ahead, but it immediately led to him falling back relatively quickly, which gave me some breathing room to finish 2nd OA.
Overall, happy with the race given at mile 3 I thought the wheels were going to come off (this race felt way harder than any of my 3 races last fall). Still, my current VDOT puts me at 1:17:13 half, which means I have a LONG way to go to get down below 1:14. Either way, I've added additional VO2 max and Rep work to this cycle, as I want to do well in the half and I feel I've done so many LT runs during my CIM running that I can focus a bit less on them, still recognizing that they're the bread and butter of marathon training.
Oh, and for those wondering: I went with the Blonde Ale to start, and then had one too many session IPAs. It was a lot of fun finishing at a brewery, and perhaps most importantly, I won a cool prize for coming in 2nd of 1) a huge beer mug and 2) a free growler and fill of any beer I wanted. Never actually won anything for a race before (besides the classic trophies that you don't really want), so this was pretty fun.
Ended with 57 miles this week. I'll be going for 80+ over the next 4 weeks, entering the heart of the training cycle. NYC Half is in 5 weeks.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Recovery Phenom
Marky_Mark: Thanks for the welcome. I am @elizabethclor on Instagram and I am pretty sure Instagram promotes my posts regularly! My husband recently started getting into photography, so it's the perfect combo! Nice week for you last week.
JMac: Blonde Ambition all the way.
JamesD: Sounds like some crazy weather. Solid week and smart to move the run out if you were feeling sick. It's good that you have that heart rate data!
watsonc: I hope you are back running soon!
dpschumacher: 83 miles on a treadmill is impressive! Nice tempo run.
darkwave: That's a phenomenal week! Always impressed how you fit in so much time at the pool.
Steve: I like the idea of a lighter week. You must feel amazing going into the week after. Glad you also got some hills in your runs!
As for me, I had my first "normal" week post Vaporfly-Next%-CIM-Tendonitis! 58 miles including a long run of 14-miles and some Fartleking. I also started the Marathon Legs 2 strength program from McMillan Running. Very happy that my foot feels better, although I will continue to do the PT exercises for a while. I am feeling optimistic about Boston, whereas two weeks ago I felt woefully behind.
26.2 x 31 (3:15:34 PR)
13.1 x 35 (1:30:58 PR)
Author of the book Boston Bound
Some nice weeks.
JMac - what is your 10k PR. I guess you could do 34-35 on a good day? Nice race, and beer.
There's a lot of great beer with fruit. One of my favourite is a local, Kereru Coconut Porter. A lot of beer is rubbish.
Re coke, there was a woman in NZ that died a few years ago. She did 10 litres of coke a day, plus cigerattes and not much else. There was a coroner report on her.
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
Problem Child
So much going on, and my focus isn't currently on running which is bad considering there is a 5K I want to aim for a 6:00/mi pace at, and a half marathon I've signed up for in 2 months. All I can add is I finally purchased the Jack Daniels Running Formula book. Renting it from the library was kind of getting old, I had a $5 gift card and I spent $120 on used Ford axles over the weekend so $10 shouldn't be hard to swallow.
My week:
M 6.5 miles esay
T: 2 x (8x200m) with 800m jog between sets. GPS based 200m runs were 39-40 seconds with 41 second recovery. Felt good and for some reason the second set of 800 seemed easier to control pace than the first. Not done on a track and the road was down/up/flat so I tried to get a variety of surfaces to be "honest" about the paces I was running. Oh and tried keeping the pace up until the last half mile or so where I seemed to run out of desire to push the effort.
W: 7.1 trail. I got something into me and based off the heart rate data it was about 3 miles of Threshold effort.
T: 65.3 easy
F: 6.6 dead zone. approximately 1 minute slower than marathon pace.
Sa: goal was some kind of HM paced tempo workout (6:30 pace) and that changed to an easy run with a friend for 8 miles at his pace.
Su: 1 mile around the hosue to get a run in for a bet I'm not going to lose.
42.09 miles. Zero TRX workouts. Oh and a blow up at a family member (not the wife) because I heard him say something he didn't say. Less miles than I expected and mentally 40 miles is "good enough to PR the HM based on my CIM time." Should be fun to run the 5k in a month. I think I'm relying on marathon threshold fitness a little too much. I don't think I've focused on speed work of this nature since Chicago 2018 when I did a JD2Q workout. I also think my last raced HM was 3 years ago when I tried to break 90 on a hilly course and pulled the plug.
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
Hot Weather Complainer
I saw an article over the weekend about her "10 years on, how has the soft drink industry changed?" I know it's click bait to wind people up but SHE DRANK 10 LITRES OF COKE AND SMOKED 30 CIGARETTES A DAY. I'm going to drink 3 bottles of bourbon a day and when I end up sick, demand the bourbon industry changes.
/rant
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
I forgot that it was 10 years. Food labelling is pretty weak for sugar, I get your point about decision making - but the public pay for most health care, and most people have limited ability to understand science.
Cobra Commander Keen
Mark - You did really well to keep up some kilometerage while on your snowboarding holiday.
DPS - Great week.
DWave - Interesting about gatorade in Japan. Nice week, and great LR. Something tells me I need to start incorporating some workouts into my LRs. I really enjoyed that 25x 400m workout this morning - I felt better after that that any workout I've done in a while. Given this, how much time would you suggest between repeating it (assuming I'm not about to start a taper)?
Zebano - Solid week.
Rakers - Nice 3 mile! I agree with Flavio on sub 18:30 for 5k.
Flavio - Are you using the same coach as before?
JMac - How'd I miss that race on Strava? Time to go look back through it. Awesome result, especially given your expectations. I also approve of the baleful surge to drop the former leader.
Steve - Totally agree with your rant.
80 for me last week, which will be my biggest week of this (shortened) cycle. One workout on the treadmill (icy roads) and my best LR in a long time (even with my previous two being really good). Volume hasn't been as high as last summer/fall, but I think my LRs have been better, so here's hoping that all counts for something.
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
Elizabeth - cool, I'll give you a follow! I remember your picture standing out because I was like - oh hey that person's clearly a genuine runner, as opposed to a lot of Instagram "running" content.
Watson/JMac - OK let me rephrase it then... I'll go all out for 10k Nationals to try and get the win. I can't control who else turns up, but I've never trained/focused exclusively for a 10k before.
Flavio - apparently there is a vacancy for 'taper madness' king in the thread... GO FOR IT! Looking forward to seeing how you go in the race. Also I agree that beer should not have fruit in it, all the fruity adjectives should be saved for wine.
Mrakers - nice week and good job on the 3 mile race.
Zebano - good stuff, hope the family is getting healthy.
Steve- I saw that coke thing pop up on the news yesterday and my immediate reaction was 'why are we rehashing that again?!'. Also I'm with you on the rant.
JMac - I would love to win a decent prize like that. As much as I actually kinda like trophies, a beer mug seems WAY more useful.
Keen - you are such a mileage beast!
DPS - you are reaching Keen-like levels of mileage beast!
Brew - you and JMac can have a Daniels sleepover when you take turns reading a page or chapter each? Or is he not allowed to touch it.
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"
He isn't my type. I like something with a little more meat on the bones. Plus I know he'd be reading my Hansons book drinking dark beer in the middle of the night. I mostly bought it for the workouts, and variety. I really don't like being a one trick pony when it comes to training and I believe variety is helpful. It comes from my days of lifting weights doing the exact same workout for three months at a time and getting better, but not changing anything until 10 years later.
Flavio What about Framboise? It's a beer withe fruit in it. Do you consider alcohol fermented with bacteria not beer?
I love beer. IT's been almost 8 months since I've had a beer too. Amazingly, I don't have any extra free money for all the beer I haven't bought.