Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Intl. correspondent
Hashi - LOL, yeah, the Kiwi accent is kind of hilarious, better and bitter sound the same.
Corey - Safe travels!
Piwi - I think everybody struggles to hear the beeps when there are cars passing. Big week, you’re coming back with a revenge in mind 😎
Zeb - Have a nice race!
me - A nice week with 3 workouts on top of a stellar week of strength training.
Due to immense popular request, here's Friday's strength training routine (Cause it was fun finding out the English names for the exercises)
Part 1 - 3x
12 hanging knee raises
15 bodyweight squats
9 side planks weight rotations, but only doing the beginning of the movement
Part 2 - 3x
24 total (12l 12r) Split squats 10kg on each side
12 bodyweight pushups
20s Lateral stretching
Part 3 - 3x
6x deadlift 42kg
15 Keiser half kneeling lat pulldown 20kg
10 wall ball twists w 6kg
30s standing wide legged forward fold
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
Cfarr, have a great trip!
Piwi, very nice 2 workouts
Watson, nice steady progress
Mark, good week. Glad you're enjoying the shoes
Steve, nice week and sounds like a great plan for the HM
James, sorry your progress has been slower that you expected.
Flavio, I've enjoyed seeing the different workouts you've been doing for the 1500.
5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)
My week started out well and then got derailed by covid. My DS had a daycare exposure Mon, started running a fever Thurs, and finally tested + Sat. He's totally back to normal now but Thurs night/Friday were pretty miserable. Now it's just a waiting game to see if DD(vaccinated), DH(boosted), or I(boosted) catch it. So far none of us have symptoms so we're advised to wait til Tues to test.
My run Sat was pretty miserable and I was worried it was the start of something but today's run in much warmer weather was great so I'm going to chalk Sat's up to sick kid fatigue.
I go back and forth whether I should preemptively switch to all easy runs this upcoming week so as not to overtax my body or if I'm feeling fine stick to my training plan.
Piwi -we went to Nazare today. It's not the time of the year for the big waves though.
Waltons ThreadLord
Hopewell Valley Vineyards / Pennington 5k - 5/29/22
We got to the site an hour ahead of time and the parking was already filling up (as we were warned it would). We (my son and I) grabbed our bibs and shirts, and I made my first PoP stop. The temperature was still below 70º in the shade, but there was bright sunshine most places. Our family (wife and other son came along to watch) grabbed some chairs under a large tent to stay cool. Around quarter after eight I went out for a short run, not to warm-up in that weather, but to get my legs loosened up and get the blood flow moving; then back under the tent to stay cool. About 15 minutes before the start, my son and I did some warmup drills (still under the tent), then headed to the start line. They asked that people line up with faster runners up front. There was one couple, pushing a large tri-wheel chair with an apparently disabled young man riding in it, who lined up at the starting mat, but nobody else did. Even when the gun went off, the next closest runner was about 10' behind the start line. I was about 4 rows back, as I didn't have the chutzpah to be the only one at the front.
Mile 1, 7:49
I was purposely off to a quick start as the first 0.1 miles or so was in the 1-lane driveway of the vineyard, so I wanted to be sure not to get caught in traffic. We hit the main road and I knew I was going at an unsustainable rate, so I tried to ease off a bit but the fact that the course was going downhill didn't help with that. I continued easing off a bit until I realized I was going too slowly and I picked it up a bit. I'd say it took me ½ a mile to settle in to a groove, at which point we hit a modest hill and I slowed down again. We crested the hill and turned at the same time and I used the downhill to pick up the pace. I knew at this point that going sub-24 was going to be a long shot.
Mile 2, 7:58
The mile started a generally downhill stretch to the turnaround (the race director had said "It's a simple out and back course with two turns - if you get lost...God help you.") and I was working to pick up my pace to take advantage of the downhill. By this point, more people were passing me than I was passing, but not a lot. I saw the eventual winner coming back and she looked strong (she'd post a 20:21). I started counting runners and when I saw my son I told him he was in the top 10 males, but he didn't quite understand what I tried to tell him; at that point he was about 1 minute ahead of me. The turnaround was hard for me - the road was narrow at that point with no shoulders and the course immediately started uphill, which made it hard for me to accelerate back up to speed. It was during this segment, when I struggled to get under an 8:30 pace going uphill, that I knew sub-24 wasn't going to happen today.
Mile 3, 8:06
Early in the third mile I passed a kid who'd dropped down to walking and shortly after that a guy passed me. I resolved to try not to let anyone else pass me for the rest of the race. The race instructions were to run "with traffic" (i.e. the right hand side of the road) so the incoming and outgoing runners would not get in each other's way. However, on the way back, the left hand side of the road was the shady side and all the leaders moved over into the shade as soon as they passed the last outbound walkers (and I followed suit). With about half a mile to go, I heard footsteps behind me. I put on a burst and the footsteps faded a bit. Then they came back. For the rest of the race, I was being pursued, but it helped me keep going thanks to my resolve not to be passed.
Last 0.1, 7:05 pace (per my watch)
The footsteps behind weren't getting closer, but I was closing on three runners ahead of me. I tried to kick, and did increase pace a bit, but I ran out of race course to catch anyone, which is probably for the best as I was rapidly heating up (later I'd see my HR was in excess of what I usually hit while doing track work).
I was hot and drank water, but they had (oddly) put the bottles of water in the sun, so I was re-hydrating but not cooling off. I headed back to the large tent to sit in the shade. It took me a while to cool off, but my wife helped by reading results. My son finished 43 seconds ahead of me, second of five in his age group (15-19), and 25th overall (he admitted to fading over the last two kilometers - his splits, per kilometer, were 4:19, 4:35, 4:44, 5:04 and 5:06). I finished 32nd overall and 2nd of 20 in my age group (males 50-59). There were just over 300 participants and for some reason close to 2/3 were women. In addition to a female winning the race, women took 3 of the top 5 spots.
I'd call it a good day, with both my son and I making our AG podiums. While I did fade in the heat, the fade wasn't too bad, especially considering the elevation profile of the course, which had most of the last half mile slightly uphill. I have two more 5k races and a 4 miler this summer, so I better get used to racing in the heat.
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Clinton Country Run 15k, 4/27; Running is Back 10k, 5/12
Fred I like that word chutzpah . Never heard it before.
Congratulations on the podium finishes for you both.
Flavio awesome I'm jealous.
This is what it can look like. There is a person on that wave....
Caitlin sorry to hear about the covid. We found the vaccinated in our family still caught it with no difference in symptoms to unvaccinated.
Nice week good job.
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 "
Hot Weather Complainer
Flavio - Nice week, great strength training! That's why you're the king.
Caitlin - Nice week, sorry to hear about the derailment. Hopefully you can avoid it, I'd definitely take the week as it comes as to how hard to push.
Fred - Nice race report, on what sounds like a pretty tough day. The one thing missing from your report is your time! Although you gave enough clues for us to work it out. Your son ran 23:48 assuming the race distance is exactly 5km which I guess means your time was 24:31? Given the conditions and course, I'd say that means you're probably close to PR shape in cooler weather.
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
James - surprisingly I managed to get a pair of the Speeds for NZ$149 here which is very close to US$99 at current exchange rates. Normally they are almost twice that though.
Steve - I would expect your coaches view on marathon pace will trump the opinions of random internet commentators. Nice week.
Piwi - I stopped watching Jono and Ben a while ago but that sounds kinda funny. Was a great win by Sam Tanner for sure.
Flavio - not sure what you mean, we Kiwis don't have an accent. I like the strength training routine, lots of good functional exercises in there.
Caitlin - sorry to hear the family is sick, hopefully you can avoid it. I'd just see how you feel - maybe give it a few days easy and if you know you are in the clear ramp it back up after that. If you catch it, from what I've seen it's best to just take a few days off rather than trying to fight it.
Fred - nice effort, sounds like a tough day out there!
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"
I can’t really justify buying another pair just for races
Surely, as we all love running as much as we do, there is always justification for new shoes...??
Caitlin – Sick-kid fatigue is definitely a thing, eh? And the ongoing “Do we have it? Don’t we have it?” Covid saga is also quite draining.
I’m a big fan of sticking to my training plans, at least for the start of the workout. I usually know pretty quickly if I’ve made the right decision, or if I need to back off and turn it into an easy run (or an early coffee & muffin!).
Piwi – That photo of Nazare is just sick (and makes me sick just thinking about it). Good to see a bit of elevation towards the end of your week…😊
Watson – Cheers. The new course seems about 3mins faster than the old one, so I probably undersold my expectations. Don’t think I would’ve been happy with anything over 49mins!
Fred – Great detailed RR. Enjoyed reading it.
Steve – Your journey to Melbourne is already looking strong. Will enjoy following your progress.
My week was a smaller week after a few big weeks (smaller than planned, but sick kids put the kaibosh on a couple of planned runs). We had the third race (and first serious one) of the XC season, and it was our club’s Vosseler Shield. Here’s a little blurb about it:
“Affectionately known, though affection is a difficult word to describe the love-hate attitude most have towards this race, as the toughest cross country race in New Zealand. It's a little less cross country, a little more mountain running, and a highlight of the harrier season”.
I finished 7th MM50 of 28, but there were a quick runners absent. Pretty happy with my time, although I’d like to get stronger on the uphills.
50+ age-group PBs: Half Perish 1:24:24 (June '23 Road Race) - 10km 37:52 (2022 Local Road Champs) - Track 5km 18:49 (Aug '22) - Perish Run 3:17:42
2024 Goals: Boston Perish Run Sub 3:15 - Road/Track 10km Sub 37:30 - 5km Sub 18:20
Hashiritai - I thought the Pukekohe XC course was renowned as tough but it's got nothing on that one you ran! That's brutal! Great effort.
Sorry for the omission. I ran a 24:43. We'll see what the summer brings.
Mark I don't follow them either but saw it on my Instagram. We inadvertently got on one of their TV shows when we went to the robot wars in Auckland a couple of years ago.
I can't find any footage of Sam's race. It's all Jakob and the mile race on YouTube.
Hash nice job on that brutal course. Papamoa doesn't have hills although if I drive 15 mins I can get to plenty.
Fred - Thanks for the race report. There really is not much we can do about warm weather. Even people who live there their whole lives can’t perform as well on that heat.
Piwi - I’m kind of impressed how those big waves never hit the city of Nazare, you’d think the waves would gulp the whole city at once.
Mark - 😁
Hashi - You also seem to be made of a different material as you can crush these bizarre tough courses every week like they're nothing.
all - The inferior thread started gossiping and as such they've passed us in number of pages. We can't allow that to happen, let's get a few discussions started over here, like how Mark runs his easy runs too fast, why marathons suck, etc 😤
Haha! To be honest, I had a very quiet year in 2020, with some skin cancer getting cut out of my leg and the birth of a beautiful (yet frighteningly independent) daughter. I think this is me just catching up, and really enjoying getting out there and training.
Does anyone else feel a sense of loss as a pair of shoes 'runs' out of life? I have a pair of Mizuno Hitogamis that I really loved...but only have one or two more runs in them. I will miss them when they're gone...
Hashi - You do seem to have some extraordinary recovery abilities judging by how quickly you were able to run that nasty long run + the trail race together.
I too have that feeling when shoes reach their EOL, I have even gone so far as to creating farewell posts for them on Strava 😁