Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019
Mine was a 5:45pm race, sunset around 9:15pm. It will be tough.
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
JMac - yeah you’ll be feeling that in the second half of the race. 9am races will be easier in a couple of months once you’re a bit further past the summer solstice!
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"
Another big week in the bag at 104km. Legs were a bit slow mid-week but felt much better by the time this morning's long run rolled around. Probably a slightly lighter week this week since I've built up the last 4 weeks.
M: weights
T: 15.1km easy
W: 18.1km incl. 5 x 1 mile (3 moderate, 2 hard) (AM), 6.1km easy (PM)
T: 20.0km w/ sprints and steady effort
F: weights
S: 20km w/ hills
S: 24.5km long run
Total: 104km
JamesD
Mark/JMac/Steve - I’m a definite believer in A/B/C goals, mostly because I’m not very good at predicting beforehand what times are likely. My C goal usually is to finish uninjured and run fast enough to get a decent workout, and if I can accomplish that, the effort hasn’t been totally wasted. A & B goals are more ambitious, depending on how I’m feeling.
Flavio - Not many old guys around here; there are only six or so of us over 50 that I’d call serious/competitive, and none of us race more than a couple of times a year (some of them do more tris or trail races). There are a few late 30s/early 40s guys that are faster (5Ks in the 17s or 18s), but not too many of them either.
Me - Legs are still tired, and I’m not sure why after cutting mileage over the last few weeks from 38 to 36 to 30 to 23. Only ran four times again this week and didn’t swim. My 4x1200 session Monday averaged 7 sec/mile slower than two weeks ago. The good news was that the reps were all within 2 seconds of each other, and my last two were the fastest two, so I wasn’t fading. Still, between wearing my racing shoes and having some caffeine beforehand, plus assumed improvement from my previous workouts, I had expected to be a good bit faster.
I guess I’ll just consider this the start of a long taper for my race on Saturday (Heat Wave 5-miler, July 6 in Columbus, Georgia) and then take a few days off. Not at all sure what sort of time to expect. The course is hilly, and temperatures are usually in the 80s/~27-32 with humidity in the 80s too, though I do relatively better in the heat than others of my ability, I assume b/c of being skinny. The race usually attracts several people around my pace, which is unusual for local races, and I like having people to run with. I ran it in 2015 and 2016, when I was doing about half the mpw I am now, so I certainly hope my time will be better.
Sun - off
Mon - 6.0 miles, including 4x1200m w/~3:15 recovery @~4:32
Tues - 4.2 miles slow
Weds - off
Thurs - 7.3 slow
Fri - off
Sat - 6.2 slow
Total - 23.7 miles
Rapidly declining 12-week average - 36 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
RIP Milkman
James - I don't like it classified as "rapidly declining" for your average! Mine is the same right now though, but I hope to be turning that around soon.
Me - 5K was crap, as expected, although even worse than I thought. I basically ran it at my HMP, which shows what bad shape I'm in and how hot and humid it was (80 degrees with KP of 70). I always forget how much you suck for air in a 5K: my leg turnover felt fine and I wasn't particularly tired, I just couldn't get enough oxygen in. Anyway, not too bummed as I knew this was a race-buster. I'm excited to get into training though.It really is amazing how not running any workouts at all just kills you from a race perspective. I'll still keep my next goal as breaking 17:00 although I know that I need to work very hard and also get some luck with the weather. Not expecting anything cooler than 75 for race temps, but I would love if that KP dropped into the low 60s.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac - was 17:50 your official time? If so, you actually PR'd in tough conditions. As mentioned earlier, I ran 19:59 in similar conditions three years ago, when I had ran 18:45 recently beforehand. So I think 16 and change is on the cards with good conditions.
Mark - nice week.
James - I think you should get some speed work around Tuesday. Doesn't need to a hard effort, but some speed work would be a good idea.
My week is done. I still haven't recovered from last weeks cross country. So it was easy with some strides during the week, plus a slightly slow tempo today. Managed to get in 7 runs, which was pretty good given the work travel to Brisbane on Sunday, and fly back Tuesday evening. Also as I ran Monday morning, the RWOL app does not pick up the run, so typing it out for the week.
Monday 8.5km easy
Tuesday 8.1km easy
Wednesday 8.0km easy with strides
Thursday 10.1km club run, kept it easy, cold night
Friday 8.1km easy with strides
Saturday 7.9km easy
Sunday 21.2km with 14-21km at a slightly slow temp
Total 71.9km / 44.7 miles
I am still recovering from my calf strain but just wanted to mention the 2000km from Mark and how close Jmac is to that.
Both of you: great first half of the year! And to Jmac: get him
Flavio: seems to me like you have reached a new level, looking at your hr and paces on strava lately. How far are you from your past peak?
HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)
2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!
Intl. correspondent
Marco - you most certainly have the speed and strength advantage.
Keen - got it, there's a good chance you will get a PR if you're lucky to find 65 degrees on race day.
Mark - 100 is the new 80 for you.
Jmac - So it looks like you still got your PR by one second?
MJ - These are faster intervals, but with longer recoveries.I'm running the 400s faster than mile pace for instance, but then there was 2 minutes of rest.My heart rate usually recovers very quickly.
My week. I'm overall very happy with how training is going on.I'm hitting heavier weights and the body seems to be reacting well, despite the expectedsoreness. Also, anaerobic training is great great great! Especially the 200 sprints.
2 more weeks of heavy strength training ahead before the power workouts start.
total 51kmM: weightsT: 2x (200 400 600 800)W: 11 ezT: 2x (600 + 5x200) + 800F: weightsS: 12 moderateS: 8k with 1k ez 1k hard
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
This was a PR by.1 second, but as Piwi pointed out, it was 4.99 KM and after I pointed out Mark’s course was short, I’m not going to count it. Additionally, if I can’t beat this time by the end of the summer, I’m just going to retire from running
Flavio - to be clear here, what’s the mileage plan going forward, I can’t believe your coach is still keeping it so low for half training.
MJ - good catch, I’m a bit over 2K now (my Strava can be a bit short due to GPS issues in NYC. Mark doesn’t have to worry though, I’m not catching him any time soon, he will reign king for a while. Also, we’ve gotten there in quite different ways: he is quite consistent where I am all over the place.
Me - not much else to add, I’m getting to work now on rep work and threshold as well. Time to train hard over the next few weeks to get into shape, easy pace training won’t cut it, but I”m glad I built up that base before hitting workouts.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Jun 24, 2019 thru Sunday, Jun 30, 2019
Mmmm Bop
JMac - A PR is a PR...even if it was only by 1 second. And you beat my 5k PR by 3 seconds which means that you are amazing!
Well done and be proud of yourself. 👍
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Mikkey's right beating a 52 yr old is huge
Jmac sub 18 on a hot day is still really good and you won't have any appreciation of your achievements until you retire and go back to hobby jogging and realise sub 20 is hard. I'm speaking from experience 😁
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 "
JMac - 4.99km is legit. That's comfortably within the bounds of GPS mis-measurement. You PR'ed on a rubbish day... sure you might've gone quicker on a good day, but there's something to be said about hitting a PR despite a slow course and/or bad weather. And yeah, the first couple of km the heat/humidity might not've been a factor but by the second half of the race that would definitely have played a part.
James - nice week. I recall someone who knows more about me on the topic quoting something that humidity affects larger people much more than smaller ones.
Watson - nice week and especially good job getting it done despite the travel factor. The temperature change between Brisbane and Wellington would've been... interesting.
Flavio - it's awesome to see the enthusiasm you've got for the shorter distance training. Honestly that alone is making me excited to see how you go.
MJ - given injury-free marathon training I think JMac's mileage would be waaaay ahead of mine. I've definitely stepped it up this year though; I've hit more 80km/50 mile+ weeks in the first half of this year as I hit in the entire year last year.
Jmac - the PR committee has convened and it has decided that your PR stands.You are hereby sentenced to updating your forum and email signatures with the new PR. This decision is final!
On the other topic, I'm not training for the half It'd be impossible to hit the heavier weights and keep the same mileage.Still, it's not that far lower than it was before, I was hitting about 40 miles a week,to 32 this last week and increasing it back now it seems.
Honestly, I think I'm gonna do a block of shorter training every year now.
I really need to become stronger. Last week I hit 75kg 165lb on the deadlift with the strap bar.
I was so happy about that, I think I might be able to deadlift my own weight.
Now, anybody doing strength training will laugh hysterically about these kind of weights, but to me it's
a huge progress from not being able do do 8 pushups in a series 3 years ago.
The only thing is I'm training the fast stuff through winter, it'd be way better to do it through summer.
Mark - After starting the strength training I have been very consistent with my training,and it has been a lot more enjoyable due to that.I seem to be following the way you were following 3 years ago. That should be good news for me.
Alright but I'm not filling out a race report. If I did, it would read "I showed up, ran a 1 second pr, and went home." I did come in 2nd though, so that was a new experience for me.
Worried about some niggles that are starting though: metatarsalgia seems to have returned, and a ligament I injured in my sacroillac joints just flared up last night. Guess that comes with higher mileage and return to intensity.
Mikkey - you always say I show up for race day, but not this one! Hoping the weather turns soon so I can run better.
Piwi - I definitely appreciate PRs, starting to realize how hard they are to get given I'm getting closer to my potential + just at the age where it starts to turn south, especially for half and shorter.
Flavio - keep at it, don't worry about what the numbers mean. Trust me, I used to do my weight at bench about 10x, I doubt I could even get it up 1x now. I am the definition of a weak distance runner.
Cobra Commander Keen
Mark - Great week, and very solid mileage (I still don't know if kilometerage is a thing or not) on the year.
JMac - Hot races suck! Good week overall, though. From what I've seen most people tend to be a solid 90 sec slower over a 5k in temps like that than what they could do if it was 20F cooler. If you have to retire from running does that mean a move to jogging/hiking ultras??
Watson - Nice week, and nothing wrong with an easy week post race.
Flavio - How much faster than mile pace for the 400s? Are the 200's the same pace with shorter rest, or faster pace?I actually do think there might be a chance to PR that October HM if the conditions are halfway decent, just because I'll have so much more training under my belt than the last HM PR (about 1.5 years worth!). The last two years have been far too hot for comfort, but the first year of that race was at the end of October and quite nice for racing. Don't worry about those weight numbers, and I'm sure they'll go up as you keep at it. I've never even done a dead lift! Just this weekend I was thinking I needed to, though. We took the kiddos to a late movie, and they were all asleep when we got to the house, so I had to carry them in. It was a pain getting my oldest out, since she's the biggest and it was awkward to get her out of the back seat around the other seats. She was just dead weight while sleeping, but I couldn't help asking her to try helping because "Daddy runs, he doesn't lift!" Just so that Mark doesn't start thinking he's the thread Mileage King, I'm at 1,355 mi / 2,180 km so far.
Ran into some major watch issues (complete crashes) during my LR, which was a first. Also ran into some GI cramping that turned to really bad gas pains a few miles later. The odd thing being that it only hurt while running. I felt pretty puny about it knowing that Max and Brew were out there doing much more at the same time, but I still had DW come pick me up ~2.5 miles early. For some reason LRs have been kicking my arse lately. Doing 11-12mi+ during a workout without water (and no stopping) isn't an issue at all, but for some reason I start out on an easy Saturday LR (carrying water) and I'm wanting to take little breaks by mile 7-8.Took the kiddos to a drive-in movie (Secret Life of Pets 2) Saturday night, which was fun. Hot and humid, but fun. The movie of course started at dusk (9:20), so coupled with the 45 minute drive back from the theater it was a much later night than any of us are used to. Sleep felt far better than usual this morning, so I don't feel bad at all about skipping a run this morning. I'll just do the workout tomorrow.
Monday, Jun 24, 2019 thru Sunday, Jun 30, 2019
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