Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Ccoakley let me know if you want the result of something you are betting on seeing as we are in the future 😉
Darkwave thankyou you are too kind 😊
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 "
Intl. correspondent
3279km roughly 2037 miles for the year. Def my year with the most mileage.
James - I’d reckon your median mileage was also pretty close to 40. All in all a very good year.
Mark - Ugh on the fall,I’d think you’d be at more risk of damage seeing as you’re going 20 to 30% faster than most of us.
Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to either avoid catching covid or catching it milder because it would be such a nuisance. See below just how much of a pain in the ass it can be, I'm going to lose at least 2 weeks of training and who the fuck knows what kind of fitness I'll have when I finally come back.
Piwi - That’s an excellent week
DW - though your marathon is super fast comparatively, your mile is also very fast, so maybe you’re slower in the middle 😁
Me - Day 8 of a covid infection that gave me laryngitis and now is still making me miserable in the evenings.
TL;DR - It was bad, really BAD but now I'm almost alright with only light cold symptoms.
It got progressively worse for 5 days straight and I was honestly quite scared, but then it started going better for the last few days.
It's what one would call MILD since I wasn't at risk of hospitalization at any moment. It's also BY A HUGE MARGIN the sickest I have ever been. I had 4 bouts with the flu that wiped me out for 6 days at a time in 2019 and that was maybe 30% of what this is.
I think the biggest take away is that regardless of vax status or where you go and who you meet, your immune system status is THE most important thing. You absolutely cannot catch covid with a weak immune system or else it will fuck you in the ass and use sand as lube. Catch it with a good immune system and it's going to be nothing. From my experience, it seems like I probably was exposed to covid dozens of times by now and every time my immune system was up to the task. Except this time, it was weakened due to a cold a few days before. My wife caught covid from me but she had WAY milder symptoms that lasted only 3 days.
So far the most painful thing is that I have no access to doctors and as such no access to prescription medicine. I can't see a doctor because I'm covid positive and I can't go to the ER because I'm not dying. (The ERS are overflowing anyway)
So I had to make do with zinc, vit C, vit D, magnesium, omega 3, over the counter cold medicine, anti allergic tablets, sore throat tablets
I was also taking Omeprazol as profilatic measure to avoid having heart burn which could make the sore throat worse.
Timeline:
Dec 11th - Not feeling 100% but manage to finish a good long run
Dec 13th - Did too much with the dead lifts at the gym. I’ll pay for it with back pain for the next 2 weeks
Dec 14th - Woke up not feeling the best, but decided to push through e be a cowboy. Got a nasty hill in as well.
Dec 16th - Really not feeling too well, coming down with a possible cold, run just 4km.
Dec 17th - Dec 20th - Got a nasty cold, didn’t run these days, skipped strength training on Monday the 20th.
Dec 22nd - Hit the gym exactly from 8:00 to 8:14. There was only a masked coach and one other student there (all tax)
Same day, a PT session at noon for about 55 minutes. We’re both vaxxed and both wore masks. This is very likely where my exposure happened.
I had already a reduced immune system due to the previous cold and the PT was likely contagious.
Dec 23rd - Against better judgement, despite having a slight sore throat I pick up the guitar to blast wicked game. Soon after finished I know I’ve made a mistake as many times in the past I’ve made sore throats much worse by singing along with the guitar.
Dec 24th - We got together with 2 other families for a Christmas dinner. Everybody vaxxed, everybody tested negative on the self test a couple of hours before the event. Initially I thought this could be where I got exposed, but nobody here tested positive since (all the others did at least 2 more tests since then).
Dec 25th - I’m feeling blah but attribute it to staying out much later than usual the night before (1:30am). I tell my cousin we’re not going in for lunch and I cal tell he’s probably mad at me. This turned out to be one of my best decisions in 2021.
Dec 26th - Sun - Day 1 - I’m not feeling so well but go out for a short 3.5km jog, I remember commenting here that my breathing was harder despite the heart rate being the same. That afternoon I start developing a severe sore throat. It’s the kind where it feels like there’s a flamethrower being applied to your throat and it’s hard to swallow even water.
Dec 27th - Mon - Day 2 - I’ve had a bit of fever, chills and night sweats over night. I’m a bit worried so I do a self test, but it comes back negative. I’m getting worse throughout the day.
Dec 28th - Tue - Day 3 - I’m getting worse. My throat feels like it’s closing and my voice is almost gone. Again fever chills and sweat overnight. I do the self test again and again it’s negative.
Dec 29th - Wed - Day 4 - I’m getting worse. I decide to do yet another test. I take the swab and leave it there waiting for the result to come out and go jet spray my nose cause I sneezed during the test. My wife is scolding me saying “It’s like you want it to be covid”, but then she looks at the result and drops a “WTH”. I come back and yeah, now it’s positive, a faint pink line, but positive.
I immediately mask up and we decide I’ll sleep in the living room.
Through 4 days this is a weird disease. In the mornings I feel very well comparatively and I can work during the day without issues. But in the afternoon things start getting worse and worse peaking between 6pm and 2am, with brain fog it’s hard to concentrate, severe head aches, fever but only the neck and chest are hot, the forehead is normal, nasty chills the weather says it’s 13c, 60 or whatever degrees that is Fahrenheit but I feel like it’s -10C and I’m dressed in literally all my jackets with double pants socks and head beanie.
Dec 30th - Thu - Day 5 - It’s 5 days of this shit and the severe sore throat finally starts subsiding a little bit and now it’s replaced with a taste of putrid in the mouth, there’s definitely some pus down there. I read online that my symptoms match well with laryngitis. It kind of makes sense. I google where the larynx is and freak out a bit as it’s awfully close to the trachea. I buy an oximeter and start tracking heart rate (always normal), spO2 (always 98+) so far and blood pressure (very high, 155 x 95).
My wife tests positive on this day, one day after me, but she is only showing symptoms on this day, so she very likely caught it from me.
Dec 31st - Fri - Day 6 - My throat is slightly better and I’m feeling much better in the morning. The evening is a shit show again.
Jan 1st - Sat - Day 7 - I wake up and I’m close to feeling myself again, except I have a normal sore throat, blocked ears (like when you come down with an airplane) and a nasal voice. This is the first day that I feel real progress. Again I have some fever and headaches in the evening around 4pm I take a paracetamol 1000mg and it does nothing. It eventually goes away on its own around 7pm.
My wife on the other hand is already almost brand new. aside from some coughes here and there and is expelling greens.
Jan 2nd - Sun - Day 8 - Today I woke up a bit worse than yesterday, but still now it’s mostly flu-like symptoms: normal sore throat, blocked ears, feeling a bit weak. Heart rate and spO2 continue to be fine.
I'm still feeling weak but things seem to be on the mend and 3 or 4 more days I should be closer to normal.
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
One thing I've considered is that this might have been a case of death by 1000 cuts, where I got exposed a little in many, many places since the beginning of December, and eventually it overwhelmed my system.
RIP Milkman
Flavio that sounded terrible. Everyone here in NYC getting it is having a super mild case. I wonder if you actually caught the delta strain which matches how awful yours sounds. Did you have a booster before? That also seems to make a big difference in symptoms.
Either way, I'm glad it's on the mend and hope you get better. Your report did make me chuckle a bit though, you certainly have a way with words.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Holy crap Flavio 😳 I hope you recover soon.
You almost put me off going to the beach for all the sand
Keep us up to date on your progress.
Mother of Cats
Flavio - that sounds absolutely miserable. Ugh. I'm glad you're on the mend at least, and also that your wife is doing well.
I take it your cousin forgave you for cancelling on him?
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.
My week:
62 miles running, 3 hours pool-running, and ~1500 yards swimming.
M: 80 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.T: 11.5 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 4x800 in 7:05, 3:22, 3:20, 3:16, 3:16. 5:30 recovery after 1600; 2:33-3:07 recoveries after 800s. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.W: Streaming yoga, 8 miles very easy (9:30), 4 miles very easy (9:29) plus drills, four strides, two downhill strides.Th: 1:40 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.F: 11.5 miles, with a tempo workout of 6400m in 27:39 (6:59/7:00/6:57/6:43 - short shoe tying stop in middle of tempo). Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 9 miles very easy (9:39) plus drills, two strides, two downhill strides and then upper body weights/core plus 3 miles very easy (9:34).Su: 14.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:42 pace, the next 4.5 miles averaging 8:23 pace, and the next 5 miles averaging 7:23 pace, plus a half mile cooldown. Followed with injury prevention work and 500m recovery swimming.
Tuesday's workout was lousy (legs had no power), the rest of the week was better. I feel like my gait is more stable now - I no long feel like I'm going to fall when I start running. The legs are just weaker than they used to be. Based on a review of my running on the treadmill, it seems I have two issues - one is muscles contracting at the wrong time in the stride cycle, the other is a complete loss of hip extension. I have plenty of flexibility at rest - but I start running and the hips get very tight. So I'm working a lot on trying to relax my hip and letting it extend behind me as I run. I've been adding in some gentle downhill strides for just that reason - to work on hip extension.
In terms of what caused all this, the doctor who did my PRP thinks that I may have experienced a disc issue somewhere in my spine, with a fragment of a disc splitting off and irritating nerves - the fragment could then have been absorbed by the time I got my MRI (about 2 months after my symptoms started) which is why nothing shows on an MRI. And recovery from this type of nerve irritation can take a while, even after the cause of the irritation is gone. It's just a hypothesis, with no support, but is also the only explanation I've got so far.
PRP doctor suggested I get ART from one of two people. Person 1 is "very very very good," works with runners, and is about 15 minutes from me. Person 2 is "a genius" but also "crazy" and about 90 minutes away. So I'm trying person 1 first. Depending on how that goes, I may try crazy genius person 2.
As I discussed in detail in the other thread, I picked up a pair of Takumi Sen 7s, and hated them. I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed in a shoe. I also grabbed a pair of New Balance Fuel Cell Prism 2s, and was pleasantly surprised - the stack is a bit high for me, but otherwise they felt great. I may try them on a long run soon.
Flavio - yikes!! Hope you're feeling better soon. That sounds like a pretty protracted and miserable experience, overall.
The trip happened kind of in slow motion, luckily. My toe caught a lip in the pavement and I knew I was going down but had enough time to mitigate a complete crash landing. A couple of scrapes but that's it, luckily.
Darkwave - yeah, I'd agree option 1 is the best one to go for first up. The crazy genius feels like a high risk strategy (but probably worth a look if option 1 doesn't pan out)... for some reason for me it conjured the image of the Professor from Futurama ("Good news, everybody!!").. Your shoe disappointment sounds like my Kinvara 12 experience. Such a let-down.
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"
Darkwave - yeah, I'd agree option 1 is the best one to go for first up. The crazy genius feels like a high risk strategy (but probably worth a look if option 1 doesn't pan out)... for some reason for me it conjured the image of the Professor from Futurama ("Good news, everybody!!")..
Person 2 is oddly intriguing because he splits his time between people and horses, working 50% on each. In my equestrian days, I sometimes worked with equine chiropractors, holding the horse and sometimes assisting (equine chiropractic can require more than one pair of hands). And I've had chiropractors work on me. But I've never met anyone who did both.
But....the 90 minute drive is a turn-off (the craziness, surprisingly, is not that much of a turn off at this point).
Cc4life: sorry for being another 'cc' I didn't realize it was already claimed
JamesD: very impressive mileage build up in 2021
Watson: do you avoid 10ks or do they just not come up very often?
Mark: yikes on the fall, it usually takes me a week to mentally recover from a bad spill.
Piwi: my first thought was whether there could be any advantage to this
Flavio: wow, really sorry about the covid. Glad you're on the mend and a good motivation boost to remember I really don't want to catch even a 'mild' case.
Darkwave: super impressive that your times get so much better than the calculator at the longer distances. I hope you can get some answers soon.
Me: I started the week gung ho to run 40+ mi in 5 days to finish the year with 2021 miles. My run Wed quickly devolved into a 4 mi walk as I had to finally accept the kids are too big to run with in the stroller. I hadn't done a double stroller run since school started in Sept and wow what a difference 3 months makes. That kinda sucked away all my mojo and I decided to take the rest of the year off and start 2022 fresh. BUT I did do 10 min of mobility exercises Sat and Sun. Baby steps but I'm really focusing on 2022 being injury-free
Mon: 11.2 mi very easy effort w/walk breaks 11:20
Tues: 6.7 mi 10:19
Wed: 4 mi walk
Thurs: RD
Fri: RD
Sat: 6.5 mi old school fartlek w/walk breaks 11:11
Sun: 12.1 mi progression mile repeats with excessive recovery 10:36
5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)
Waltons ThreadLord
Hi, I'm Frederick. I'm not sure if my paces quite qualify for this group, but I take my half marathon training seriously. I started running later in life and ran my first half six years ago at age 49, running it in 2:04:02, and I have run 33 halves so far.
My best time is 1:52:38, which is from my most recent half. I'm racing against age to see whether I can break 1:50:00 before Father Time catches up to me. My other goal is to run all the halves offered in NJ (excluding trail runs and races that are more than 2 laps of the same loop). So far, I've run 20 different races in NJ, some no longer around, and based on what's currently available I have 7 left to run.
I broke 2,000 miles for the year for the first time in 2021 and have been using the Hansons Advanced Half Marathon plan for a few years. I like the combination of structure and simplicity that the Hansons plan provides for me. I basically go through two training cycles/year, one for spring races and one for fall races.
Will I fit in here despite not being anywhere near the paces most of the folks here seem to achieve?
March 13 E. Murray Todd Half, goal TBD (weather can be a big factor in this race)
April 2 RunaPalooza Half, goal TBD
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 welcome yes definitely hang around. There are always faster people, you just have to do the best for you and at the end of the day it's about keeping fit and having a hobby.
DW thanks for the heads-up on the Takumi sens. I have the 5s or 6s I think which are good.
I'm glad you are making some progress on your ailments.
Cc that stroller running sounds like great strength for the legs.
How Mark fell, is how I broke my elbow and caused shoulder joint problems in Oct 2020. That took about 6 months to get right.
I've only had one shoe which I couldn't/wouldn't run on, being a pair of Inov8 trail shoes. They really hurt my feet. All other shoes have been at least OK. I've got the Sketchers Razor Excess and Salamon Sense Ride 4 (trail) ordered, so hopefully they'll be good.
Fred - welcome.
ccoakley - most of the times there's a 10k race, there's a half, which I'll choose. I'll probably race one this year around August.
Darkwave - nice week. Good luck on the injury/issue, good to see you're getting better.
Flavio - I hope you're better soon. I've read that the volume of initial infection is significant in terms of how severe the illness can be. Good luck.
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
Another think any of those running calculators (Macmillan) actually match the performances from distance to distance? I know they’re just a guide but curious if anyone matches really well. I’ve got a 5k in about a week I’m looking to hopefully run well at and get a decent idea of training paces for the next 3 months for my half.
Another think any of those running calculators (Macmillan) actually match the performances from distance to distance? I know they’re just a guide but curious if anyone matches really well.
I’ve got a 5k in about a week I’m looking to hopefully run well at and get a decent idea of training paces for the next 3 months for my half.
Yes they're pretty good with some huge caveats.
1. You have to run enough miles. <-- how much this is is hugely personal and depends on race distance
2. You have to run your long run
3. You have to do some workouts
4. Most people will have a race or two that they're best at but can get pretty darn close to the equivalents if they train well.
If you're familiar with VDOT scores (Jack Daniel's calculators) My races used to range from a 54 (mile) down to a 44 half and a 37 Marathon. I'm in the process of fixing that and if you count my recent 20k trail race as a half then 5k, 10k and half finally all range from 49.7-> 50.9 which I consider a big success. Marathon is a goal for this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year!
Mark glad the fall wasn't more serious. Those innocuous slips are usually the worst.
Corey Glad to see you're lining up for a mile!! Whoohoo.
Flavio Glad you're improving. That's no fun
CCOakley Solid week. A long run and a longer progression run. Nice.
Fred, if you're serious about your running you'll fit in just fine. 2000 miles in a year is a commitment.
I have nothing to report this week other than I got a sinus infection that got worse and worse until I shut things down on Thursday and took the rest of the week off.
I guess have yearly mileage now. I really want to hit 2500 this year. Fingers crossed that my health and hamstring allow it.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
JamesD
Flavio - Glad you (& your wife) are doing better. Sounds both miserable and frustrating.
Frederick - Welcome!
Caitlin - If the kids are too big for you to push both of them any more, can you talk your husband into pushing one while you push the other (assuming you have two individual strollers as well as a double one)? Whoever is faster gets the heavier kid.
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