Forums >Racing>The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition
Mother of Cats
My weeks (last week and this week):
51 miles running, 3:30 hours pool-running, and 500 yards swimming.
M: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.T: 4 miles very easy (10:13), upper body weights/core, 30 minutes pool-running.W: Streaming yoga and 10 miles very easy (9:56) plus drills.Th: 90 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.F: 10 miles, including a track workout of 3200, 1600 in 14:10 (7:09/7:01) and 6:47 with 5:30 recovery in between. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 8 miles easy (10:12) on treadmill, streaming yoga, and 3 miles easy (9:42) plus drills/strides.Su: 14.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:46, next 5 averaging 8:26, and next 4.5 averaging 7:30 (and then a mile cooldown). Followed with leg strength work. No recovery swimming because I forgot my bathing suit.
Week 2:56 miles running, 3 hours pool-running, and 1000 yards swimming.
M: 90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.T: 11.5 miles, including a track workout of 2x1600, 2x800, 4x200 in 6:45, 6:38, 3:15, 3:14, 48, 46, 46, 48. 4:3x-4:5x recovery after the 1600s; 3:00 recovery between the 800s. Full recovery for the 200s. Followed with leg strengthwork and recovery swimming.W: 7.5 miles (9:49), upper body weights/core, and 3.5 miles (9:31) plus drills/stridesTh: 90 minutes pool-running, drills, and streaming yoga.F: 11 miles, including an 8K tempo on the track in 36:11 (7:25/7:18/7:16/7:11/7:01). Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 10 miles easy (10:08), drills, and upper body weights/core.Su: 12.5 miles, including 8 Iwo Jima Hills (between 2:00 and 2:30 powerful uphill; 90 second jog, 45 second downhill stride, 60 seconds jog to bottom). Followed with some injury prevention work. No recovery swimming because my feet, legs, and lats were all cramping.
The (arguably TMI) training story of the past two weeks is that I changed my birth control pill last week. (I'm guessing most of the guys here may not want to read this, but the women may, and any female lurkers may find this helpful to read.
I've been on a combination pill (contains both an estrogen - estradiol and a progestin - levonorgestrol) for a LONG time - longer than I've been a runner. But last fall I was told that I had to come off of it as soon as I was willing - I'm apparently too old now to be on this pill, since the risk of stroke increases both with age and estrogen intake.
[the good news is that apparently the birth control pill I'm on is horrible for many female runners - I knew this, but I figured I was running well on it, so why mess with success.]
My choices were either a progestin only pill or getting an IUD. So I decided to try a progestin only pill - Slynd (uses a different progestin - drospirenone). I've been on the Slynd for two weeks. At first it seemed OK - I was sleeping better. But as time has progressed, I feel worse on it - it is definitely very dehydrating, which is not a good thing given that the summer humidity is starting to seep in. I also feel like I have significantly less power and strength on it, and my heart rate is jacked up. So now I'm trying option 3 - a IUD (which will use levonorgestol - the same progestin I was on before). Hopefully I'll get the IUD on Tuesday, and we'll see how my training goes from there.
(If you're wondering why I did hills instead of a long run on Sunday - there's a few reasons. 1) I struggled with my gait/coordination pretty badly in Tuesday's track workout, so I wanted to do some hills to refresh my gait mechanics, 2) I did an 8K track tempo on Friday, and I thought a long run two days later was a bit too soon after that, 3) this morning was one of our first warm/humid days, and hills with long recoveries and lots of chances to drink water are easier on the body when you're struggling with dehydration; 4) since I'm not marathon training right now, I don't need a long run every weekend.)
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.
Darkwave - nice week. Good luck on the pill change.
Fred - kids courses were short, full course was fine. My wife wasn't racing the kids course, if so that could have opened up some interesting questions
Hash - no worries you couldn't find me. I just stayed near the start watching other team mates start and finish their races. I was getting cold at the end as the wind was quite strong.
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
Hot Weather Complainer
watson - Sorry to hear about the calf, hope it comes right quickly.
darkwave - I wouldn't worry about sharing issues that don't impact the men here, it's still very interesting to know about how the human body can react to things completely differently to the next person. It's also part of your running journey, so it's good to know about yet another health challenge you have. You've got way more than your fair share. Nice week, and your logic for doing the hills makes perfect sense.
Fred - Hopefully the ankle is nothing. I get random soreness too, and wonder if I did something in my sleep. That sort of thing usually resolves itself pretty quickly.
Hash - Nice week and great work on the race and the sub 40 10km.
Flavio - Smart move having a lighter week after a race in those conditions. That definitely would have taken a bigger toll on your body than cooler conditions.
Mark - That's still a decent week after a race and with a cold (or whatever it was).
Corey - Well done Grandmaster.
piwi - Apart from work, those sound like nice interruptions.
me - Light post-race week, although not as light as I've had in the past. My coach has the view that I should be more resilient now, with all the increased mileage over the last 2 years. I still took it as it comes and kept it sensible. To be honest, my legs felt fresh enough to do much more but I'll keep it sensible and gradually build up - I'm sure in a few months when I'm doing my biggest ever volume I'll not regret a decent recovery now.
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
Steve - haha if I have no idea what it was, other than it wasn't Covid (I actually almost would rather it had been that and I'd got it out the way!). Feeling better today but gave myself another rest day so hopefully back into it tomorrow. Smart post-race week.
Darkwave - definitely not TMI given half the population have to deal with the same thing. Us guys forget how lucky we are that our hormones don't bounce around on a monthly basis. Hopefully the IUD works well. One of the top NZ elite female distance runners, Lydia O'Donnell, has been a major advocate for tailoring coaching specifically to female runners which I think is improving awareness a lot around NZ athletics circles (historically predominantly male coaches) in terms of differences between male and female physiology and implications of training and racing.
Piwi - yes I was following Reboot. Some great elite results especially from Dan Balchin. Simon Mace who is a local masters guy ran 2:27. He's been pumping out 160km weeks for the last 8 months or so which has been a game changer for him (I could beat him across all distances in 2018-19 but no chance now!). He disappeared off Strava two weeks ago so I thought maybe he'd got sick or injured but obviously not.
Flavio - glad to hear that workout felt good.
Hashiritai - loved the RR! Well done on that 10km effort too (not sure anyone on here has run back-to-back races in a while).
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"
a ton to catch up on here , including apparently some good racing. I'll try to get that tomorrow as I'm catching up with the parents tonight.
M swim 1000km easy + 40 min easy run
T 8.5 in "85 feels like 97" heat and humidity. Brutal. Goal was 4xmile but I immediately accepted I wouldn't get it done and went 1600 (6:55 - good news this felt like plodding), 1200 @6:55 pace, 800 in 3:26, 800 in 3:22, 400 in 90, 2x200 in :36. All with long 400m recoveries where I doused myself with water.
W 20 min lift, KM swim, easy hour run with a measly 2 strides
Th easy hour, 4 strides this time. Starting to feel ok with the less absurd hot weather.
F hour easy + 40 min easy on trails (flat tire, was supposed to be a ride)
S 35 min easy
Sun 16 as 2 up/down + 3x4miles at 8:01, 7:53, 7:36/mi paces. Felt really strong though 7:36 was a touch hot and I could have held back a bit there. + 2 hour singletrack riding with my kids and their scout troop latter.
56 miles
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Darkwave- vasectomy
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 "
Fred, thanks for the link to imslp.org. Looks like a lot to sort through but probably helpful. I've been playing my trumpet a bit more and it's fun to play with my kids. Good review of your poor races, I too would be proud of finishing a few days after a norovirus. I think the majority of my poor races can be chalked up to "trained through an injury" with one begin chalked up to "underestimated 100% humidity because it was only 70F at start". I hope the ankle is ok.
Watson/Hash - yeah a fast field is one of the most important pieces for me to set a PR, especially up to 10k. I feel like I run solo at most of my halves anyways.
Watson - I hope the calf clears up quickly. Those are annoying injuries.
James I'm continuously impressed how you can cautiously train with that bum hamstring. I can't imagine how fast you'd be without it. I'm totally with you on having other people around during track sessions. I do mine on Tuesday because that's when I can run with other people.
Corey where does the grandmaster cutoff start? 60?
DWave echoing Piwi - tell your partner to get a Vasectomy. Just not at this place:
otherwise good luck figuring out the proper pills.
Steve glad the legs are feeling good.
Hash sneaky sub 40. Nicely done. That 3-2-1KM workout was also stellar.
James, I too wonder how you’re able to log so many miles with injuries. Glad you found a way to make it work for you.
Cfarr, congratulations on the grandmaster. Not sure I’ve ever heard that term before
Mark, hope you finally shook that bug
Watson, sorry about the calf
Flavio, the 1500 sounds like it will be a fun training cycle for you!
Hashiritai, congratulations on the relay and the 10k PB!!! Huge week for you
Fred, sorry about the ankle. I’d say it’s definitely the humidity. I broke a knee 10+ yrs ago and every so often a notice something with drastic weather changes.
DW, good luck finding a good solution. I went hormone-free about 8 yrs ago and really like it. Your reasoning for the hills makes perfect sense but ughh picking a hill workout over an ‘easy’ LR!
Steve, nice job keeping things sensible. How long does your coach give you before ramping things up again?
Zebano, wow those are some impressive workouts period, let alone in that weather. Hope everything with the parents went well.
5k 24:53 (2020) |10k 52:24 (2021) |HM 1:57:14 (2019) |FM 4:24 (2007) |50k 5:57 (2022)
I had a good rebuilding week but realized both the workouts felt harder than they should have. I'm going to jump into the Hanson HM plan targeting an end of Aug race. Yes a HM in Aug in Va and yes it's 100% going to have miserable weather. I want to try actually training the right way this cycle so I did a TT this morning to reassess my actual current fitness and as I expected I need to be doing my workouts slower.
Intl. correspondent
DW - current pace 400s around sub 90s and target pace sub 80s. I didn't quite hit those but it's the first workout.
Also, I was going to tell Piwi off stating that you're a female but I see he meant Mr Darkwavo should go for the V
Caitlin - nice week, it sounds like disaster was averted.
Zeb - man I just realized you've got a fast mile.
Me - waiting patiently for the Rammstein concert here in Prague. Ticket said 4pm but it seems it will actually start at 8pm. It's a beautiful day so far. Also awesome to be at a concert after so many years (5 or 6) but this one is definitely worth it
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
Flavio thanks, that was one of those perfect races where I just hit flow state early and cruised until the final 400 where I really kicked hard and I've been chasing that feeling ever since. Are you gonna go sub 5 this cycle?
Caitlyn nice 20 minute tempo. I don't know why but that is a workout I dread. Assign me 6xmile at LT and I'll do it but 20 minutes which should be roughly 2.8 miles is a horrendous thing in my mind. I've probably gotta get over that but I had to shout you out for doing my most hated of workouts.
Cobra Commander Keen
James - Awesome that you're progressing the right way, but I do hope the rest of the niggles clear up soon.
CFarr - Nice job. A race in mid-May only being 30 sec slower than one in February looks good to me considering the changes in weather alone.
Mark - Nice recovery week.
Flavio - Hitting the super-fast end of things again, nice!
Hashiritai - Little kids helping is the "best", huh? Nice work in the relay.
DWave - Nice couple of weeks. Hopefully option 3 works out for you. I find health/hormone stuff pretty fascinating overall, but it is wildly more complicated for women than it is for men.
Steve - How do you feel after that lighter-than-usual week after your race? I'm sure this is the case for others here as well, but I've certainly found that higher cumulative mileage leads to better resiliency.
Caitlin - Nice week, and good job getting that more accurate handle on your fitness in the current conditions.
Flavio - Patiently waiting for Rammstein??
I finally got a pretty decent week under my belt again, though a stupid mistake did lead to me ditching the most valuable 10 minutes of my workout on Friday. The heat acclimation metric on my watch is proving quite interesting. Outside of that number, though, being used to the heat/humidity really helped with my workout this morning with the temps being ~12F cooler than morning have typically been lately.
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
The heat acclimation metric on my watch is proving quite interesting. Outside of that number, though, being used to the heat/humidity really helped with my workout this morning with the temps being ~12F cooler than morning have typically been lately.
Keen - great week! What watch do you have and how long did it take the heat acclimation index to change noticeably? Anecdotally I felt a lot better after 4 days of extreme heat followed by a fall back to 65-70F which is still 20 degrees hotter than I'd been running in. Even today's run in "75, feels like 80" felt extremely pleasant.
Waltons ThreadLord
If they go over a bump, does the $699 vasectomy become a free castration?
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
Caitlin nice job on the 3kTT. Even splits and effort are all you can ask for and now you have a benchmark.
Keen your training is immaculate. You thoroughly deserve that sub 3. A mate of mine got a 2.59 on Sunday after a few years trying.
Zeb/Flavio yes it was a bit cheeky of me to mention the vasectomy but it was a simple procedure for me and now I can enter the female division in races right ?
I finally got my Adios 6s. 2 runs I them and they are very comfy and snappy. Tempo/easy run shoe methinks.