Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Waltons ThreadLord
I went out for an easy 3-miler with my son. It was 26º and sunny, so I was out in shorts with two layers of shirt. The forecast for tomorrow's 8:00 am start is now up to 25º and has messed up my plans of what to wear. At 20º I was going to go with tights, double long sleeves and a vest. 25º headed to 28º is different. Maybe shorts. Maybe not the vest. Maybe LS/SS with vest. If it were a 10k, I'd go with lighter clothes, but for a 2-hour run I have to keep in mind I tend to cool off as I tire.
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; Spring Distance Classic 5k, 4/28
ccoakley - well done on the six hour run.
Jeff - welcome
Flavio - 30kg for a deadlift is light. Why can you not do more? Is it pain, form or that's simply what you can lift?
Cold weather runners - well done.
Piwi - nice week.
Rune - 14 is very good. To me, pull ups are palms facing away, wherease chin up are palms facing inwards. Were yours plams facing away? They're a little bit harder.
My week was good. Ended up missing Saturday's easy run, as there was a bush fire moderately close by, so I decided to stay home just in case. Otherwise the week was good.
My shoe order from Running Warehouse Australia finally arrived (~3 weeks after purchase). On Wednesday I tried out the Skechers Razor Excess, which were very good.
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
Piwi - nice work.
Watson - I saw the fire news. Looks like they got it under control pretty quickly thankfully. Good week.
Zebano - the Aussies have stolen a lot of our stuff but they will never take a single Nathan Jones!
Me - had a good week. Some tough conditions midweek, but was actually pretty nice on the weekend. It feels like the combination of some good solid weeks of training capped off by last Sunday's race have kicked things up a gear.
Had some good fun supporting friends and clubmates at the Auckland Marathon and half this morning. The course runs around 9km from my house, so I ran down, cheered the marathon runners, then did a lap of Lake Pupuke which got me back to the same point just in time to cheer the half marathon runners. I'm glad I wasn't racing (WAY TOO HOT!) but it was nice to see the event go ahead and to be able to support people. Apparently there were some epic blow-ups in the second half according to some mates who were over that side of the Harbour Bridge. Ironically there's a government press conference in 10 minutes which I think is going to put us back to 100 person gathering limits (i.e. if the race had been 24 hours later, it wouldn't have happened!).
Some good drama in the mens' marathon... it was Cam Graves' debut marathon (he broke the course record in the half last year). He was leading at the 9km mark by about 20 seconds from Dan Jones, who has won it previously, and ran the Kepler Challenge 60km trail race last weekend. Honestly, the look on Dan's face at that point said he knew he was in for a long day but something must've changed because he ended up running 2:20 flat for first and beat Cam (who had a big blow-up!) by 7 minutes. On a slow course, on a hot day, with an ultra in the legs the previous weekend, that was some performance. I thought it was gonna be the slowest winning time in years given the conditions... I was wrong!
Anyways looks like it's back to small races for the meantime. I'm hoping Running Events have a (non-virtual!) plan to continue the North Shore Run Series at red settings, and I know Southern Lakes HM can go ahead at red, so fingers crossed I will still get some racing in. Either way, it looks like we've just got to ride out the spike for a few weeks, better it happens now in summer than in the middle of winter.
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"
Unfortunately I suspect it is red for 2022.
Wellington Round the Bays in four weeks time is now not happening. Not sure about Xterra West Wind late March, they might be able to stagger.
Hopefully WUU2k caps entries for each race at 100 in July (they normally have ~160 per race).
Small club races will happen. Looks like Wairarapa will be my only road half in 2022, just like 2020 and 2021.
Far too early on that conclusion Watson. If you look at the trends overseas (UK, NSW, Victoria, South Africa), the case numbers have spiked dramatically over about 4 weeks and then are dropping off just as quickly. The UK has already relaxed restrictions for that reason. I'd say we've got at least 8-10 weeks at red (for Steve's sake, I hope it's less than that). After that it's pretty hard to say. If hospitalisations stay low and we get booster numbers up that might be the end of it.
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark, Watson, Piwi - Nice weeks.
Mark I see Waterfront's Facebook post today is a picture of you. Also, don't freak out but...the captain of the Melbourne Football Club for years was Nathan Jones. I seriously doubt the booster will have much impact. But it keeps Pfizer's revenue stream very healthy.
I don't know how long it will take for Christchurch Marathon to make a call but I'll continue my training until I know a new date to target. If it's cancelled or moved too far back, I still have a Wellington entry for June 19. Surely we won't still be in red then....but if it's not looking like I'll have any luck again, I might have a look at Southern Lakes.
Cold weather runners - wow, some very tough conditions and definitely worse than 99% of Australia.
Jeff - Welcome!
Caitlin - Absolutely epic run.
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
Steve - if there are races that you would like to run, that happen at red, I think you should get your entry done. You wouldn't want it to sell out, and then Christchurch is cancelled/postponed.
I really think we will be red for a while.
JamesD
Cold weather runners - I'm impressed.
Not much progress this week. My hamstring wasn’t ever bad enough to send me to the doctor or PT, but I did feel it again on Tuesday after stopping early the last two runs of the previous week. After a couple of rest days, I did ok yesterday & today with hour-long slow treadmill runs with walk breaks. If I can keep that up without incident, it’ll maintain a little aerobic fitness while I wait for the hamstring to improve.
I’ve been using the CBD cream on my foot for the last several days. Can’t tell yet whether or not it’s helping, but I figure putting a cream on the foot is less likely to affect my hamstrings/glutes/Achilles than the NSAID I had taken by mouth for several weeks.
Sun - off b/c of Saturday R hamstring trouble
Mon - 5.2 miles very slow treadmill (60 minutes) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Tues - 3.1 very slow TM (36 mins) + walk breaks, stopped early R hamstring
Weds - felt sorry for myself, didn’t do anything
Thurs - 29 minutes swimming
Fri - 5.2 very slow TM (60 mins) + walk breaks, hamstring didn’t hurt
Sat - 5.2 very slow TM (60 mins) + walk breaks, hamstring didn’t hurt
Total - 18.7 miles
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
watson - Yep, I'll see how things play out in the next few days and then enter a backup race if it looks like things aren't going to go my way.
My week was solid again, slight increase in length of my long run. I had an electrolyte + carb drink just before I started, then another one after one hour, along with a 600ml bottle of water. I also took 2 gels between effort blocks. It was warmish but not hot - still with the high sun to cause a loss of fluids, so the nutrition definitely was about right for this run because I finished feeling really comfortable and like I could easily do more. My legs were tired of course because it was my longest run of this cycle, and it was at the end of a pretty big week.
I'm really happy with where I am now, with 11 weeks to go. However, with an increase in restrictions to all of NZ yet again, my race is probably 50-50 at best. Here we go again.
6 hour run? COakley wow. Good work.
Fred I do love the body acclimatization to winter. Two months ago I'd be dreading 26 and now it's downright pleasant. I like vests personally. Unzip them if you overheat but you do you.
Flavio - what Watson asked. I always assumed it was a lack of equipment but if you simply cannot lift more than that,a that makes all the back pain while running make more sense.
Crazy that you guys had a race that went ahead just before they reimplemented sanctions. FWIW I hate summer racing but loving watching it, there's always carnage.
Good weeks Steve and Piwi. Piwi that 2x5k says you lost only a little fitness. Steve I think you could go race a solo 3:20 next weekend if you wanted to.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Watson nice week. I remember been evacuated from our home in Whitemans Valley due to a scrub fire around 1978 yes I'm old.
Mark good week post race. I know you love racing so you must have had some FOMO today with the Auckland marathon on
Dan Jones came 2nd by less than a second in our King of the Mount race on boxing day. Beaten by a local guy Bobby Dean who is a strong hill runner.
Steve you are so consistent. I just checked your strava log and it's a solid line of kms. Good things will come.
Zeb thanks yes I think a few solid weeks and I can get back to some reasonable fitness. I've put on some upper body muscle which I would prefer to keep even if it is detrimental to my running. I can see how you love lifting. It's really rounds off the fitness along with running for the aerobic side of things.
James good to see you got some miles in to keep you sane while working through your niggles.
There was a big half Ironman here on Saturday along with a few running events half/10k/5k. Was fairly hot so times were slower than normal for those distances if held in cooler weather. Half was won by Triathlete Hayden Wilde in 1.14 and he's much quicker than that.
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 "
Thanks Piwi and zebano (a sub 3:20 next week??? I’m not sure about that and hopefully I’m not peaking now). The Auckland results are pretty impressive given the time of year. They’ll also be thanking their lucky stars it wasn’t scheduled 1 day later.
I’ve entered the Southern Lakes Half just in case all big races are off the table for a while. I desperately want to do the Christchurch marathon but it’s good to at least have one guaranteed race. If Christchurch is cancelled or postponed for several months I’ll do it. If Christchurch goes ahead or is pushed back to, say, June then I’ll sell my Southern Lakes entry.
If I do run Southern Lakes and do 8 seconds better than my last race, I look forward to the 10 page debate about why it’s not legitimate
.. I look forward to the 10 page debate about why it’s not legitimate
Why wait to May?
Mother of Cats
DW - Sorry to hear about your issues. I have learned through my injury endeavors over the last 3 years that there are often small muscles that can be unbalanced due to load patterns, other injuries, etc. I trust you are on that for your core but figured I would mention it. My sports doctor has been very good at nailing down where my issues are and getting things corrected, and I am constantly surprised at how much imbalance I have in places where I think myself I am totally fine.
Thanks - I've been checked out, and my core is very strong. I suspect that part of the issue is that I don't use it correctly. Which stems from my previous sport (horse riding), where one either used the core actively as a force to direct the horse, or passively as a shock absorber. Holding the core rigid and stable, as is best for running performance, is something that would get you dumped by a hot horse with a sensitive back. My hunch is that my old muscle memory from my previous sport plays a role here.
Treadmills v. tracks - I'll confess that I would much rather run on a treadmill than a track of any distance. I can NOT stand constant turning in one direction. I would almost certainly take the day off rather than run on an indoor track.
Rune- good news on the knee.
CCOakely - congrats on the great uberlong run - that's two back to back weekends, correct?
Piwi- solid week for you.
Fred - I have to admit, I don't get the vest thing at all. I think it's because my core heats up much more than my extremities. I'm far more likely to be in a sports bra, tights, and mittens.
Watson- good decision with the bush fire - I take it all is safe now? I've heard good things about the Excess.
Marky_Mark - that is a crazy marathon performance. What does Dan Jones run for the marathon when well rested and with better weather?
James - I'm so sorry that you continue to wrestle with this.
Steve - good job hitting the nutrition/hydration just right. It's a great feeling when you nail it. I am naively hopeful that 11 weeks is enough time for the restrictions to settle down.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Piwi Watson Mark Nice week
Watson hope the bush fire didn't get too close I imagine that could be have ended up very bad.
has the cases in NZ rose again?
James nice week by you as well, hope you get through all your aches and pains
Steve great week
I'm about to head out for my Sunday run, just a few miles today a bit sore after yesterdays long run.
PR's
1m 5:38 (2018)
5k 19:59 (2019)
HM 1:33:56 (2018)
FM 3:23:07 (2018)