Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019 (Read 641 times)

    Keen 1.25 sounds like a good target. You looked fairly comfy for the 1.29.

     

    Marco I've always been around that 180 mark. On recovery runs I'm around 176. I try to take short strides but fastish turnover on those recovery runs and keep posture upright. It can be easy to get lazy.

    Like Flavio said though we are all built differently so it's not an exact science. Look at the Berlin Marathon when the Pacers were still in. There was one pacer with much faster cadence and a lower leg swing.

    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 "      

     

    JMac11


    RIP Milkman

      DPS - I basically predicted exactly what happened in your race: you were going to have zero feel for pacing. That's the problem with not racing in a while and a good lesson for everyone on this board: if you don't race, you will get rusty. I even had trouble in my 10K because I hadn't run one in so long that my pacing was all over the place. You get better at racing by racing.

       

      Mark - it's funny that you think 10 mile pace is awkward. I actually find it ideal because it's almost exactly LT, or T pace. I find half marathon pace to be awkward! It's just like "go out at what feels like LT and then back off a hair." That, or "go out at marathon pace and click it one notch harder."

       

      Piwi - thank you! You've always been a big fan and I appreciate it! I was definitely bummed out about racing, but when you get the unicorn of weather days, it can really perk you right up. Now it's your turn to go run a good 10K 

       

      Flavio - if it's an ice skating showdown, I expect you to come in a tutu and skate along. And thank you for the benefit of the doubt!

       

      Marco - take a look back a few pages, we spoke about cadence a lot. I had to work on getting mine from 165 to 175+ on runs. It's exactly like piwi described, I focus on keeping the stride very short and it helps.

       

      Keen - I definitely love the idea of you going for sub 1:25 if you get TDP south of 120. It does sound like you had a good race and chasing down first OA helped push you. Also, for once, I have more mileage than you 

       

      Me - race report coming, but given this was my highest mileage week ever I figured I had to throw it in here. My M pace workout on Monday was crap as I couldn't get the pacing down right. I went from 6:35 down to 6:00 in a span of a few miles! Goes to exactly what I was talking about with DPS: you can't ignore a pace for 5+ months (haven't touched it since Boston) and expect to run well.

       

      Weekly Summary
      Monday, Sep 30, 2019 thru Sunday, Oct 06, 2019

      <tfoot> </tfoot>
      Day Miles Pace Description Link
      Mon 18.0 7:02 6E + 10M + 2E strava
      Tue 6.7 8:42 😈 strava
      Wed 11.0 8:02 Evening Run strava
      Thu 10.9 8:07 Evening Run strava
      Fri 7.1 8:35 Excited to race 🏃 strava
      Sat 2.3 8:04 Warm Up strava
      Sat 6.2 5:34 Grete's Great Gallop 10K - 34:49 (1:10 PR!) strava
      Sat 4.2 8:09 Cool Down strava
      Sun 9.0 7:50 Afternoon Run strava
        75.4 7:42

      5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

       

       

      JMac11


      RIP Milkman

        Grete's Great Gallop 10K Race Report

         

        Pre-Race

         

        This 10K was planned as a rust-buster tune up race during my buildup to CIM. I didn't taper at all into the race, and actually increased my scheduled mileage for the week. The only thing I did differently was moved my hard workout up a day to give myself more easy days between the Q day and the race. My legs felt very heavy on Wednesday and Thursday but by Friday they felt good, so I knew I was heading into the race with a good chance at a PR.

         

        Weather was just damn perfect. After my three races + one cancelled race this summer being severely affected by heat (all three had dew points above 70), I wanted to cry in joy when I saw this forecast. Any day you can wear a singlet and gloves is as good as it gets. 45F/7C at the start, 35F dew point, light winds, and sunny.

         

        The course is one full loop around Central Park plus about 400 meters. As many of you know from seeing my daily runs, CP is a rolling hill course. There's one tough hill up in Harlem around +90 feet, but luckily it's only about 2 miles into the course, so you're still pretty fresh. Then, there are three rolling hills down the west side that are anywhere from around 40 to 70 feet climbing. However, I run this damn course every day, so I know everything there is to it. It's like playing golf at your home course: you're probably going to do pretty well because you know all the nuances.

         

        One minor SNAFU: As I was heading out the door to the race, I realized I forgot to put my bib on! First time that's ever happened. Anyway, ran to the start line for a total warm up of around 2.25 miles. I think I've really gotten down my warm ups: First 1.5 miles are alow, then I do about 0.25 miles at MP, then the last 0.25 are short striders. I thought about going for a bit of a longer warm up since it was way colder than I had been training in, but my bib SNAFU left me short on time.

         

        NYRR races are corralled into about 8 different letters from A onwards. There is one "elite" corral in the front that you can get into as a male if you can break around 31 minutes in a 10K. As I got into the front of the normal corral, I noticed that there were no men in the corral, just about 10 or so women (they only need around a 38 minute 10K, which obviously is not the same on an age-graded basis, but that's besides the point). So I knew I had a chance at placing decently as none of the very good runners had showed up, most likely because A) this race doesn't pay prizes and B) NYCM is only 4 weeks away.

         

        First 5K: 17:43

         

        Right out of the gate, you have to climb Cat Hill, which is a 200 meter hill at around 4% grade. After that, it was mainly flat. I found within about 0.5 miles I was in a group of around 5 people, including the lead woman. There were about 15 or so people ahead of us. Around 1.5 miles in, one of the other males dropped, and the 4 of us continued along. I've stated this before, but I haven't been sold on the benefits of running in a group unless there are stiff headwinds. However, this time was different. I really enjoyed running with this group because I thought they were perfectly pacing. At times, I thought they were getting a touch too hot, and at times a touch to slow, which tells me thy were helping me a lot. I could just run with them and feel like they were setting the pace for me without me doing any of te work. I guess that's the benefit, you feel like you're not actually doing any work?

         

        Anyway, as we got to the bottom of Harlem Hill around mile 2.25, I noticed the lead female was breathing VERY heavily. It actually bummed me out because I knew she was going to crater and you feel this weird thing like it's one of your teammates that is going to do poorly. She was breathing in a 1-1 pattern, which should probably only be breached in the last 400 meters of a 10K, so I knew she was in trouble.

         

        Up the hill we went. Usually, this is where I pass people, but the other 2 males I was running with did a great job pacing up the hill and we stayed together, with the lead female falling behind for good.

         

        I didn't even look at my watch at the 5K marker, as all I was concerned about was feeling good, which I did!

         

        Second 5K: 17:06

         

        As we started up the rollers, I had my moment of usual bafflement in a race where nobody runs the tangents. Central Park running paths are like a snake and if you don't follow the course exactly, you will add a LOT of miles to the run. This was annoying as we were running in a group and they refused to come along to the tangents!

         

        I realized that even the pros don't run the tangents well unless they have pacers / a blue line to follow. I don't get it, it's basic geometry folks! Look ahead of you to the upcoming turns and run a STRAIGHT line to that point. Not rocket science.

         

        Enough of my tangent rant: At the 4 mile marker, I was slowly pulling in front of my group of 3. I realized at this point that they were not going to come along. Usually I might feel some anxiety about this with so much distance remaining, but I realized I felt amazing. Usually I start redlining about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the race, and I was nowhere near that level. It felt more like a hard workout than a race, so I let the pace pickup.

         

        At mile 5, I passed a lone straggler who gave me a friendly "nice racing" as I passed him. I love guys who gives word of encouragement during racing, it's something that as I've gotten better I've appreciated it, since this stuff doesn't really happen in the mass packs as you are slower.

         

        With one mile to go, I still felt great physically. The main problem was my usual demons: nausea. If it wasn't for that setting in, I think I could have absolutely hammered the last mile for something like 5 flat, but my stomach wouldn't allow it. I still came through in 5:17 for that last mile, so I'm very happy with the effort.

         

        In the last 400 meters I gave it everything I had, saw the clock was under 35, and was ecstatic! I swear one of my first thoughts was "oh shit Flavio is going to yell at me about sandbagging." But honestly, having zero taper on your longest week ever on a rolling course, I thought 35:XX was a good goal!

         

        Result: 34:49, 1:10 PR!

         

        My legs felt great the rest of the day and on my run the following day, so I definitely left some on the course. Not sure I could have gone faster due to the nausea, but that's a great sign for my fitness

         

        I'm really excited to race my half in 2.5 weeks! My 10K equates to a half time of 1:16:45, but you know what, it's BOTT year and I'm not going to sandbag this goal. I think a PR is probably the "right" goal but for the hell of it, I'm going to really go for it: goal is 1:14:59. Going to need some unicorn weather again.

        5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

         

         

        Marky_Mark_17


          Keen - nice week, I definitely think 1:25 is a good target for you.

           

          JMac - doh, tangents!! That happened to me in Waterfront when some nut job at the front of our group wasn't running the tangents.  It was frustrating both me and the other runner in our group (Sasha Daniels).  So annoying.  Anyway great job on the race again.  That negative split is nice, especially to come so close to your 5k PB in the 2nd half.  I know a few runners locally that don't really like tapering as they feel it makes them sluggish so maybe there is something in that for you (at least for shorter races).

           

          I do find with the Vaporflies, my legs are still really fresh after a 10k.  It's only really HMs that my legs are fatigued.

           

          (also I have no clue what 10 mile pace is having never run one, I was just guessing)

           

          Me - kind of a weird but fun workout this morning.  I had 5 x 1km with 300m rests planned.  Legs were a bit sluggish to start and the first 1km was a bust and was quite slow, then I pushed harder and felt better on reps 2 and 3.  So added an extra rep at the end and really pushed the last two hard.  Ended up running every rep faster than the one before (3:46, 3:30, 3:28, 3:27, 3:18, 3:17).

          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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

          Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

          "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

          SteveChCh


          Hot Weather Complainer

            Congrats JMac, Mark and all other racers.  Some amazing results.

             

            I think I'm back now - I was reticent about posting just to end up with another delay in my recovery, after that happened many times during my 3 months of trying and failing to run again.  3 months!  No wonder my sanity is borderline.

             

            So to go back to the start.  I did an easy run but probably pushed it a bit too hard.  The next day I had a recovery run and in the first km I thought maybe I should stop because of soreness in my glute/butt.  It went away, then came back then went away...so I completed the run.  Big big mistake, and I should know better.  Sacrificing that recovery run would have had no impact on my fitness, and I knew I had issues.

             

            It never felt that bad so, with encouragement from my physio, I tried running 10 mins, and building up by 5 mins if there was no pain.  There was always some niggles but the pain was so minor I didn't give it the respect it deserved.  I got up to 20 mins and felt some soreness, but in frustration I decided to go again 2 days later to confirm 100% in my mind that it was a real injury.  That was confirmed.  So I stopped any running for a month.  During all this time I was substituting the stationary bike which obviously isn't the same but is better than nothing.

             

            After a month, including physio, dry needling and sports massage, I tried again.  After the second 20 minute "jog" I was sore again so took a few more days off but the soreness disappeared so I tried a 30 minute jog and suddenly there was no pain.  This was 4 weeks ago.  So since then I've done 30 min runs during the week, 45 at the weekend, then 45 during the week, 60 at the weekend, then 60 during the week and 70 at the weekend. I'm now at 70 during the week and will increase the weekend run by 10 minutes each week.  I still get some soreness and ice my butt after each run, but the soreness is stable and possibly decreasing.  There is nothing more exciting than being able to run again after a long break.  My fitness feels not great, but given I can run 70 mins at "easy" pace, it can't be that bad.

             

            I'm targeting the Christchurch half-marathon in June (sorry Mark - I took your advice and blacklisted waterfront) but now I feel like I can plan, I'm going to start looking at other races to build up to that, given my lack of racing.  Also looking forward to becoming far more regular here again.  Because you're such good bastards Smile

            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

              Nice one Steve. Nothing like an injury to motivate you. Sometimes I think it's just time that heals these things even if it is months.

               

              Mark a 3.45 km rep... haha you are almost mortal.

              Maybe you have invented a new workout, the progressive intervals.

               

              Jmac I think running in a group can stop you running perfect tangents as you are in close proximity to the others and can't always see the path ahead. Plus you get sucked along in formation. Thanks for the race report it was a goodie

              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 "      

               

              Marky_Mark_17


                Steve - stoked that you're back!  You've got lots of time to just build fitness with no pressure, and maybe do a shorter race or two over summer/autumn as a tune-up.  The fact that you are still OK running for 70 minutes is a great start.

                 

                Also, it makes sense that you blacklisted Waterfront, I've blacklisted races on the strength of one bad experience let alone two.

                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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                "CONSISTENCY IS KING"

                  JMac Mark Keen nice job on your races,

                  Steve that's good news!

                   

                  I ended up with a few less miles than I hoped for this week but thats ok, still in recovery mode and not pushing too hard. I got in a nice long slow run on Sunday really worked my gluten and hips I'm still a bit sore.

                   

                  Weekly Summary
                  Monday, Sep 30, 2019 thru Sunday, Oct 06, 2019

                  <tfoot> </tfoot>
                  Day Miles Pace Description Link
                  Wed 4.5 8:49 Morning Run strava
                  Thu 4.0 9:17 Morning Run strava
                  Sun 14.0 10:44 Morning Run strava
                    22.5 10:07  

                  PR's

                  1m  5:38 (2018)

                  5k    19:59 (2019)

                  HM  1:33:56 (2018)

                  FM  3:23:07 (2018)

                  JMac11


                  RIP Milkman

                    Steve - welcome back! Always happy to see you around. I guess a couple of thoughts. I'm an expert in coming back from an injury so can give you some tips. First, as always, don't progress too much. 70 minute easy runs is actually quite long for someone coming back after that long of a break. I wouldn't be cracking 60 anytime soon. It's better to run more days at lower times than fewer days at longer times. Second, and this may be contrary to what your dr. is saying so you can ignore it, but I've never found icing to actually do anything. Almost all of the research I've done points to it being useful in the first 48 hours after an injury when things are swollen, but after that, you should actually be heating, not icing. The point is that things are no longer damaged and you are trying to restore bloodflow to the area.

                     

                    Corey - sort of same thing I said with Steve, careful with this long runs. 14 miles is very long for someone running 30 mpw.

                     

                    Mark - wow that first interval was a disaster! I liked Piwi's call on progression intervals. Anyway, I thought 300m was an odd rest distance. It's like not long enough to truly recover, but long enough that you can get some quick reps in. I think when I do 1K repeats, my rests are usually around 500 meters, but that's because I do it in time (3 minutes jogging), not distance.

                    5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                     

                     

                    CommanderKeen


                    Cobra Commander Keen

                      JMac - Great RR, and congrats again on the PR. I'm with you on the tangents - it baffles me that people don't run them. I've been known to draw parts of the course on my hands so I can reference just which direction the next turn goes.
                      Sometimes I think I annoy groups I'm running with during races because I will float around in the pack so I can hit the tangents, rather than maintaining a certain spot in the group.


                      Steve - Welcome back! I'm certainly glad things are really improving for you.

                      5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22

                       

                      Upcoming Races:

                       

                       

                      flavio80


                      Intl. correspondent

                        Keen - you are a much better strategist than I am.

                        On those hot conditions I’d be chasing the 1st place regardless of the warm weather and probably bonk horribly the last 3km.

                         

                        Jmac - so recently during vacation we hit a recreation park that had tons of activities.

                        Mini golf, bow and arrow, etc.

                        Off course I had to try ice skating. I got set up with some very inflexible skating boots and went into the ring.

                        There were these moose like things that you could hang with your hands and just walk forward.

                        In summary, we had 30 minutes, I dropped out early, 10 minutes in. It was just not funny to keep moving ahead hanging on the moose and the boots were killing my shins.

                        I now have a renewed respect for those who can ice skate.

                        Thanks for the race report, I can imagine it must be tough to run races always knowing you might be calling Hugh at any moment.

                         

                        Steve - welcome back, it’s good to see you here. You’re a good bastard too!

                         

                        me - first workout in a few weeks today. It felt great, 10x30s hard 1 min easy just to get the wheels moving.

                        PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021

                        Up next: no idea

                        Tool to generate Strava weekly

                           

                          Steve - welcome back, it’s good to see you here. You’re a good bastard too!

                           

                          Wow Flavio you have already mastered the Kiwi language 

                           

                          Jmac some of us would be happy with Mark's  " disastrous " 1km rep time 

                          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 "      

                           

                          SteveChCh


                          Hot Weather Complainer

                            Steve - welcome back! Always happy to see you around. I guess a couple of thoughts. I'm an expert in coming back from an injury so can give you some tips. First, as always, don't progress too much. 70 minute easy runs is actually quite long for someone coming back after that long of a break. I wouldn't be cracking 60 anytime soon. It's better to run more days at lower times than fewer days at longer times. Second, and this may be contrary to what your dr. is saying so you can ignore it, but I've never found icing to actually do anything. Almost all of the research I've done points to it being useful in the first 48 hours after an injury when things are swollen, but after that, you should actually be heating, not icing. The point is that things are no longer damaged and you are trying to restore bloodflow to the area.

                             

                             

                             

                            Interesting thoughts - I feel like it might be slightly inflamed after some runs which is why I ice, the theory being to get on top of it straight away.  It does actually feel better after icing, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's doing anything of course.

                             

                            For any injury I've had for a month or more, I've found when things (FINALLY) come right I can progress quite quickly.  I'll be keeping a very close eye on it though and may be overly paranoid as required.

                             

                            Just read your race report in full - fantastic effort.

                            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

                            JMac11


                            RIP Milkman

                              Piwi - come on now, you can do 3:46 1K repeats!! I am eagerly this 10K time trial.

                               

                              Flavio - I would pay money to watch this on a video. I don't even understand what a moose like thing is that you can hold on to.

                               

                              Steve - I agree it feels easy to come back quickly, but I guess my obvious counter would be if you think you can come back so quickly, why do you keep getting injured? Not trying to be mean, but as someone has battled so many damn injuries, it took me a long time to learn a lot of this.

                               

                              Tangents - the worst is when the road is curving to the left, you are on the right side of the group, and the group doesn't want to move left. Then you have to either speed up / slow down to get to the tangent, or just deal with it. Good lesson to always run at the back of groups, or not at all (not to mention the wind benefit).

                               

                              Mark - do you have any races left this year? Sorry if I missed it on the front page, I keep missing what you announce to me!

                               

                              Me - Had a great alphabet soup workout yesterday. What made me most happy was not even the effort during intervals, but that I was able to keep up the pace during the easy section. I'm really starting to hit a groove with training now. Next workout on Saturday is 12 at marathon pace. I find MP work to not be necessarily physically tough, but mentally grinding, because you go through a few rough patches and realize you still have 45 minutes left in the run and must keep up the intensity. I usually like running these in races, but there are no half marathons scheduled in the area on Saturday morning.

                              5K: 16:37 (11/20)  |  10K: 34:49 (10/19)  |  HM: 1:14:57 (5/22)  |  FM: 2:36:31 (12/19) 

                               

                               

                              Marky_Mark_17


                                 

                                Mark - do you have any races left this year? Sorry if I missed it on the front page, I keep missing what you announce to me!

                                 

                                 

                                Yep - 3 left.  I'm using the 10,000m as a tune-up for Kerikeri, but will still go pretty hard because there aren't a lot of 10,000m races around!

                                 

                                11/9 : The Agency Group 10,000m - goal 32:59

                                11/23: Kerikeri Half Marathon - goal 1:12:48

                                12/20: Bays Night of 5's - goal 15:54

                                 

                                I'm running Auckland HM next Sunday too, but that one doesn't need to go on the board as it won't be a full race effort (I haven't figured out yet exactly what I'm going to do with 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: Maraetai HM, 10 Mar, DNF

                                Up next: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr

                                "CONSISTENCY IS KING"