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

 

Interesting.  I considered the cop car by far the safer choice.  Especially since they contacted the race management so it was known where I was.  

 

I could just see myself getting into this stranger's car and vanishing, never to be seen again.  It'd eventually make one of those 30 minute mid-afternoon TV shows  - "runner mysteriously and surprisingly drops out of a marathon very early, and is never seen again."

 

[but yeah, when a stranger gets VERY INSISTENT that he give me a ride back to my hotel, I get VERY RELUCTANT]

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-kidnaps-woman-baptize-her-underwear/

After humiliating her, kidnapping her, sexually assaulting her, and “baptizing” her, deputy Wilkey then arrested Riley for the marijuana roach.

1 month ago.

Now when someone you've never met, don't know from online, AND ISN'T A RUNNER it's totally understandable you don't get in a car with them. I always put situations I've entered as a "imagine your kid tells you they're going to...." and then end it with "but it's totally different because they're a ____" and people kind of think twice. "totally weird if they're those online video game people, but (triathletes, horse riders, artists, burning man, Jeepers, etc.) so it's different." As someone who doesn't identify as a woman anywhere I totally get trusting a cop. Too many stories of cops abusing power to make me not second guess entering a car with someone with that much power and a gun.

I've been on long runs before and gotten an injury and thought about hitchhiking home.  I think I would risk it rather than hours walking home...mind you, I live in NZ so I'd probably get picked up by my cousin....or Nathan Jones.  You'd have to be pretty unlucky to get a dodgy policeman at a marathon?  I feel like darkwave could kick anyones ass anyway - I have nothing to base this on, just an impression I have.

So obviously the US Olympic trials aren't something I really follow but I came across a podcast called Running on om featuring Molly Siedel.  Definitely worth a listen, she sounds like a very interesting person, and a champion.  The podcast was recorded a month or 2 before the trials.

Well it looks like sickness has gotten the best of me, which is forcing me to rest my injury! Been sick now for 2 days. Thought I was turning the corner yesterday but my fever has returned, so I won’t be running. Not great timing with the NYC Half, but then again, I’m still not sure that will go on given the coronavirus looks like it’s starting to spread in NYC. It’s crazy how this entire cycle may have been wasted, but we shall see how this virus (both my personal and corona) evolves. I think Boston is greater than 50% cancellation at this point.

Well it looks like sickness has gotten the best of me, which is forcing me to rest my injury! Been sick now for 2 days. Thought I was turning the corner yesterday but my fever has returned, so I won’t be running. Not great timing with the NYC Half, but then again, I’m still not sure that will go on given the coronavirus looks like it’s starting to spread in NYC. It’s crazy how this entire cycle may have been wasted, but we shall see how this virus (both my personal and corona) evolves. I think Boston is greater than 50% cancellation at this point.

*sips cheap Mexican beer sugar free Rockstar drink while living in an area with a population density under 10,000*

Damn. Hop you feel better soon. I know the half was a big goal for you going into Boston. I think you'll surprise yourself. Oh and remember while YOU'RE sick you're going to have a kid needing your assistance. IT. SUCKS. I was in bed the first week we were home with my son. Wife slept in the other room because I went from the bed to the bathroom and back.

Okay, so I accidentally posted this in the Marathon thread. I thought I was in this thread because so many people are the same. Here is my post:

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Hello all, I am back. I felt like I was taking up the whole thread with my half marathon report.

Boston Cancelation: If Boston were 2-3 weeks out, I'd be worried. But I feel like we will reach a "new normal" by April. It seems like this virus cannot be contained, so it might be a matter of ensuring people adhere to best practices for germ avoidance. I feel like the whole world now understand the germaphobia I experience during a taper!  I am thinking the likelihood of it being canceled is very low.

Course Errors: Course errors are the worst and I always fear them if I can't see at least one runner ahead of me. The worst was Rehoboth beach when you ran on a gravel trail. Thankfully I had one person with me and we didn't get lost. My best story for this was the Love Rox half marathon in Richmond 7 years ago. The leaders went the wrong way and thus, the first 100-200 runners also went the wrong way. When they realized it, they turned around, so all the runners turned around and it was complete mayhem. That course also had 6 flights of staircases. It was the most poorly organized race I have ever run.

Caffeine: I've read several articles by running dietitians that said that if you have caffeine, you have to wait an hour for it to kick in. So, when I took a caffeinated gel at mile 7, with just 42 minutes today, I probably didn't get the full effect. I wonder if I should be taking the gel sooner, but I don't want it to spike my blood sugar, and then crash. My husband theorizes that maybe the caffeine lowered my heart rate, but that wouldn't explain why it did NOT go down in Indy when I had the same fueling.

Brewing: I really hope you nailed the interview and that you get the job.

JTReeves: Hello. Good plan on getting fast now and then adding endurance later. I've heard great things about Hartford!

Cyberic: So awesome that you run commute. Efficient use of time. That weather sounds so miserable. Do you have access to a treadmill?  You can post in this forum without talking about your training. Lots of good non-training convo here.

Longboat: Sorry about the achilles tendon. Do you have insertional tendonitis or something else? I have heard that the night splint and the stretching are not good for it if it's insertional. Weighed heel drops really worked for me.

AceHarris: Cool about Nathan. I had a really good experience with Black Diamond headlamps. Their headlamp didn't fit my head so they CUSTOM made me my own strap!

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Okay, so I did my Thursday-after-Sunday half marathon workout. 1 mile @ 10K pace, 3 minutes recovery, 8 x 800m at 10K pace, with one minute recovery, 3 minutes recovery, 1 mile FULL-OUT. I was shooting for 6:35 as my 10K pace with the 800's being 3:17-3:18 with such short recoveries. But I was a little faster:

6:35

3:19, 3:14, 3:14, 3:16, 3:17: 3:16, 3:15, 3:14

6:24

This was not as hard as I had anticipated because it was 10K pace and not all-out 800s. I had plenty of energy for that final mile and was happy that it was over 10 seconds faster than the first. So I keep earning my recovery phenom title. Hopefully this means I can run a 6:35 pace at my next 10K, provided the weather is good. Although nothing is ever as flat as the track.

Elisabeth I HATE when people call a virus a germ. I know it's a broad term. A virus just isn't a living thing. It's like people asking for antibiotics being upset because "they didn't give me anythign for it." yeah  because it's a virus, not bacteria...or a BIOtic where BIO = living.

Thanks for the hopes. I'm expecting to hear back in about a month. Today was the last round of interviews. It could take 3 months just to ACTUALLY get offered a job. same background process law enforcement go through.

mark yeah I thought Purell stock would be going up but it's privately held. Amazon is upset people are marking up hand sanitizer. A friend sent me a photo. Apparently there was a woman in a Las Vegas Costco yelling at people trying to buy toilet paper. She had a flat with 13 packs of toilet paper. Each pack has 30 rolls of toilet paper. In front of her is another 15 packs of toilet paper. I wouldn't be so kind about taking toilet paper from her. "If you don't give me toilet paper I'll wipe my corona virus infected fecal material on you and you won't need to worry about toilet paper."

Sometimes I'm glad I don't go onto face page anymore. Blissful ignorance as to how dangerous the world is during an election cycle. Oh and some kids locally died from an overdose of fentanyl and MDMA. Parents "want justice" and my comments wouldn't be appreciated.

Brew - Under 10,000/sq mi? *Laughs in rural Oklahoma* sub-190/mi here! Though that's largely because the power-hungry city council has decided on huge boundaries for the city which includes lots of farmland with few people living there.

E11 - Nice post-race workout!
Nothing is as flat as a track, but you didn't have competition in that workout and weren't gassed at the end of it. Social facilitation/competition and true race effort (not to mention not being just a few days post-HM) can go a long ways.

Irrational(?) mental stuff - Dallas was pretty warm and humid, but by far my biggest issue was just that stomach bug kicking in mid-race. Ft. Worth was warm (but not too humid) and windy, and I know I simply failed to adjust effort properly for that. Before the both of them I had a really good HM, though. The logical part of my mind tells me that I've been putting up good training and lots of volume but simply made a mistake in Ft. Worth and that I would have been screwed no matter what the conditions were in Dallas.
But there's some sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind that's telling me that my training just isn't right at all and/or I'm just not cut out for this fast marathoning stuff and that I should stick to races in the 10k-25k range. Or that since I've liked the training I should just stick to that and avoid races altogether.
Typically the logical side of me wins hands down (and that side is currently in the lead as-is), but the little doubts are a bit concerning because they're new and two failed marathons in a row (whatever the reasoning) provide a little backup to them, despite that good half.

Re caffeine - for me it will kick in sometime between 20-60 minutes, normally around 30 minutes.  I just take caffeine pills before the race.  I had one 5k race where it took 60 minutes, and by that stage the race had finished.