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

Piwi, good to hear from you again. At least you are still running some. I can totally understand the lack of motivation, especially if you are busy and work is physical.

 

I got some good advice in the 3:20 thread about my injury, so the last few days I've been using a heat pad to promote blood flow in my upper hamstring/lower butt. I think it feels better. And my swimming is improving, although a video I took yesterday shows I'm doing all kinds of weird stuff in my stroke.

i tried to swim for a while after having signed up for a team traithlon once and I didnt want to let my tem down and drown. Eventually after a few months of religiously swimming I had a fish like feeling and thought I must look a bit like Phelps himself. Turned out I was mor like that Samoan Olympian who almost drowned on the last laps.

Piwi man good to read of you. Keep it going man you are an inspiration!!!

James - your intervals state sub 90.  How often and what is your tempo training?  I wondering if you're lacking this, to improve stamina.  Maybe look into this next cycle?

Watson-  Interesting that you ask about tempos, because I assume that my problem now is speed and not stamina.  Except when I’m building a base, I try to run fast once a week, doing tempos one Friday and either hills or track work the other Friday.  That’s the plan, anyway. Because of my hamstring injury, I did almost no fast running in 2018 until late November, when I finished building my mileage (did 38-40 mpw for 5 weeks, a new high) and started doing tempos once a week.  I had built the tempos back to 3-½ miles @ 6:37, close to my 2017 best, by mid-December, when I got sick and didn’t run fast for 3 weeks. I came back slower and have alternated between tempos and 5x1200 Vo2 max intervals.  I’ve lengthened my tempos to 5 miles @ 6:49, and my 1200s have been improving, but my paces for both are still a bit slower than they were during my last cycle in 2017. However, I’m sustaining my workouts for longer (longest tempo 5 miles rather than 4, and doing 5 1200s rather than 4), and my miles/sets aren’t slowing within the workouts, so I think my stamina may be ok, or at least better than it used to be.  

After Saturday’s half, my next goal race is a half in November, so I’ll have some time to work on speed.  Now that I’m reasonably sure my hamstring can handle hills, I may try doing medium (35-second) hills one Friday, long (2-3-minute) hills the next Friday, and a short tempo run the third Friday, and do a few cycles of that before going back to the track when school gets out & access to the track is easier.  Does that sound good, or do you think I should focus on lengthening the tempos?

Another, related, question:  The next time I try to build a higher base, I’m planning to still do a tempo every other week, maybe doing strides in the off week.  If the idea is just to keep in touch with my speed while I’m building the base, would a short tempo, maybe 2 or 2-½ miles, serve the purpose?   I feel like 4 or 5 miles would leave me too tired when I’m increasing mileage. Thanks for your thoughts.

Piwi - It's awesome that you feel like you have a weight off your shoulders. Enjoy all the surfing and runs with the kiddos!

Mark - Another good week.

Rune - Glad your hamstring feels better!

James - You could try something like 2x 2.5 mi at tempo (or even 2x 3 mi) with 20% of that running time as recovery between. It's easier than doing a solid 5 mile block, but still gets more time at that intensity.

I finished my best week all year at just shy of 50 miles (with 6 days of running!), all easy days. I even made the running club group run, but that'll be over since DD2 will have soccer games Sat. mornings starting next week.

I was able to make a trip to see my grandfather Saturday as well. Went to lunch, drove around the old farm, got some ice cream. Nothing earth-shattering, but it was a good day. 
800m intervals this morning, and I might sneak in an extra couple easy miles later. This feels like the beginning of an actual comeback!

Rune - your swimming is fine, you even manage to move your legs. When I'm swimming, moving arms and legs at the same time is too much for my brain to process, so I just flail my arms to stay afloat.

James - I'm a big fan of tempo workouts but I tend to break them up - at least in summer when conditions are tougher.  2x or 3x 15 min tempo's with 5 min recoveries, or sometimes 4 x 8 minutes with 3 minute recoveries.  In winter I might do a 30-40 minute tempo at HM pace.

Swimming - I'm fairly dreadful as well.  It's a source of some embarrassment to my wife, whose family run a swimming school.

Sorry for the laziness in replies folks, was away skiing (got some great cross training in, skiing in such fresh powder destroyed my quads).

Piwi - So good to hear from you. Would love if you posted here and there, we miss you! Also, if you aren't around this summer for us, who am I going to complain to about Kiwi Points 

Rune - Switching to heat instead of ice has helped so many of my injuries, glad it's helping for you.

CK - Nice to see you back out there, you've been away from the game too long.

Me - They changed they NYC half course and removed some of the hills at the end after everyone (rightfully) complained how awful the design of the course was. Should give me back a bit of time. I still need to run sub 1:19 to have any chance at PR'ing at Boston. This cycle has been so bad I've already begun looking forward to the summer, where I will focus on more speed oriented stuff and get away from marathon training until August.

Steve - funny, just saw your comment on Strava and was thinking the same thing about the cooler temperatures starting to demonstrate how the hard work over summer is paying off.  I had an awesome workout up at the track this morning, 13km at ~3:36/km average including 400's and 800's (with short 200m recoveries)  I did EXACTLY the same workout a week ago in humid, horrible conditions and was at least 10s/km slower.  It was a bit windy both days, probably worse today overall.  Definitely a big confidence-builder with Maraetai and Waterfront coming up - the speed is there and it looks like the volume is paying off in terms of ability to sustain that speed too.  Finished February at 302km, biggest start to the year for me already by quite some distance (675km total vs. around 500km in 2017 and 2018).

JMac - hooray for course improvements!