Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Noah - man that's tough getting that much climbing early on. I've run some hilly courses before but never with it front-loaded that much. Great effort.
Fred - sorry to hear you had a tough one, good call dialling it back like that.
Keen - that honestly sounds like a lot of fun. There used to be a race here, the Clyde to Alexandra road race, which was a 5 miler between those two towns. When 5 milers were rendered obsolete by the metric system, they instead made it a 10km race starting on the Clyde dam (yes, it starts on top of a hydro dam), and going through Clyde to Alexandra. I'd really love to do it but the timing hasn't really lined up for me yet. Maybe this year.
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"
JamesD
More of the same for me this week, with another 13-mile long run & doubling the length of my tempo all the way to 2 miles. My various aches & pains were less troublesome, which is encouraging.
Sun - off
Mon - 13.2 miles in park @ 8:36
Tues - 5.2 very slow TM (60 minutes) + 0:40 walk breaks/6 mins
Weds - 6.7 easy in park including strides, first 6.2 @ 8:40
Thurs - 23 minutes swimming
Fri - 7.3 in park including 2 @ 6:55
Sat - 5.2 very slow TM (60 mins) + 0:40 walk breaks/6
Total - 37.6 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
James great to hear you felt better this week and able to get in some improvement.
Zeb good that the flu is on the way out. Hopefully that's the last one for you this year.
An ok week for me. Still have low energy moments but I think I've pretty much seen the back of covid. Had a bad back this week and right Achilles still sore with the lump. Icing helps after a run.
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 "
Waltons ThreadLord
5 miles easy for me and feeling a bit better. I'll see about going 8 - 10 tomorrow before I decide on whether I want to hit the track on Tuesday.
Happy Easter and/or Passover everyone (and I'm sorry if there's another holiday going on that I'm unaware of, other than Patriot Day in Boston on Monday).
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
Piwi - good to hear you are pretty much good to go again!
James - nice work, glad the niggles are manageable.
Me - pretty big week, punched out a couple of good workouts too. A little bit tired for the long run this morning but that was probably from doing a bunch of work around the house yesterday. Three weeks until Southern Lakes, so if history is any sort of a guide, coach's plan will be one more big week, then a shorter harder week, then taper.
Hot Weather Complainer
Mark - Really nice week. You're looking primed for a great race at Southern Lakes. I'm guessing you're keeping an eye on the field, how's it looking for defending your title?
piwi - Good to hear you've put Covid behind you. You seemed to get quite a long tail.
James - Good to see you continue to progress in the right direction.
me - More solid week as I continue to recover. My quads have felt pretty beaten up since I resumed running (after only taking 1 week off) but they're slowly improving with each run. I still have a bit of a cough and a bit down on energy, but I'm probably back to about 90%. I finally got a negative test on Wednesday so I was consistently positive for 13-14 days.
With Southern Lakes 3 weeks away, I'm hoping to be ready to give it a decent crack. The original plan with my running coach was to try and get back to my normal volume in the coming week (mid 80s), then throw in a couple of reasonably light workouts the following week, and then obviously have a light race week. I'm hoping to be able to try some speed this week with my improvement, but I doubt it will be as fast as half marathon pace. At the moment I'm hoping to be able to run about 1:32-35, but I'll just take it as it comes. If the race was today it would be more like 1:42-45.
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
Mark another great training cycle for you. Should be fun racing with Steve in at Southern Lakes.
Steve good to hear you are doing well. Hopefully you can get that last 10% back soon.
Fred thanks we are having a nice Easter. My wife even did an Easter egg hunt for our daughters 18 and 20
Mark/Steve Running Warehouse Australia had some good specials the other day but I was too slow and prices went back up by the time I was ready to pull the trigger. Adidas Adios 6 were $130 as were New Balance rebel 2s and Kinvaras were cheap although I think Mark isn't a fan of the latest version.
Piwi - yeah I picked up another pair of Endorphin Speed's quite cheaply in that sale too. Haven't tried the Kinvara 13 as the 12 really put me off. I think they may have had Takumi Sen's in that sale too?
Steve - good to hear you are mostly back on the wagon. Hopefully all good by the end of this week! It's hard to know re the Southern Lakes field, there's a couple of quick guys listed but I'm sure Dan Balchin will be running National Marathon champs instead, and often people will buy second-hand entries in race week so you really don't know until race start. It'd be nice to have someone there around my pace or a touch quicker though.
Mark I think it was Takumi Sens 7 which Darkwave mentioned were not good. They look very different to the 8s. I still have the 5s which are good.
Went to the gym to support my 16 year old today
https://youtu.be/E-oXGfMXsFQ
Noah - That's the attitude! "Very brutal course...I'd recommend it". Love it!
Mark - Yep, totally a reference to the early darkness that has descended upon us. Before Strava, (because I don't listen to music when I run) I used to spend my runs thinking about work or going over a little issue in my head over and over. Now thankfully, I have something to do...I spend my run mulling over what I'm going to call the run on Strava.
CK - Meeting a maths genius mid-run is certainly one way to remember the run!
Last week was actually a big week for me. Don't y'all out there go thinking I do that kinda mileage on the regular! But I have identified three areas in my running that I can work on to help me reach my goals; more sleep, big mileage weeks, and better nutrition.
More sleep with a one-year old is a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, so I'll just wait that one out. Better nutrition is hard, coz I'm partial to the odd chocolate biscuit (or two...or three?) and cake and other stuff that probably slows me down.
So big mileage weeks is the easiest option at the moment! (I've come off the last few years averaging around 50km weeks (31miles), so looking forward to seeing what this change can bring to my running.
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
Intl. correspondent
Hash - start with darker chocolate, and add some dates to your diet, it will help with the sweet tooth.
Piwi - I'm quite worried about my upcoming paychecks from YouTube now that you're competing with me on the fitness influencer arena 😂
Good to see you're turning the corner
Steve it seems you're also turning the corner
Me - a nice week close to 50km and 4 hours of running
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
Just got back from close to 9 miles, ending at 37 for the week - one mile better than last week, which was my second-lowest week for the year thus far. Not much time to stay and write, sorry - I have a list of stuff to get done before family starts showing up for the late lunch we're hosting. Keep up the good work, everyone.
Mother of Cats
Takumi Sen 7s are just a weird shoe. They took the old Takumi Sen, and replaced the boost with regular lightstrike (not lightstrike pro). The result is a very awkward shoe that feels like a featherlight plastic clog. They are apparently now showing up on clearance everywhere.
Takumi Sen 8s are what I'm currently wearing for my track workouts - they are a half-way supershoe. They have a bouncier foam, but are also somewhat flexible with decent ground feel, and also feel like they are lower stack then they actually are. The upper sucks and is uncomfortable (but is still better than the upper of the Adios 6 - I had to give up on the Adios 6 because the tongue is so short it seems like a manufacturing defect).
The Takumi Sen 8 really seems like the latest iteration of the old Adios; just as the newer Adios shoes seem to actually be the latest iteration of the Boston. There's really nothing in Adidas' current line-up that is the equivalent of the older Takumi Sens.
***
My week:
60 miles running, 3 hours pool-running, and ~1500 meters swimming.
M: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.T: 12 miles, including a track workout of 6x800 in 3:24, 3:17, 3:14, 3:12, 3:14, 3:13. Recoveries were 1 lap jogged in between 2:2x and 2:4x.. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.W: Streaming yoga and 11 miles easy (9:41) plus drills and strides.Th: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.F: 1 miles, including a four mile tempo on the roads in 27:46 (7:05/7:01/6:55/6:45). Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 meters recovery swimming.Sa: 11 miles very easy (9:33) and upper body weights/core.Su: 14 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:49, next 4 averaging 8:17, and next 5 averaging 7:24 (and then a cooldown to make it 15 total). Followed with leg strength work and 500 meters recovery swimming.
Steady but slow improvement. I was entered in the BAA 5K, but decided to skip - too much going on, and I felt that three 5Ks in four weeks was a bit much.
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.
Hashiritai - haha, I gotta credit RP with giving me something to think about on my runs as well... what to call the run on Strava. Have kept that up for well over a year now. I only run with music for long runs these days. Even then I don't take my phone, I have an old iPod nano which is nice and light and does the job.
As for nutrition, honestly when you're racking up decent mileage, being able to enjoy some junk food is half the fun!! Anyways good week and I hope that ticking up the mileage does the job you.
Fred - you're still post-race, so easy weeks are all good!
Flavio - what's next up for you? Good to see you building things up again.
Darkwave - good call on the skipping the race, I think. Even for something short like a 5k where the physical recovery is quicker, you can still get mentally a bit burnt out racing that frequently.
Hash - I wanted to expand a bit on nutrition as I've just finished working with a nutritionist for a little over 6 months.
Over the past 20 or 30 years perhaps, the focus seems to have been on caloric deficit and the common sense seems to be that you must either starve yourself or have a miserable diet if you wish to shed some weight.
As with everything, the vast majority of people wants SUPER fast results doing the minimum work possible (It's the same thing with careers, running, weight lifting, you name it).
And just like those other things, creating habits is key. You see how you run every day because it's become a habit? Just like brushing your teeth or showering every day. Nobody has to force you and you don't need to suffer too much to do it, you just do it out of inertia at this point.
And with nutrition it's the same thing. Habits, habits, habits.
You will eat whatever your habits are, always, without even thinking.
There's no point in going for radical changes as that's unsustainable in the long term, thus can't become a habit, and if it's not a habit you will not do it.
So you start adapting what you eat, slowly but surely, over time, such a way that your diet undergoes very small and subtle changes over time.
You focus should be on nutrition, not calories. What's the best nutritious alternative that I have for this, ok, I'm going to add that sometimes.
Say you're used to eating a BigMac every Friday. Now if you replace that with a real burger with real meat, real lettuce, and a better cheese instead of that McDonalds crap, you're already making good progress. It's definitely not a sacrifice to eat a better burger and it will be more nutritious.
Say you like to drink Nescafe with sugar every morning. If you replace that with a coffee made on a Moka and remove the sugar because now the coffee tastes much better, you will be drinking much better coffee and getting more nutritional value.
If you have some dates, apples, bananas lying around and snack on them, you won't have as much space for the chocolate biscuits. Even if you do crave, why not then eat real chocolate, those 80% cocoa bars? Much better chocolate, much less sugar.
And protein. CommanderKeen will also back me up on this, but we need more protein on our diets, especially at breakfast. Eggs, bacon, greek yoghurt, milk.
And fiber. A good oat meal is great in fiber, roasted veggies, etc. CommanderKeen calls it roughage, but that name sounds like some sado-masochist ritual 😂
This is just some quick ideas of stuff you can do, over time if you have this mindset your diet will improve automatically
Once your diet (and actually your digestion improves, sleep will follow)
Mark - I'm running that half in my signature in nearby Matosinhos. I suppose I'll start at sub 90 minute pace and expect some sort of crash & burn after km 16 since I've only averaged 30 to 35 km per week the last 6 months.