Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
nice job Jack!
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)
Corey - when they find the first one usually there are about 10-15 already infected. Is your job something that can be done from home?
Flavio I'm sure there will be many additional come from this. I work in a Manufacturing plant the individual worked in a work cell with other people in close proximity and shared a cafeteria with hundreds of others across all shifts...fortunately I spend most of my time in the office and had spent very little time on the floor in the days, even weeks leading up as I was starting to transition to my new role in another facility.
We are shutting operations down tomorrow for 2 weeks in all of our plants in the US. We will be required to work from home and be available for meetings etc, which is fine since we are still being paid (less 2 days).
How is everyone?
Flavio, Jmac?
Looks like the whole world is in lockdown.
I reduced my max distance from home to 5k this morning
They haven't put a limit on it yet but I can see that coming as in other countries.
Public toilets are shut so need to be near home incase the poo monster calls.
Hope you are all keeping sane and well.
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
Things are obviously a bit weird in NYC right now. I took a bunch of days off just for a mental reset, plus to let my legs rest after the time trial. I went for a run yesterday and tried to go around 3 PM to hopefully avoid the after work crowd, but the park was still packed. It's impossible to keep 6 feet / 2 meters away from everyone in Central Park. It also seems like even walking around, people are not taking it seriously enough. The most frustrating thing is that I keep seeing people 60+ chatting on the street, face to face, clearly unrelated. I want to yell at them that the rest of us are sacrificing so that this vulnerable group can be kept safe, so don't be selfish and stop to talk to your friend on the street! They do the same thing in the lobby of my building. If there's one major problem with America, it's that our independence can sometimes lead to vast selfishness, even for those we're trying to help. I haven't spoken to a single person besides my wife in person in 2 weeks, so it just is very frustrating.
We don't have any sort of distance rule in place here for how far we can go from our home, mainly because they wouldn't make much of a difference in NYC: There are probably 2+ million people living within 5K from my apartment.
The only thing that does "scare" me is going into stores, but we've generally avoided that. Yes, 95% of the time I will be fine even if I get the virus because of my age, but with NYC running out of ventilators and hospital beds, it makes it a little more scary to be the 5%. That's the biggest problem: it's not that as a 33 year old you would die or face serious complications in normal circumstances, but you do NOT want to be going into a hospital in NYC at this moment, and probably not for the next 4 weeks as we reach the apex and then start coming down. They're incredibly overwhelmed right now.
However, for now, we've avoided the fate of some of northern Italy, although I'm not sure if we can say that again a week from now. I hope so.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
I drove up to the track this morning, which I would reiterate is only 5km from my house... I did take the back road though so as not to go past the police station. Normally there are lots of people at the pool there even at 6am but with everything shut there was no-one else around. The thought did cross my mind that if ever there was a time to run a nude lap or two, this would be it
I did struggle with motivation a bit during the track session. It's weird not really having a clear race goal in mind to work towards, particularly when this was the time I'd be tapering for a bucket-list race, and then ramping up for Christchurch Marathon. My hip is just a little niggly after the race too - noticeably better after a day off yesterday though - and there's probably a bit of post-race blues there as well. Just gotta take it one run, one day at a time I guess. I'm not sure when the training now is going to pay off... but it will pay off.
JMac- totally with you. Some people here are doing dumb stuff like throwing big parties etc. It's very frustrating when the rest of us are sticking to our 'bubbles' and only socialising with our immediate household. NY seems to have been hit pretty badly.
Corey - we have been working from home for a week, pretty seamless apart from the fact that videoconference's aren't as efficient as just sitting down with someone. Bit different for a manufacturer though!
Piwi - you're lucky living somewhere you can walk to the beach!! Even if surfing is off the cards.
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"
Jmac 2 million people within 5kms of you is mindblowing considering we have 4.5 million total in NZ. No wonder you cant keep to the 2m rule.
I went to the supermarket today. It was slightly weird queueing outside no one talking and washing our hands outside before entering. It was very orderly inside and quiet.
Mark nice workout. I have never considered running nude but each to their own
This lockdown will mean my running is going to improve especially with no work I can run some bigger miles.
Intl. correspondent
Jmac - yeah, it's not only in the US though.
Honestly, I can understand lack of empathy. In normal times if you worry about all the bad stuff that happens in the world you will go crazy. So we tend to only take seriously things that happen VERY close to us. It's hard to break habits.
I know most places will probably not be hit as hard as Spain, France, Italy and the big cities in the US, that are on the top of the list of most visited places on earth. The measures have to be compatible with the numbers they're seeing on the ground from hospitalization for respiratory issues/pneumonia.
I even think what Spain, France and Italy are doing is too much. It seems too much to forbid people from running or walking outside on their own.
But there's a certain president which shall not be named from a certain South American country who's rallying people to disobey their governors and mayors and break quarantine. He's proposing that same isolation of elders bullshit that bo-jo was talking about weeks ago before reality hit him in the face. That's a nazi level of sickness.
Mark - I don't see why driving up to a track to exercise alone could be an issue. I'm happy you guys can continue training through it, it's great to keep your sanity.
Piwi - Hopefully your wife has calmed down a bit. Sorry to hear it's put a stop to your business. Hopefully you can navigate these difficult weeks unscathed.
me - Behind the apartment building there is a parking space, it's roughly 50m by 5m. Yesterday a man that looks similar to me was seeing running laps there for 10 minutes
In other news, I have to stop the exercise of going up and down stairs. It's just too much for me and every time I try it I have to stop exercising for 3 days. sigh... I guess I'll switch to an aero hits class. Or maybe it's time to restart those classes of Yoga with Adrienne - 30 days of yoga
I miss MickJogger, he would make an excellent comment now about Yoga with Adrienne.
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
JamesD
I shifted to shorter and somewhat faster workouts to get ready for mile time trials in a few weeks. Was pleased that the times were only a few seconds/mile off my best for those workouts, best times that were run when I was doing more frequent fast training. My easy run pace was faster too, especially Friday. This could be for any of a number of reasons:
Otherwise, I haven’t been affected as much as most of you by the lockdowns, as I’m retired & have email work I can do on most of my volunteer activities. Our area hasn’t been particularly hard hit yet, with only 7 confirmed cases in a city of 200,000. Most everything is closed, but our mayor signed an order yesterday clarifying that open spaces in public parks (but not basketball/tennis courts, etc.) remain open as long as people stay 6+ feet apart. The park where I do most of my running has a few more people walking & running than usual, but everyone stays appropriately distant. My son is tired of online school, which has been extended through late April, but he has this week off for spring break, so I may be playing lots of video games with him. Since he's good and I'm not, when we play the hockey game I usually get a team of all-time greats and he gets some Uzbekistani team so the games are competitive.
Sun - 7 miles including 10 ~180-meter hills @ 0:37
Mon - 7.3 easy @ 8:39/mile
Tues - 10.4 easy @ 8:25
Weds - off
Thurs - 8 including 2.5 tempo+ @ 6:32
Fri - 7.3 supposed to be easy @ 8:14
Total - 40 miles
12/26/52 week averages - 44/36/35 mpw
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
Taking tomorrow off, because I need to. I came home from work on Monday and almost took that day off. I probably should have. My week and weekend were super busy due to work and I was exhausted.
M - 10 on treadmill
Tu - 11 on treadmill
W - 11 outside*
Th - 6 recovery
F - 8 w/ strides
Sa - 16
Su - Off
Total 62 miles
*Wednesday, 6.5 miles into the run (and I was on my way back on an out and back, my left knee got a slight tinge of pain. It was uncomfortable, but not unrunnable. I slowed down from about 8:10 pace to about 8:40 just to take it easy and got done. Thursday was recovery day, no pain. Friday, no pain until pushing on a stride up a hill and felt it.
All of this has been just pain in the sense of tightness. Not really even painful, but just that I notice it. Today's long run was great. New route I've never done and climbed a massive hill, and then it started getting tighter to the point that when I accelerated, there was that tinge of pain that went to a little more than tightness. Again, this is very low level pain, but it's enough for me to know to be careful. I finished my run, albeit much slower than I wanted to.
Just looking at the internet (which is my general practitioner), it seems to be pes anserine bursitis by the description. Just below the inside of the joint, when I press, it is definitely tender. So, I'm chilling out tonight with ice and elevation. Same thing tomorrow and trying to stay off my feet for at least the rest of the night.
Next week, I may follow a loose look at Pfitz's recovery week without ever pushing any runs whatsoever and just getting miles. But, if it starts to develop anymore pain and discomfort beyond where I am now, I'll continue to scale back. Hoping that I'm being wise and that doing a long run today didn't set me up for a slight setback. Of course...the fitness I'm at now can't be used anyways so is it really a setback?
Piwi - yeah I did a supermarket run yesterday too. Very weird but only took 3 minutes to get in and everything was really well stocked (except pasta!). I go to New World in Albany but the Countdown down the road in Hobsonville had queues around the corner!
James, Mrakers - nice weeks, guys.
Me - definitely felt the after-effects of last weekend's race. Motivation a bit low too, but just gotta stay focused and keep logging the training... races will happen again, it's just a question of when, and I still need to take down that damn marathon PB of mine. I will have to substitute some body weight training in to my program since the gyms are shut now. This week was a bit lighter but with no races coming up I probably won't crank the mileage quite as hard as I would've been.
M: 4.1km easy, weights
T: 14km easy
W: 14.5km with short intervals
T: 14.5km easy
F: core, foam rolling
S: 11.8km track session
S: 26.2km long run
Total: 85.2km
Flavio yes we will be ok. My wife has been dealing with this for over a year now. We live in a good country and have closed off our borders and implemented an early lockdown
so maybe we can stem the case numbers. The last 3 days have been an increase of about 80 per day.
I received the government assistance payment which will be good for about 8 weeks.
Mrakers hope you get on top of that niggle. Looks like you are doing the right thing.
James nice week. We also have a low number of about 10 cases in my state with a similar population.
Mark nice week. When we do a Strava challenge say a 10k does it log every 10k you do and just put up your fastest at the end of the month ?
I had a good running week because of lockdown. I guess this is what been a pro runner is like, get up and run, come home and eat, do some core, go for a bike ride etc
Anyway its much easier to run without work in my day.
I hit 89kms will put up log tomorrow
Piwi- yeah I think that's how it works. If you run more than 10k, it will still log it as a run for the purposes of the 10k challenge, but based on average pace for the whole run (I think). It will automatically pick up your fastest 10k at the end of the month - whether that was an actual 10k, or a run that was longer than that, based on the average pace per km over the whole run.
Mother of Cats
Mrakers - Good luck with the knee. While, in some sense, now is a good time to be injured (no races), it's also a bad time to be injured (limited to no access to doctors, PT, cross-training options).
Flavio - I guess 50m by 5 m is doable....Hang in there.
Markymark - dunno about you, but I get really annoyed at the people who insist that one can get a great workout with body weight training, and that you don't need access to heavy weights. Those are the same people who insist that one can get a great aerobic workout by running 2K, and you don't need any more than that...
[I am getting quite grouchy about my lack of access to a power cage, barbell, and plates, though I know it's a very small thing in the greater scheme of things.
***
I never dropped off last week, so I'll do two weeks at once. I managed to get my back injected (prolotherapy) about 10 days ago. Basically the ligaments in my SI joint and lumbar region had gotten stretched out again, which meant that things could shift and move around and press on nerves - hence the pain and weakness in my back and legs. The prolotherapy injections irritate those ligaments and tighten them up, which makes everything more stable.
They seem to be doing the job again here, so now it's just a matter of building strength back up. I'm doing a mix of hills and aerobic running to keep a good solid base of fitness while also strengthening my back and glutes - I'll just hold here until it looks like things are going to ease up and we can start talking about races again. It's important to me to maintain my fitness not just for future racing or vanity, but also because I think maintaining fitness will make me better able to fight off the virus if I contract it despite my best efforts. As some of you know, I have asthma, and so am considered high risk. Maintaining strong lungs is a good thing. (I am avoiding any workout that would have me digging too deep and weakening my immune system)
The pools, gyms, and yoga studios here are all closed (and I honestly wouldn't go even if they were open). My yoga studio is streaming classes on line, so I'm doing those. As for weights, I have a pull-up bar, an exercise ball, some bands, and a kettlebell that can be adjusted from 12 to 40 pounds (plus I have two ankle weights, each 10 pounds, that I can loop on it) - so I'm doing stuff at home using those. As for pool-running - I'm just going on long walks. I really miss the therapeutic aspects of getting in the water, though.
Mindful that the US could go the way of Italy, I also rented a treadmill for the next 3 months, and have started transitioning some of my running to it.
43 miles, 9 miles of walking, 6 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 meters of swimmingM: core, 1000 meters of swimming, and one hour pool-running.T: 12 miles, including an alternating short hill/short tempo workout. Ran two short hill repeats in roughly 70 seconds with 2:30 recovery, then 1.5 miles at 6:43 pace. Another two 70 second hill repeats, then 1.5 miles at 6:29 pace. Ended with a final two short hill repeats. Prolotherapy injections that afternoon.W: 4 mile walk.Th: Upper body weights/core and 5 mile walk.F: DIY yoga, 10 miles easy (9:16)Sa: 12 miles, including 8 longer hill repeats (just over 2:00 up, and then just over 3:00 down). Followed with leg injury prevention work.Su: 9 miles (9:27) and live streamed yoga.
55 miles and 7 miles of walkingM: upper body weights/core and a 4 mile walk.T: 9 miles, including an alternating short hill/short tempo workout. Ran two short hill repeats in roughly 70 seconds with 2:30 recovery, then 1.5 miles at 6:37 pace. Another two 70 second hill repeats, then 1.5 miles at 6:29 pace. Ended with one 70 second hill repeat (hamstring got sore, so skipped the second repeat and the cooldown). W: streaming yoga, pull-ups, 3 mile walk.Th: 7 miles outside (9:25), upper body weights/core, 2 miles on treadmill (9:56?).F: 12 miles, including 8 longer hill repeats (2:20-2:30 up, just under 3:00 down). Followed with leg injury prevention work.Sa: 4 miles on treadmill (9:04), live streamed yoga, 6.5 miles very easy (9:03) plus drills and two uphill strides.Su: 14.5 miles, split as 12 progressive (first 4 averaged 9:27, next 4 averaged 7:43; next 4 averaged 7:04) and then a 2.5 mile cooldown. Followed with leg injury prevention work.
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.
Dark wave good work hope the rehab goes well.
My week
Darkwave - totally agree. With a power cage, bench, barbell, and plates you can pretty much cover everything, I think - with less than that, it's challenging. If I got picky I'd add in some cable flyers too, but those exercises are easier to substitute. I have practically no weights equipment at home so I'm just restricted to bodyweight exercises at the moment. It's not a bad thing as it will force me to try some different exercises, but I know after a few weeks I'll be missing the classic weighted squats and deadlifts.
Piwi - nice week. Hope your family are keeping well.