Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Intl. correspondent
Up next in the racing department:
On Saturday the 16th Old-Man-Strength Zebano races the Kewash 10k looking for a sub 40, which would be a PR and PR #6 for this board this year.
GO ZEB! 💪
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
ugg, sadly I am out of Kewash for multiple reasons, the most prominent is scheduling. That's the day before Easter so I'll literally be in the wrong state to attend. The other reason is that my family just got smite, (smote?) with influenza and while I'm over the fever, the lingering cough is making running absolutely miserable and slow. I missed 4 days totally last week and am gonna just chill until my body feels better.
In good news there is a Parkrun up in MN where I will be for Easter (Eagan anyone?). Given my health, I'm just planning to jog it with my boys rather than racing.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
I've added estimated half time so Zebano can read that workout from the 7th 😁
I'm in awe of those who can remember their races in such detail. I struggle to recall what my own kids look like at the end of a half!
Some good weeks around here.
Flavio, thanks for your kind considerations, but someone already tweaked your weekly reproting app to show min/mile.
Hash, I'm with you, so much of a good race is a blur of pain.
Noah welcome. I'm with everyone else, just don't go out too fast, save it for the second half. Training honetly isn't that different either just
Zebano, I think parkrun Eagan is canceled on 4/16. You might want to check before you make the drive race morning. There is another park run - smaller, slower, and relatively new- in MN on the other side of town.
Thanks for the heads up!
Waltons ThreadLord
Zebano - Sorry to hear the 10k won't work out for you. I hope you get over the cough soon.
Flavio - Nice run along the river and some good weekly mileage. Thanks for keeping track of all the races.
Keen - Your cutback week is more than my peak. Nice running.
Mark - It's always nice when the front-runners hang out to support the later runners. Nice week and I'm glad there are signs of better weather ahead for you.
Ccoakley - Enjoy the vacation. Running will be there when you get home.
Cfarr - Sorry the booster hit you so hard. Nice week of running nevertheless.
DW - Good job for the week despite being slowed by the injections.
Hashiritai - Remembering my races is something that has come with time. Reviewing my watch data (map & splits) helps a lot. I think having run 36 halves also helps out a bit as I have a general feel of what's different and what's the same each race.
Steve - Good luck with the recovery. Hopefully you'll feel ready for some races soon.
Piwi - I hope the lungs clear up quickly for you. I find persistent lung congestion can be one of the harder things for me to shake. Nice job hitting 30 for the week.
James - Nice to hear you're doing better. Hope the 5k preparation goes well for you.
I've been doing some lunch time runs in the 6 - 7 mile range; sometimes on bigger hills sometimes not. In part, running at lunch helps me get used to the warmer weather I may face on the May 8 half I'm running, but I won't deny the side benefit of sleeping a bit later in the mornings.
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
Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. Ended up running 78:12. Very brutal course. First 3 miles had almost 800 feet in elevation gain. Then the next few miles had a pretty wicked headwind. After about mile 8 it was mostly flat and I was able to hit a nice rhythm. I would recommend this race to anybody in the area. It was the Horsetooth Half Marathon in Ft. Collins, CO. Beautiful course and really fun post race party. Great competition. The winners were running just under 67 minutes which is ridiculous for a half... let alone a half with so many brutal hills! Dominic Korir won and Tyler Mccandless got second. Those names mean nothing to me but I guess they are big shots? I actually have a picture of me in front of Korir about 50m into the race; shows how clueless I am as I lost to him by over 10 minutes!
I have heard from quite a few people that the COVID booster shots can really wipe you out. I alternated Advil and Tylenol and that helped reduce the general feelings of crappiness I felt. I kept running as my symptoms were mild, but I think it's a good idea to take it easy for a few days if a vaccine or an illness hits you hard. Of course I never take my own advice and routinely run while injured/sick/tired, but I'm working on following my own advice on days as overtraining can set you back quite a bit.
Finished the week with 54 miles. On a new training program so I will check back in with all you guys at least weekly to interact and post my training program. Have a great week everyone!
JamesD
Dominic Korir won and Tyler Mccandless got second. Those names mean nothing to me but I guess they are big shots? I actually have a picture of me in front of Korir about 50m into the race; shows how clueless I am as I lost to him by over 10 minutes!
Congratulations on the race even if the time wasn't what you were hoping for. Between altitude, hills, and wind, it sounds like it was pretty difficult. McCandless is a big enough name that I've heard of him. He's the sort of guy who does well in USATF national championship races that the top pros skip to run in higher-paying races. I'm pretty sure he was in the lead pack of the 2016 Olympic Trials marathon fairly late in the race; his website lists it as a DNF, which may mean he was going for broke. Leonard Korir is one of the top U.S. marathoners and I believe trains with the U.S. Army team that is based in Colorado; maybe Dominic is a relative who trains there too.
In the small-world department, I noticed on McCandless's website that he won the Greenville half that CFarr ran in a few weeks ago. (I'm assuming it's Greenville SC; the U.S. has more Greenvilles than New Zealand has Nathan Joneses.)
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
That was me as well. The tool is welcoming to mathematically challenged people 😈
Sorry to hear about the influenza/bug. Are you sure you can just jog that 5k?
James - You are quickly becoming the leader in quotes on the front page 😂
me - Had a nice lesson on running by feel earlier today. The watch didn't pick up the GPS signal, so the watch was showing 4:25 per km when I was running much faster and as such I kept speeding up to the point where I was probably running 5k pace yet the watch still showed 4:25. Eventually it was too much and I had to run a few KMs at easy pace to recover, then got back for another round and ran a couple more Ks at HMP, this time using the heart rate to control effort.
Noah - Congratulations on a strong race.
Flavio - Nice job running without watch input. Isn't that what people used to do back in the 20th century?
I had a crash and burn run today. I went out to meet my running partner, planning on 9 or 10 miles with 6 or 7 at HM pace. The first mile of HM running was a little slow, as the first mile often is. The second mile was 20 seconds behind pace. The third mile was looking even slower when my RP suggested we just run for fun, so we dialed back the pace, but even running 9:20 miles (vs. 8:30 planned miles) was work for me. Got in about 6½ miles in total.
It could have been fatigue to two nights in a row of poor/short sleep. Spring allergies. Blood donation 5 days ago. Suddenly warm and humid weather (relative to what we've had). Still recovering from my PR half. All, some, or none of the above. Maybe I'll take advantage of working from home to catch a nap at lunch time. Good to have a running partner willing to slow down a run.
Keen, out of curiosity what is your annual goal? And how far behind do you let yourself get before you'll alter your training plan just to focus on high mileage?
Flavio, hope you’re enjoying Spain. I live in an area where there are tons of Strava segments but also tons of super fast runners. Most of the crowns around here require high 5/low 6 paces. Sounds like you made the best of your watch fail.
Zebano, sorry the 10k won’t work. Hope you feel better for the parkrun if you can find it.
Noah, great job on a tough course
Fred, very cool you have a running partner so willing to adjust
I’m doing the same thing that always happens to me 2-3 weeks out from a race. I’ve lost all interest in the race, am thinking of dozens of excuses to bail, and just want to start my next training cycle now. I had a really great workout yesterday (200,400,800,1600,1600,800,400,200 w/ 1600s @ 10k pace and other intervals faster). I get so much satisfaction from nailing a workout and I just don’t know if races do the same thing for me.
5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)
planning on 9 or 10 miles with 6 or 7 at HM pace.
So as far as I understand 6 miles at HM pace would be your peak workout run 10 days before the race, when you are pretty close to top shape.
Right now at the beginning of another cycle you'd likely be better served by something like 3 miles or perhaps cruise intervals.
Even if you have another Half lined up soon, you just can't go to the well so soon it eventually comes up empty.
I had a similar experience trying to run 2 5k time trials 5 or 6 days apart last year.
So as far as I understand 6 miles at HM pace would be your peak workout run 10 days before the race, when you are pretty close to top shape. Right now at the beginning of another cycle you'd likely be better served by something like 3 miles or perhaps cruise intervals. Even if you have another Half lined up soon, you just can't go to the well so soon it eventually comes up empty. I had a similar experience trying to run 2 5k time trials 5 or 6 days apart last year.
Well, not quite. My next race is a 4-miler with my son and I'm running it as much for fun as anything else. My next half is in just over 3 weeks.
In previous training/race cycles, when I have had more than two weeks between races, it's been my habit to revert back to my training plan, basically backing up from the next race and training per what the X number of weeks before a race would be (after a week of rest), and things have worked out for me OK. That said, I may have finally learned how to run a half well enough that I leave everything on the course (not going out too fast and dying, but not having too much left at the end) and am for the first time in a long time experiencing the need for a longer recovery period than I have needed in the past.
Or, it could just have been a bad day - they happen. I've heard it said that the best thing a long distance runner can have is a short memory.
Cobra Commander Keen
Caitlin - My annual goal is a somewhat arbitrary 3,906 miles and I'm currently 8.2 miles behind that goal - I anticipate catching up or getting ahead by the end of next week. Last year I was well over 100 miles behind in the spring and didn't catch up/get ahead until around October (didn't make any changes to my regular plans), but still missed the overall goal just a bit thanks to taper/reverse taper around CIM. Hopefully that won't happen this year.
I get those same feelings around a race quite frequently. Why should I mess up all of my awesome, fun training by throwing a race into the mix??
Fred - I can certainly see all of those factors contributing individually to a less-than-stellar run, but all of those stacked together certainly hurt. And 6 miles at HM effort/pace? uff da. That's certainly a tough one.
I've decided to run a 9-ish mile "race" in a couple weekends. Approximate course here since there isn't a course description other than "It starts in this town, goes along these highways and ends in that town". Possibly trying to run it in under an hour, though I may just go into it without an actual target or goal. I might also try running every street in the starting town as a warm-up!
Kinda proud of my recovery run today. 85% of the duration was below HR Z1 (50-60% HRR) and my peak was right in the middle of Z1. Doing more and more intense workouts (even if I've essentially bombed both this week) sure help with keeping those recovery days slow.
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
Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. Ended up running 78:12. Very brutal course. First 3 miles had almost 800 feet in elevation gain. Then the next few miles had a pretty wicked headwind. After about mile 8 it was mostly flat and I was able to hit a nice rhythm. I would recommend this race to anybody in the area. It was the Horsetooth Half Marathon in Ft. Collins, CO. Beautiful course and really fun post race party. Great competition. The winners were running just under 67 minutes which is ridiculous for a half... let alone a half with so many brutal hills! Dominic Korir won and Tyler Mccandless got second. Those names mean nothing to me but I guess they are big shots? I actually have a picture of me in front of Korir about 50m into the race; shows how clueless I am as I lost to him by over 10 minutes! I have heard from quite a few people that the COVID booster shots can really wipe you out. I alternated Advil and Tylenol and that helped reduce the general feelings of crappiness I felt. I kept running as my symptoms were mild, but I think it's a good idea to take it easy for a few days if a vaccine or an illness hits you hard. Of course I never take my own advice and routinely run while injured/sick/tired, but I'm working on following my own advice on days as overtraining can set you back quite a bit. Finished the week with 54 miles. On a new training program so I will check back in with all you guys at least weekly to interact and post my training program. Have a great week everyone!
Noah that's an absurd amount of elevation in the first 3 miles. Yowza. Heck of a race considering.
Fred - backing off on a day like that just makes sense.
I'm not 100% but the runs are getting better so I may run an impromptu fartlek tomorrow. I'm excited to turn the legs over again