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

Keen I used to take water from public drinking fountains or schools. Does your route pass any ? Then I would practice taking gels too. Otherwise you could hide drinking bottles before hand.

Had nightmares about getting lost and having to run the same segment of a marathon over and over (on a cross country course) last night.  Late runs in the dark and cold get into your subconscious.

I had very few running dreams.

I did have one where it was half marathon around some lake, with the total distance around being a half marathon.  I was by myself, and was running a good time, and then I saw people running towards me and realized that I was doing the course in reverse!

32:58!! Tough conditions with swirling winds and basically had to do all the work myself from about 10 laps in.

Nice Job Mark!

Keen - It looks like you left some in the tank on that half. That is always good to know.

Go for slight sub 3, speed up if feeling great at mile 22.

Mark - Amazing job, jeez, it’s like there’s no ceiling for you.

It’s not as nice that the pacer didn’t go all the way but having a pacer for 4k is still excellent.

Also, is the internet still in the dial modem times in New Zealand? How come all these Facebook videos are in 240p haha.

By the way, I’m impressed your GPS watch was off by that much, mine was about 30m off when I ran a 10000 time trial earlier this year.

Kimba - I’ve had that same nightmare about 3, 4 times. I always wake up exhausted as if I was really running the race.

Oh and my running dream is usually a sprinting one where I just can't move my legs fast enough. It kinda sums up my frustration with lack of natural speed 

Saw a Nick Symonds YouTube video yesterday where he purchased a pair of 4 % shoes and does a couple of treadmill comparisons to another shoe then dissects them with a knife 

Race Report - The Agency Group 10,000m

Over the last few years the Wellington Scottish club have built this up to basically be the premier 10,000m event in NZ (there aren't that many, to be fair).  A number of the elite field were injury scratches or DNS but there is still a pretty solid group of runners here.  In one of the earlier races, Sally Gibbs (who is a bit of a legend) has set a W55+ world record, although most runners seem to having a slightly hard time with the wind making it tough going in the eastern corner of the track.  I guess it wouldn't be Wellington without a bit of wind around, although apparently it had dropped off a bit from the previous day.  Anyway I'm still hopeful of running sub-33, as the track should be faster than the Pulman Park road course (and its infamous s-bend) where I ran 33:15 a couple of months ago.  Kerikeri Half Marathon in 2 weeks is the goal race, so I've only done a mini-taper this week.

I have a chat to Mick Keating before the race (the only other Aucklander there, I think), who is targeting a similar time to me and I line myself up near Dougal Thorburn (the 33-minute pacer) at the start.  There should be a good crew to work with, as Stephen Day and Matt Moloney should all be around the same pace too.

The gun goes and we are off.  Halfway through lap 1, I get myself a couple of spots behind the 33 minute pacer and there is a good train developing.  I notice the wind as we turn the eastern corner for the first time, it kind of chops across the legs in the first half of the corner and then it's a straight headwind for the second half and into the home straight.  It's not super strong but it's enough that it'll be a mental battle of turning into it 25 times (!).

The first 6-7 laps are pretty uneventful.  I'm not used to pack running and I feel like I'm having to do micro speed-up's and slow-down's to match the guy in front of me, but the legs are feeling really strong and I felt really fresh through these early laps and a little like I was cruising.  Around lap 7 or so I hear a 'clink' just behind me and Stephen Day has had an altercation with the rail - he dropped out not too soon after.

The pacer drops out around lap 10 or 11, shortly after Hamish Carson and Oli Chignell have passed us the first time.  I realise now I'll have to manually count laps since we're not on the lead lap anymore.  Carson was gunning for something in the 29's and has been in amazing form lately (he ran down a gap of 2 minutes or so at NZ Road Relays on the last leg to win it for Scottish with a new lap record).

Anyway, I'd found a good rhythm so I step up to lead the pack which is probably around 4-5 runners now.  It's windy, but it's not Pulman Park windy, so I figure I can do a few laps and then maybe swap with someone else.  I kept feeling really good so I just kept it rolling.  At halfway I figure we are almost bang on pace for sub-33.

The wind got a bit stronger around lap 15, mentally I'm thinking 10 laps to go, and I'm a bit amused by the fact my watch is already reading around 500m long, the GPS often overshoots the corners on the track.  I realise it's probably someone else's turn to tow the group around but I don't want to break my rhythm, especially now it is starting to feel a bit like hard work out there, so I just keep going with it.

With around 7 laps to go I'm really getting into countdown mode.  I'm holding pace well but I'm starting to have to work for it.  I'm not sure how far behind me the rest of the pack is and I'm really just focused on keeping the rhythm going.  I lost count of the laps here at one point, and distracted myself for about half a lap trying to work it out again.  Hamish Carson passed me for the second time around here, he's doing it solo as his pacer has dropped out too.

5 laps to go felt like breaking through a bit of a barrier, that's only 2km right?  I remember figuring here that I was still right on pace for 33 minutes.  With 4 laps to go it's just a mile repeat and I think of JMac, who reminded me of this trick.  There's a good group of supporters around the home straight on the track and I get a few cheers by name and a few for Takapuna (my club) which I'm really grateful for.  The cowbells are going strong too.

The third to last lap, that was the real zinger.  Early in the lap my stomach started to cramp without warning, and then around halfway down the back straight I cop an unexpected blast of wind in the face that I was expecting to hit on the corner.  It felt like it threw me off balance but I'm pretty sure that was just my mind playing games with me.  Coming around the corner on to the home straight I was really starting to go deep into the pain cave.  I know the second to last lap is going to suck.  Embrace the suck.

The second to last lap did suck, I dug so far into the pain cave I found some dinosaur skeletons.  My breathing was getting heavy, but I know there's only one lap after this one.  I pass a guy on this lap who is fading badly after falling off the 32-minute pack and that gives me a bit of a boost (and around 100m of distraction).  Then, the final lap bell chimes as I pass the finish line and it's on to the last lap.

My watch said around 31:45 at this point, and I realise that means I've gotta run better than 75 for the last lap.  That's only a few seconds slower than my usual pace for 400m repeats, so I know I'm really going to have to give it everything.  The lungs are burning, the legs are tired, and I'm seeing the Easter bunny riding a neon pink unicorn to the point that I don't even notice the wind on the final corner turning into the home straight.  I figure I've got 16 or 17 seconds to hit the sub-33.  Afterburners on!  I stretched out at what felt like full sprint and just smash it as hard as I can until I'm over the line - I stop my watch on the line and it's 32:58!!!  I'm pretty confident official time will be the same (it was).

Mick and a few others are 5-10 seconds behind, Mick thanks me for towing them around for the second half of the race.  Honestly, I was almost as stoked with that as I was with the time.  Him and Matt Moloney are very good runners so to have earned their respect was very rewarding.  With a significant number of DNF's (and DNS's), my time was actually good enough for 8th.

Back to the hotel for a celebratory bourbon or two!! It dawns on me that this was all a bit crazy - I landed in Wellington at 4:30pm, raced at 7pm, and then I'm flying out the next morning at 8:45am.  Also when the official results go up, I realise that I was the only runner in the elite race to run a time faster than the seeding time (estimated time) that I provided ahead of the race.  JMac and Flavio are gonna have a field day with this.

Official result: 32:58.95