Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019
Hot Weather Complainer
Flavio - thanks, I was actually thinking of your crazy 2x5km session during that. I could have done the same session but both sub 20 would have been very doubtful.
I had a running coach up until I left Melbourne and I stick to the things I learned from him. I think I'll need a new one soon...I have a tentative plan of doing a full if and when I finally get through a half cycle and race well which may be very soon. The guy in Melbourne was also a physio and got me injury free enough to actually get a PB again 12 years after the last.
http://www.physiocentralpark.com.au/running.html
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 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
RIP Milkman
Steve - You're doing pretty well on your own! But a coach is always helpful when going to a new distance. I would love one for a 5K, I've forgotten how to train well for them. Excited to see what you do this weekend, I think you're looking good for your goal.
Flavio - In all seriousness, those PRs are right around the corner!
Keen - spring weather in the US is so volatile I think it's going to be hard to run marathons then in general. Not sure I'll do one again.
Marco - Your mileage buildup is definitely a bit aggressive lately so be careful.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Watson - good luck with the exams.
Keen - I think 'supervised risk taking' is the key. Kids learn and develop by pushing their limits. Sure there will be the odd bump or bruise but as long as it's nothing too serious, that's just kids being kids.
Marco - I'm not a mileage king like JMac or Keen but I think as long as you're listening to your body, that's the key.
Flavio - ugghhh on the PR equalling. That happened to me last year when I exactly equalled my 10km PR. I was lucky I got another crack at it a few weeks later and managed to nail it. You are so right about gun time though. That was the difference between 2nd and 3rd place for me at Devonport Half Marathon last year. I faded badly after having food poisoning for much of race week and only had about 20 seconds over 3rd place by the end. He'd actually started quite a long way back and had a faster net time than me, but gun time got me 2nd placeI
Also at road relays some of the guys said I should shave my leg hair to make me faster (I haven't).
Steve - personally I'm a big advocate of coaches (as well as other injury prevention stuff like osteopaths). With your injury record, it could be a good investment if you're thinking potentially about a full.
Me - I'm not sure if it's the cooler temps or if things are falling into place, but it's always a good sign for me when my warm ups start edging towards 4:00/km pace while my HR is barely nudging out of recovery and into an aerobic zone. Some good sprints in this morning's workout to get the cadence up.
DAILY WEATHER UPDATE
OK, I know this is what you've all been waiting for.
I'm pretty excited, because Saturday and Sunday are now both in the 5-day forecast, which is a lot more accurate than the 10-day forecast (forecasts for days 6-10 are generally just computer simulated whereas days 1-5 are specifically prepared by meteorologists).
Overnight low for Sat is now down to 9C, with the forecast for Sunday being partly cloudy (high of 19C which is also down), with the chance of a shower, and light southerlies. The 8am forecast is for 12C (54F) with 10km/h southerlies (race start is 7:30am) although I suspect it might feel slightly colder than that. The wind is a good thing as the southerlies will be barely noticeable on the course (which is mostly east-west and is bordered by hills on the south) but will keep things cool.
This morning it was 11C, clear, calm and pretty ideal for running, so pretty close.
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"
Thanks for the weather update Mark (seriously!), that is sounding promising. I hear you and JMac on the coach - I probably need a more responsive plan. When I had the coach we'd plan every 2 weeks based on the last 2. Now I basically just stick to what has worked before when I probably should listen to the body more.
Just did my last run apart from a few strides on Saturday. I was hitting 3:50 pace during my short intervals but I felt awful and nearly gave up on the 2km cool down. Not that I cooled down, it's 25 degrees today - if it had been like this for my 2x20mins last Wednesday I would have gone to pieces.
Steve - If I hadn't had a coach or regular trips to the osteopath, I'd almost certainly have injured myself training for the full I did. Admittedly I was still pretty new to running then and I suspect I could probably manage OK now, but a coach that knows their stuff will just find new/different ways to (safely) challenge you, which isn't always easy to do yourself.
I would do the homework though. There are lots of elite runners who advertise coaching online. I'm always a little more skeptical of them than the genuine 'coaches' (who may not necessarily be phenomenal athletes in their own right) and who probably have a broader perspective and more experience.
TBH the weather forecast, at this stage, is probably looking as good as one could hope for at this time of year in Auckland.
Intl. correspondent
No we wouldn't. Moran.
LOL LOL LOL I laughed way more than I should at this!
Steve - Oh, I'm glad that workout was inspiration to push harder. If you're looking for a running coach, look no further than the wizard training the famous Mark Paterson.
Mark - You keep showing off your perfect weather in our faces and see what happens moohahaha
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
thanks JMac, Flavio, Mark , and Keen. You might be right on the mileage, but I think I managed it ok and it was the original plan (the progression was interrupted by 2 colds, but I decided not to reduce and keep the plan...
I am taking it easy now, and will start taper after the 10 K on Saturday and the long run on Sunday
PRs since re-started in 2013:
5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18)
HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)
Upcoming races:
???
marco - I would say in the future, if you skip 2 weeks of training, don't just continue on with the plan as if you didn't skip those two weeks, unless you are some sort of super human that is immune to injuries. As someone who ramped up his cycle too quickly this winter doing something similar, I paid the price.
Flavio - glad you got it, I'm sure some others are probably think this dictatorship is getting to my head with calling people (misspelled) names!
Weather - You guys are killing me talking about your perfect weather. There is a historic storm pummeling the central US right now with snowfalls in April never seen before. Of course, that's the storm headed to Boston. Tracking of it is going to be key, weatherboy over on the Sub 3 thread is giving some good insight into the models and timing.
Steve - feeling awful during the taper is a sign of future success. Did you say this is your last run though? Are you taking 3 straight days off??
Cobra Commander Keen
Mark - I'll certainly agree that "supervised risk-taking" is a key thing. I try encouraging my kiddos to run, climb, etc. all they can - it really helps build self confidence.
JMac - You mentioned in sub-3 a running jacket you got - which was is it?
Weather - Craziness all around in the US. We're narrowly going to miss getting snowed on this weekend as the temp will probably be just a couple degrees too high, but we should get a ton of rain. Poor DD2's soccer football games keep getting rained out, while DD1's games (Friday nights) are all fine!
ETA: I'm still playing that chess game against the master (he took a solid month or so off). I clearly have an advantage in space, but the pawn structure is locked down so that I can't really break through. Unless one or the other of us makes a big mistake this game will almost certainly be a draw.
HR sensors - I posted a couple weeks ago that I had been having issues with all my HR sensors. My remedy for this? Buy another HR sensor! I went with a Polar OH1+ - an optical monitor that's typically worn on the upper arm. This gets around both the static issues seen by chest straps and the low blood flow in the wrist that causes problems with the watch sensor. I've used it for a solid week or so now, and it's just awesome! It'll connect to anything I want it to (ANT+ and BLE broadcast simultaneously) and it just works - I haven't had a single issue at all. My only complaint, and fairly minor one at that, is that the battery life is a bit over 10 hours which might not get me through a training week.
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
I totally forgot you guys were playing that chess game!
Keen - warning: this jacket is crazy expensive, but I figured if I was going to pay $250 for the VF, I can pay up for a really good running jacket. I did get it 20% off. It absolutely blows away my last rain jacket I owned.
https://www.gorewear.com/us/en-us/gore-r7-gore-tex-shakedry-hooded-jacket-100095.html
Thursday and Friday off, except weights, Saturday will be a 15 minute shake out with some strides.
A little late now, but given the mileage you are running, I would not take that much time off before a half. I would recommend running Thursday (I think that's today with you future folks), maybe around 30 minutes. Then take Friday off, then 15 minutes is good for Saturday. Your body is going to be all out of sorts with effectively 3 straight days off.
Of course, everybody is different, so maybe you've discovered this works for you.
Weather - ok sorry guys, I am going on about it. But I haven't had really good race conditions since Dunedin last September (Devonport in late September was pretty mint but I was still getting over food poisoning in that race). The forecast overnight low on Sat is now down to 9C!
Incidentally I got bored and looked at the thread from this time last year. Steve was having some taper madness (ankle), and I said the weather would be good for the race - in hindsight I read the forecast wrong and it was actually a bit on the warm side - although not horribly so (sorry Steve, I promise it looks better this year).
Judging from the chatter on Strava there should be a pretty strong field for the race with guys like Greg Darbyshire running it who weren't there last year, most likely Jono Jackson too. Hopefully I'll find some quick guys to work with.
Flavio - I've raced on good days, and in some unbelievably crap conditions. You gotta enjoy the good ones because sometimes you get days like Taupo 2016 (Piwi would back me up on this) or Devonport 2017 (an entire month's worth of rain in 8 hours). Or the humid misery-fests of Orewa 2018 and Maraetai 2019.
Taper - I felt awesome Tues and Wed but a little sluggish this morning. It was quite a bit warmer though, and windy. I'll have a full rest day tomorrow then my pre-race usual 30 minute shakeout on Saturday morning.
edit: just saw JMac's comments. Yeah I'm with him on this one Steve. Go for a light one today. 2 straight days off followed by 15 mins on Sat is probably too light.
JMac- Goretex stuff is amazing. Dry but also breathable. So many running jackets are not breathable and they get pretty damn hot pretty damn quick.
Facebook- Reminder: you have an event coming up this weekend: 2019 2XU Waterfront Half Marathon. OH REALLY I DO I'D TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT THANKS SO MUCH FACEBOOK.
A little late now, but given the mileage you are running, I would not take that much time off before a half. I would recommend running Thursday (I think that's today with you future folks), maybe around 30 minutes. Then take Friday off, then 15 minutes is good for Saturday. Your body is going to be all out of sorts with effectively 3 straight days off. Of course, everybody is different, so maybe you've discovered this works for you.
Yeah, I differ from you and Mark in being able to run ridiculous volumes at pace...this has worked for me in the past and I've even spoken to coaches who think I should rest more in the last week.
Mark - I was thinking on my run yesterday that this was the run my ankle gave out last year. It got crazy sore out of nowhere but came right the day before. Nothing like that this year, and with everyone in my team in the UK for the start of cricket season, I'm working from home the rest of the week to avoid all the sick people in my office.
Weather sounding fantastic. I also remember last year having a similar forecast but at the start thinking it was a bit warm. Southerly came through here which I assume will go through Auckland too - when I lived in Wellington the best days were the cool settled days behind the southerly, maybe Auckland is the same? Have you seen the live timing links posted yet?
JMac - Boston weather update please.
Steve - yeah it looks like the wind has picked up slightly, but it's a southerly and pretty light which won't be an issue on the course apart from around 400m between Kelly Tarltons and Okahu Bay. If anything it will just help keep things cool. There's hills to the south on around 90% of the course anyway. I assure you the forecast is way better than last year.