Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019
RIP Milkman
Boston weather update: going to be right on the fringe of the "warm" and "cold" side of the low pressure system coming in. No matter what, it's going to rain a good amount. It's just a question of whether it's 45/7 and a headwind the entire way (repeat of last year, i.e. the worst conditions possible for running), or more like low to mid 50s/11 and a crosswind. Right now, it's right on the damn border. I am absolutely praying for the 50s and rain, because although that will suck to run in for 3 hours, it's not hypothermic like last year. I'm not sure I can possibly dress appropriately for 2018 Boston.
You gotta love when a headwind is only predicted for about 12 hours over the next 7 days, and they happen to be when you plan on running a marathon. This is the risk you have of a course that only runs in one direction.
Steve - I do think you require lower mileage than others, but that doesn't necessarily mean you take the day off. Sometimes just getting a shakeout jog of 20 minutes a few days in advance is enough to keep your legs from locking up. However, if you've stuck with this in the past, I get it.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
JMac - ugggghhh. Sounds like a total coin-toss scenario. Fingers crossed you dodge the headwind, that would be suckage.
Steve - eh, we're all different and if it works for you, now is probably not the time to change it. I like short sharp stuff in race week just to keep the legs turning over and the focus there, with a day off two days pre-race, and a 30 minute shake-out the day before the race. But I know 160km/week guys who barely taper at all for a half because they feel like it makes them sluggish.
Funnily I've run almost the exact same course for my pre-race shakeout for almost every race in the past 3 years (aside from one or two races outside of Auckland). 7km or thereabouts on Upper Harbour Drive with some short efforts. Even when we moved house last year I was able to keep the course basically the same - I just end up starting at the other end of the road now.
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"
Hot Weather Complainer
I can hear what you're both saying but 3 days out doesn't feel like time to change plans...it worked for my PB race 3 years ago and I tend to try and do everything exactly the same after a race like that (including nonsensical, illogical things). I've been amazed in previous years how great I feel on race day at race pace (with a notable exception) compared to struggling on long slow runs sometimes in training. I generally put it down to the taper.
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
This is where experimenting with tapers matters. I don't experiment with goal races, but it's good to do it with other races. For example, I barely tapered into my half last month and the race went very well, so it showed me that I can do much less of a marathon taper than others. Most people do 80% 3 weeks out, 60% 2 weeks out, but I bumped that up to 90% 3 weeks out, 70% 2 weeks out since I saw how well the half went. I would recommend experimenting when you get a chance.
JMac- yeah agree on the experimentation point. For me, history has tended to show that for a half, I do best when the two weeks before race week are below average mileage but have a lot of workouts. During training weeks this year, I've averaged 80-85km. After Maraetai half, I've averaged around 80% of weekly mileage, but with 3 out of 5 runs each week being workouts. Kind of a similar pattern to what I had leading up to Dunedin, dropping the volume but ramping the intensity as the race approaches. Then taper week I might have ~35km in the legs before the race so overall it works out to about a 70% week. We'll see if it brings the results!
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.
JMac, thanks I completely agree with you in principle. The 2 weeks skipped were weird, and the mileage in the weeks does not represent well the idea of training I am trying to implement in this cycle. If I was increasing speed I would have definitely not done what I have done in the past 2 weeks with the 10 days missed at the beginning of March. The whole idea of having a marathon now was to prep for half marathon later this year (knowing my problems in the past I decided to take a different approach to it).
I hope I can get my week to end without too much stress on muscles and bones and start the taper. I will probably not repeat this approach to prepare an important race. thanks for the advice!
good luck with Boston to who is going to run! Today is a beautiful day in Raleigh after yesterday's storm (and forecasting didn't get it right) so hopefully forecasts will change
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:
???
DAILY WEATHER UPDATE
It's still looking pretty good for Sunday (Sat overnight low 9C, partly cloudy, southerlies).
Stay tuned for tomorrow when the 48-hour hourly forecast will kick in.
Hi guys I see it's an exciting weekend coming up for Jmac and all Boston runners and Mark and Steve with their half. Hope the weather is reasonable for all.
I saw Keen was running in London so thought we could hook up for a run....but it seems it was virtual London
I've been doing a 6am 8km run each day in London which is actually up from my usual 6kms. There is so much to see the runs are amazingly easy and even a decent pace.
Its coolish 5c and I'm wearing shorts and a light shirt but feel fine. Hoping for a Mikkey encounter next week when we hit Brighton just gotta confirm a day.
Felt like I pulled a muscle lower front shin putting a sock on yesterday pointing my toes and foot hard down and away from me . Would have been stressing if I was still racing!
Anyway will be watching results for you guys so best of luck.
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 "
Hi Piwi
Taper percentage can be a little misleading. A 50% week is quite different between a 90 miles per week runner and a 40 miles per week runner.
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
I do agree with that. In general, higher mileage runners need more tapers. I think the 80/60 rule Pfitz came up with applied to him and other elites, but then he tried to apply it to those running 50 miles per week. I can't see how you need to drop to 30 miles the week before your marathon, i.e. 2 weeks prior, at such low mileage. As you start getting up to 100 miles per week, it makes a lot more sense to be running 60 miles 2 weeks out.
Cobra Commander Keen
JMac - I've certainly heard about that jacket, but hadn't looked into it much myself. How does it breathe?Gore does make really good gear (I have a pair of their tights and a different jacket), but the downside is that it's all super-spendy unless you find a good discount.
Piwi - Sorry for the location fake-out! How odd would it be for you to go from NZ to England and end up meeting an American step-up-from-imaginary friend?
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
Piwi - good to hear from you, good pics on Strava lately of your travels!
JMac - Good luck, hoping that Boston weather mess sorts itself. I saw weatherboy's post over on the sub-3 thread and it looks like a total coin-toss. Just gotta get out there and enjoy it I guess, not much you can do about the weather.
Steve- I will keep an eye out for you on Sunday, but if I don't see you before, GOOD LUCK! Will try and catch you at the finish line. Your training has been an absolute model of consistency over the past few months and I'm optimistic it's going to show in the results, given also that conditions look pretty favourable.
The 48 hour weather forecast is now live. It still looks good, with 12-13C ish at race start at 7:30am (I suspect it may be slightly cooler based on the overnight low) and the southerlies dropping right away overnight.
In weird/creepy news, I had a day off today but there was a serious car v. pedestrian crash on Quay St, which is one of my most regular running routes. I suspect the pedestrian was actually crossing the road as there is a lot of space (and a cycle path, and trees) between the road and footpath, but it was a little unnerving.
Mark - I'll probably see you at the start when I line up too close to the front for my speed
Hopefully I'll finish just under 15 minutes after you...so you're allowed 10 minutes of celebrating before heading back to the finish chute.
My partner commented that I'm way more relaxed than usual the week of a race. It may be because work has been very stressful but I guess I feel relaxed because I know it can't be as bad as last year. And maybe because I've done the hard yards and I won't know until about the 16km mark whether I'll have a shot at the goal so I might as well just wait and see.
Speaking of calm, I'm the calmest I've ever been the week of a race because I'm already over this race with the weather forecast. Goals are out the window, so who cares what I run! PR comes? Great. Doesn't come? Who cares, weather is crap anyway. Biggest thing is I just hope that this entire cycle leads to an increase in fitness for my summer racing. I planned out a bunch of 5Ks to run this summer, looking at trying at least 3 times. Hard to find 10Ks around me during the summer, which makes sense given the charity crowd and the heat.
Steve - I am definitely (very) excited for the race, but not stressed, if that makes sense. Just looking forward to getting out there and really going hard at it. Really just want Sunday morning to be here already!!
The race actually doubles as Auckland Half Marathon Champs. Apparently to be eligible you have to be wearing club colours (as well as registered to a club, which I am), but there's no way I'm wearing the Takapuna club singlet - the old ones have all the breathability of clingwrap (they're OK if the temperature is below about 10C!). There's nothing much on the line other than kudos anyway and I'm doing NZ Half Marathon Champs in Dunedin in September anyway.
Numbers are up this year but I'm not entirely sure who's gonna be lining up in terms of the really quick guys. Jono Jackson will probably be there, I think Greg Darbyshire is running too and there's always the off chance that someone uber-fast like Michael Voss or Cam Graves pops up too. I'm not gonna try and stick with any of them as they'll all be 1:12 or faster, but if Mark Boyce is running then I might just be able to work with him at a stretch. Adam Gallagher is also running I think, he would've been perfect as he just pipped me at National Road Race Champs in Sept but he's had a bit of time off since then and I don't think he's really targeting this race. Brad L. was talking 1:14-1:15 but he's sick and looks like he's written the race off.