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So...I got suckered into a half marathon this weekend..guess my time!

vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
So I've been training for about 2 months and was planning on doing a half next spring. I've done a long run up to 9 miles as of a few days ago. My wife is running a half marathon next weekend and has a few months under her belt than me for training.

She got approached yesterday by a coworker that had to cancel and wanted to know if anyone she knew would want to transfer her entry. I'm a sucker and said yes.

A week ago I did a 7 mile "hard" pace run where the first 4 miles were casual and then I cranked it up for the last three. Here it is: (that 9:34 in the middle is because I got stuck at an intersection for over 30 seconds)

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

This past Sunday (before I knew about the half marathon next Sunday) I did this:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

What is interesting to note is that the course I'm running has 250 feet of elevation gain/loss. My course this weekend had almost 1600!

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Sooo...I've only done 9 miles...but they were a hell of a lot harder than the 13.1 of the half. I also had a decent amount in the tank after my 9 this weekend. I'm sure I can finish it. Question is...at what time...:awe:

I think I can do under 2 hours with 2 months of training...my wife is probably going to kick my ass with like a 1:45.
 
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I think you can go under two hours for sure. Your pace times look similar to mine (yours are a little faster than mine are typically) and I can do 13.1 in just under two hours. You might be closer to 1:45 than you think.

Good luck!

It is only mildly depressing to see someone training for two months that is better than me after four years! I have learned to live with it though. 🙂

Since I have to guess, I'm going to say 1:52.
 
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1:45 just isn't going to happen for me. I know from my own training that going out at an 8:00 minute pace isn't something that is sustainable for 8+ miles. I'm a very slow to warm up guy. I won't even feel good until mile 3-4 and will be putzing along at 9:10 or so until I start feeling good. I know the distance is a lot longer than I've trained for so I won't really start to make a push until mile 7 at the earliest. And there's just not enough time to really make up much there.

1:55 is probably a realistic goal in my mind without absolutely destroying myself. The distance doesn't intimidate me. I've done 15 mile runs in the past so I've got that merit badge, but that was literally decades ago. The tougher goal is managing energy over that distance and not bonking too early by going out too fast.

The "X" factor for me is course difficulty. By some calculators the toughness of my training courses can add as much as 30 seconds a mile to my overall times when you account for elevation. That's bonus time on an easier course.
 
I think 1:58 is a good goal. That's a 9 minute per mile pace. Anything less than that is gravy, but there is also no shame going over that. I usually shoot for an even two hours on a 13.1 which is 9:09 per mile pace if I remember correctly. If my IT band allows it I can hit that, otherwise it is going to be somewhere in the 2:10 area.
 
How many miles/week are you currently running? You're under 22:00 for your 5K, right? I'm thinking somewhere in the 1:50-55 range, if you race smart (proper pacing) and the course isn't too bad. It really just depends on how hard you want to push it, but I think if you go all out, you could go sub-1:50.
 
I'm doing around 22 miles a week. Not a ton, but not totally slacking. Will be an interesting experience. I'm pretty good about control and usually error on the side of caution especially on long runs/races. I'll pace slower and conserve for later.
 
vi edit said:
1:45 just isn't going to happen for me. I know from my own training that going out at an 8:00 minute pace isn't something that is sustainable for 8+ miles. I'm a very slow to warm up guy. I won't even feel good until mile 3-4 and will be putzing along at 9:10 or so until I start feeling good. I know the distance is a lot longer than I've trained for so I won't really start to make a push until mile 7 at the earliest. And there's just not enough time to really make up much there.

1:55 is probably a realistic goal in my mind without absolutely destroying myself. The distance doesn't intimidate me. I've done 15 mile runs in the past so I've got that merit badge, but that was literally decades ago. The tougher goal is managing energy over that distance and not bonking too early by going out too fast.

The "X" factor for me is course difficulty. By some calculators the toughness of my training courses can add as much as 30 seconds a mile to my overall times when you account for elevation. That's bonus time on an easier course.
Click to expand...

I'd say sub 1:50 but you're already doubting yourself 😛 Race pace is far, far different than training runs alone or even with your wife. You'd be surprised at just how different a 8 min mile feels at the start of a half than running on your own. I too am a slow starter. My only hesitation is your lack of overall volume up to this point - I think you could do a sub 8 easy for the first 10...it's that last 3.1 where your lack of distance may really impact your performance as a whole.

Anyway, if you man up and drop the hammer, sub 1:50. 😛 🙂 There are running calculators that tell you your approx estimated paces you should run - see McMillan, as one example: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/

A 21:50 5K (that's about what you ran right?) translates into a 1:41 half. It is all formula based so some std margin of error there. I think you could go out at a 8 for a 1:45 and may be able to keep it the whole way...at the worst, you may drop to 8:15-8:30 for the last 3.1 and still end up sub 1:50.

Regardless of any of what I just posted above...if you want to do the smart thing and go easy on your body, go for sub-2. (9:07 or below) Should be a casual enough pace for ya to not get too worn out.
 
What time is the race? And when do you normally run? If you're not used to running in the morning, like you said it may take 3-4 miles for your body to wake-up unless you warm-up a lot beforehand.

Based on your current times, I think you can pull a 8:30/mile pace for the half. Or try going under 9/mile for the first half and if you're feeling good, crank it up for the second half.

I'm running a half on Sunday also. Just finished 21 miles on Sunday and tapering down for the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct 25th, so I'm still trying to decide at what pace to do but as Raging Bitch said, running a race is nothing like a training run. You may go out with folks at a 8/mile pace and not feel like you're pushing it b/c your adrenaline is pumping so hard.
 
I normally run at 4:30am. Race is at 7:30am. I get to sleep in. Woo hoo! I don't really do race jitters. Did so many in high school and college. I was a cool cucumber. Now basketball games in front of crowds... Uhg...I did not like that. Axiety city.
 
Right... So race is 12 hours away and I got drug to a "lantern festival". It's where you light these paper bags that float up in the air. Well before the launch they lit about 300 tiki torches and shit half that many mini bonfires. There's a toxic cloud I can see about 10 feet through. That should do my lungs good tomorrow right?

Bleh.
 
A guy I know in my neighborhood is looking to run with the 2 hour pacer up front and then peel away after the 7 mile mark. I'll look for him and follow his lead. He's about my pace/plan.
 
Well race completed. Ran a 1:47:11.

Felt pretty good. First mile was crappy just because of the wall of people I had to try and carve through. There were no gates or flights. Just a massive line of people that had no right being that far up in line. 😛

Here's the vital info:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Here's my per mile break down and elevation chart:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

I don't think I got passed by a single person after mile 7. I crushed the hills and just kept chewing up distances between groups after that.

My wife ran a 1:43 and was 4th in her age group. She had about 4 more weeks of training under her and was running with a co-worker of hers that had done a few halfs. They stayed together. I didn't think I'd be anywhere close to them but I surprised her at the turn around at mile 10. I made a huge push in spacing between 6 & 10.

In all...not bad at all for my first half and especially not bad with about 10 real good weeks of training. 😛
 
So about 24 hours afterwards all I can say is... Oww oww my knees.

Stairs are not fun right now. Muscle wise I feel great. No pain, tightness or otherwise. Just my knees are very unhappy.
 
vi edit said:
Well race completed. Ran a 1:47:11.

Felt pretty good. First mile was crappy just because of the wall of people I had to try and carve through. There were no gates or flights. Just a massive line of people that had no right being that far up in line. 😛

Here's the vital info:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

Here's my per mile break down and elevation chart:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=E46BB...2A&group=0&parId=E46BB480E134A82A!128&o=OneUp

I don't think I got passed by a single person after mile 7. I crushed the hills and just kept chewing up distances between groups after that.

My wife ran a 1:43 and was 4th in her age group. She had about 4 more weeks of training under her and was running with a co-worker of hers that had done a few halfs. They stayed together. I didn't think I'd be anywhere close to them but I surprised her at the turn around at mile 10. I made a huge push in spacing between 6 & 10.

In all...not bad at all for my first half and especially not bad with about 10 real good weeks of training. 😛
Click to expand...

Great job man! Awesome sub 1:50. Looking at your splits, it looks like you got bored halfway through and decided to drop the hammer? 8:30 first half avg pace, about a 7:48 second half. Your HR also reflects that.

Anyway, take it easy the next two weeks - rule of thumb - 1 day of recovery for every mile raced. I'm sure you'll feel it even worse tomorrow (2nd day is the worst) - some light easy walking or very very easy miles. (Especially this week) Great job again vi 🙂
 
RagingBITCH said:
Great job man! Awesome sub 1:50. Looking at your splits, it looks like you got bored halfway through and decided to drop the hammer? 8:30 first half avg pace, about a 7:48 second half. Your HR also reflects that.
Click to expand...

LOL. Yeah, sounds about right. I popped some energy blocks at mile 5. At mile six nearly everyone around me was huffing and puffing and I was just starting to feel good. At that point I just started feasting on crowds of people. The hardest part was the ending because the packs were so spread out. That hill in mile 11 just murdered people and they sputtered and crashed. I ran mile 12 almost by myself.

At mile 9 there was a turn around and my wife saw me not too far behind and had a look of shock on her face. She wasn't expecting me that close. That gave me a good boost too...did my best to try and close the gap.

As far as recovery, yeah, I need to take it easy. My knees are definitely not feeling good today. Tonight I'm going to do some yoga, and then the next few days maybe some upper body and core stuff. Pounding on asphalt does not sound fun in the least.

We're signed up for the http://www.thezionhalf.com/ in March. Will take a week or two off and focus on strength and stretching and then just do some basic foundation building until December. Then in December we'll start back into hard core training mode to prep for that race in March.
 
vi edit said:
LOL. Yeah, sounds about right. I popped some energy blocks at mile 5. At mile six nearly everyone around me was huffing and puffing and I was just starting to feel good. At that point I just started feasting on crowds of people. The hardest part was the ending because the packs were so spread out. That hill in mile 11 just murdered people and they sputtered and crashed. I ran mile 12 almost by myself.

At mile 9 there was a turn around and my wife saw me not too far behind and had a look of shock on her face. She wasn't expecting me that close. That gave me a good boost too...did my best to try and close the gap.

As far as recovery, yeah, I need to take it easy. My knees are definitely not feeling good today. Tonight I'm going to do some yoga, and then the next few days maybe some upper body and core stuff. Pounding on asphalt does not sound fun in the least.

We're signed up for the http://www.thezionhalf.com/ in March. Will take a week or two off and focus on strength and stretching and then just do some basic foundation building until December. Then in December we'll start back into hard core training mode to prep for that race in March.
Click to expand...

So did you beat your wife?
 
Getting old sucks here I guess.

I miss the days I could do a 10 mile run in combat boots, in sand on a beach, wearing a flack jacket and a web belt with a couple full canteens, and barely breath hard.

Nice work 🙂
 
Nebor said:
So did you beat your wife?
Click to expand...

Nah, she had me by 4 minutes. She did a 1:43 which is damn impressive for her first half. She signed up in August and had a few month of base prior to that in addition to a training plan. I didn't even start *running* until the last week of July. Labor day weekend was the first time in 20 years that I had run more than 5 miles. I found out I was running the race 8 days before I supposed to run it with only a 7 miler as my long run. I did a 9 mile run the day after I found out about the race and then put on another 4.1 miles more than my longest run week later at the race.

Considering my lack of volume/training I'm satisfied with the result.

🙂
 
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