Need More Quality

Battery Kinzie · 24-07-2016 7:55pm #1

Thought I'd start one of these. Had been considering starting one for the last while so after the Fingal 10k today I decided to give it a go. I already keep a detailed (enough) log in excel myself, but it's always good to have more experienced eyes look over your training.

Long story short, I've been running for about a year, doing ~1,400km in that time. Luckily I've caught the running bug early in my 20s, so I caught myself before I got too out of shape. I've picked up the distances since the new year, and all going well in a week, I currently do 40-50k a week. In that time, I've only ever done 2 races (before today), a half marathon and a 5 miler. I was tempted to join nop and co in the DCM novice thread, but have since decided against that because A) I don't think I have enough distance in the legs yet;

I want to get some good PBs posted; C) I haven't done enough races and don't have enough experience of pacing in races and all that goes with them, and D) when I do do DCM, I want to enjoy it and not have it turn into a nightmare (and a few other factors).

Times are:

Half Marathon: November 2015, low 1:5x
5 mile: January 2016: 33:2x

The HM time is very soft, I was worried about injury and not having enough for that race, so I took it easy and had a lot left in the tank at the end. Still enjoyed it massively and feel like it's given me a good mental edge in that distances of 13/14/15 miles don't seem so daunting.

The 5 mile was tough. I went out too fast and had to hold on, which I struggled to do. Positive splits for that race, and a lesson learned.

Anyway, I'll jump into the report from today.

Fingal 10k

Arrived in what I thought was decent time, but got caught getting parking into the Pavilions and by the time I had parked, used the toilet and dropped my bag, I had little time left for a warm-up. Managed to squeeze a quick k with some strides in, and made my way to the start.

Based on my 5mile time, runningforfitness.org predicted a 10k time of a touch over 42 minutes, so that was my loose goal. Part of me thought I could go faster since it's been 6 months since my 5 mile time and I've ran consistently since then, but another part of me thought that time may be a stretch since I had done no 10k specific training. So my very loose, last minute plan was to go out at 4:15min/km til halfway and see how I was feeling.

Anyway, away I went, taking a conservative approach up to the roundabout. I then glanced at the watch and noticed that the lap pace on the watch said 6:5x or something. I spend the next 100 metres pissed off, thinking that the watch was having a meltdown and that I'd have to run blind for the full 10k, which I really didn't fancy myself doing.

We then passed the 1k marker, and I checked to see was my watch still acting a maggot. It was, displaying only 0.62 for the distance covered. That number looked oddly familiar to me, and I then realised my watch was set to miles (which it has never been, so god knows how that happened). Dope! Anyway, this wasn't so bad, as it allowed me to switch off from the race and test my maths skills. I spent the next 2/3k translating all my time goals which were in min per kilometer to min per miles, which was a lot more difficult when also trying to keep a decent pace. Anyway, I eventually concluded that 4:15/km pace was about 6:50/mile pace, and I looked down to see that I was in around that pace, so was happy enough. Grabbed some much needed water to choke and cough on, and moved on.

Started to feel it on the country roads around 6k in, and the doubts starting to creep in. I decided to check my cadence as I thought it was something that I could focus on, and I accidentally saw my heartrate, which I was really trying to avoid. 202! :eek: I had thought my max was 203 based off some really tough intervals a while back, and now I started to get serious doubts. There was no way I could keep this up for the next 4k. I was well on track and still averaging my new metric of 6:50min/miles, but I just didn't believe I could. I continued on anyway and tried to see how long I could stick it out.

K7-9 were the toughest, with the HR doubts still there and the general lack of decent 10k workouts being felt. I was convinced I was slowing, but each time I checked my watch I was still clinging onto that 6:50 pace. I spent a good chunk of the race trying to recall Singer's race profile, but to no avail (stupid brain). I did however recall his part about the mountain in the last kilometer, so I was prepared to probably die. To my surprise, I got up and over without much bother(relatively speaking), and I absolutely loved the finish line hiding behind that corner. I sprinted down the hill and nearly ran into someone who had just finished, and stopped the watch.

Watch & official time: 42:20. Avg pace: 6:49. Avg HR: 201 (max 210)

Reflections:

There were many positives to take from that race. I found that I can get to a pace and hang in there pretty well, which is a great mental boost and I also got a time that I can be happy with but also can build on.
However, I'm a tiny bit peeved that I seemingly haven't improved that much since January, though if I'm staying positive I can attempt to put that down to the heat and the lack of 10k specific training. I don't to make too many excuses though.
I have a new max HR to train off! I always suspected my max was higher than I had thought, so this gives me a bit more wiggle room for easy and recovery runs.
I need to race more. This being only my 3rd race in a year is a bit mad, and the fact that I had little idea of what to expect timewise today was a bit annoying.

Future:
So this race made me look back at my training since January again, and it turns out I've done 80 runs since then, with only 7 of them not being an easy or long run. I can give myself a by for the first few weeks of that I suppose since I was trying to build a bit of a base, but I think at this stage it's time to start doing tempo runs and intervals regularly. I think I should start with one a week and maybe 3 every 2 weeks and then 2 a week, etc.

Rest of year goals:

Get to 1000 miles for the year.
Go sub 20 in the 5k.

If you've managed to read all that, fair play. Even if no one reads all this and I never update it again, it's been a great tool for getting my thoughts together and setting some goals and standards to build on.

Murph_D · 24-07-2016 8:17pm

Good race - you HAVE improved since January, getting the predicted time on a longer race means your endurance has improved. Well done on hanging in there at a tough pace. That HM time is going to be decimated with some more endurance training!

The Muppet · 24-07-2016 8:18pm

Congratulation on your run today and the best of luck with your goals above.

annapr · 24-07-2016 8:24pm

Your time today was as predicted by the calculator? That's really good, you're being too hard on yourself. You'll see a big improvement when you start doing more speed sessions.

And I had a good chuckle at your struggles with your watch, please stick with Km, it drives almost everyone mad around here

Battery Kinzie · 24-07-2016 9:32pm

Murph_D wrote: »

Good race - you HAVE improved since January, getting the predicted time on a longer race means your endurance has improved. Well done on hanging in there at a tough pace. That HM time is going to be decimated with some more endurance training!

Cheers. Yeah, that's the plan anyway. A few parkruns and then either the Dublin HM if I feel I'm ready, or else a HM in October/November time. Calculators are saying a 1:33:xx based on my 10k time, but I'd be skeptical of that. In reality, I'd be happy with anything 1:3x.

The Muppet wrote: »

Congratulation on your run today and the best of luck with your goals above.

Cheers. Good luck with your marathon training!

annapr wrote: »

Your time today was as predicted by the calculator? That's really good, you're being too hard on yourself. You'll see a big improvement when you start doing more speed sessions.

And I had a good chuckle at your struggles with your watch, please stick with Km, it drives almost everyone mad around here

Haha, I'm definitely a KM type of guy, and have no plans to change!

tailgunner · 25-07-2016 8:06am

Seriously impressive mid-race maths. And running.

Best of luck with the goals!

Battery Kinzie · 25-07-2016 3:06pm

Bog standard 5k recovery run this afternoon:

Distance: 5k
Time: ~ 32 minutes
Average HR: 158.

I've been toying with the idea of doing the FD 10 mile. I'm going away tonight for a few days and will probably take another day or two off to completely rid myself of this niggle I've had for a few weeks but never got the chance to properly let heal. So I'll probably be back to running on the weekend, giving me 3 weeks til the 10 mile. The distance is grand for me as I do a long run pretty much every week which is often more than that, so I'm more concerned about what pace I can keep for that distance. Most calculators have me at a few seconds over 70 minutes based on my 10k time, but I think it'll probably be a few minutes slower than that, closer to 75 probably.

So I'll need one taper week, giving me two weeks of training. I could do two workouts in that time(probably one intervals/repeats and one tempo), so what would be best? I'd like to do something that will give me a good idea of what sort of pace I should aim for, so I was thinking of having the two workouts as follows:

W/o 1: Next Tuesday/Wednesday (2/3 Aug): 3/4/5 * 1/2 mile repeats at 10k (6:50 min/mile) pace (not so sure about this one)

W/o 2: Tuesday/Wednesday week after (9/10 Aug): Tempo run. 4-6 miles at 7-7:15 min/mile pace

I may also throw in a parkrun the Saturday between these two. All look ok?

Antwerp · 25-07-2016 3:37pm

Sorry to see you leave DCM novice forum but Best of luck Battery Kinzie with your new chapter and the new job

Battery Kinzie · 25-07-2016 4:13pm

Antwerp wrote: »

Sorry to see you leave DCM novice forum but Best of luck Battery Kinzie with your new chapter and the new job

Cheers Antwerp, good luck yourself with the 10k next Monday and the marathon training after.

Antwerp · 26-07-2016 5:04pm

Thanks Battery Kinzie, think I'll be looking for a sports physio soon as my right foot is playing up....probably best to check it out rather than leaving it fester, so typical

Battery Kinzie · 04-08-2016 3:58pm

So I took that mini break I mentioned and didn't run from Monday last until the Saturday. Have been back at it since then, and feeling good. That niggle is as good as gone, so that's good.

Saturday 30th July: 5 miles (8k) easy@ 6min/km and avg HR of 160.

Sunday 31th July: 10 miles (16k) long run@ 5:55min/km and avg HR of 162

Not a lot to say about these two runs.

Tuesday 2nd August: 7 miles (~11k) total

Going along with log title, I had planned to do a session on Tuesday, however on Monday I noticed that there was a local 2 mile race on Tuesday, so I decided to give it a bash to see what I could do. I knew I could do 12:xx, but wasn't sure how low the xx would be. I thought lower than 12:30 would be a bit ambitious, so I would've been happy with anything heading towards 12:30.

Anyway, I decided not to pay much attention to the watch for the race and see how I got on. I ended up in a nice pack for most of it, doing what felt like a fast pace, but one that I could pick up at anytime if needed. Ended up finishing in 12:07, so was very happy with that. I enjoyed the distance a surprising amount, and I'll be doing more of that distance in the future I think. I'd like to go under 12 minutes before long. It also gave me confidence(bordering on complacency) that when I eventually get around to doing a 5k race I'll go under 20 minutes. Was considering a park run for this Saturday, but I think 3 races in 11 days would be a step too far.

Another point of note: I found out my max HR is actually 215. I had thought my 210 from the Fingal 10k 2 weeks ago would be the absolute limit, but I broke that again and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if I got it higher again during a 5k race.

Warm up and down brought the total miles to around 7 for the day.

Wednesday 2nd August: 3 miles (5k) recovery @ 6:20min/km and avg HR of 155

Thursday 3rd August: 5.5 miles (9k) easy @ 5:50min/km and avg HR of 165

Battery Kinzie · 04-08-2016 3:59pm

Oh, and I've 99% decided to knock the FD 10 mile on its head (that 1% is just me being usual indecisive me). I'm just gonna focus instead on doing a few shorter races over the coming weeks, and will have a go at a half marathon towards the end of the year.

Battery Kinzie · 08-08-2016 9:00pm

Saturday 6th August: 3 miles (5k) @ 5:59min/km with avg HR of 164

Really can't remember much from this run. According to my Excel log I wore my older pair of runners, which is just about the most exciting thing I can say about this run.

Sunday 7th August: 11 miles (18k) @ 5:50 min/km with avg HR of 163

I enjoyed this run. Well, most of it anyway. Didn't have a great breakfast as the stomach was feeling a bit off from the pints after the Dublin game the night before and I didn't bring any food for the way, but got it done and was only really feeling the hunger for the last few kilometers.

Rest today and then some easy miles with a few strides for the rest of the week, then gonna have a go at sub 20 at the parkrun on the weekend.

Battery Kinzie · 13-08-2016 11:41am

Tuesday 9th August: 5 miles (8k) @ 5:50 min/km with avg HR of 160

Easy enough 8k, felt good.

Wednesday 10th August: 6ish miles (10k) @ 5:45 min/km with avg HR of 162

Easy 8k with 6*100m strides after with 1 min jogging recovery between. I'm really starting to enjoy strides, they are something to look forward to. Had a few spectators during my strides (or so I thought - in reality they probably didn't even notice me), so a few of them were a bit faster than normal, but no harm done.

Thursday 11th August: 5 miles (8k) @ 5:52 min/km with avg HR of 161

Easy enough 8k, felt good.

Saturday 13th August: Parkrun (5k)

This was my first ever 5k, so was just hoping to enjoy it and not blow up. Well, that's what I tried to convince myself, but after the 2 mile race a few weeks back, I was really expecting a sub 20. My strategy was to go out 4min/km and keep an even pace with a bit of a kick at the end.

Kilometer 1

Went out at what felt a tiny bit slow, but clocked the first k in 4:01. Felt good and well in control, so was happy and started to relax.

Split: 4.01
Total: 4.01

Kilometer 2

Probably relaxed a little bit too much, and the pace slowed a bit. Didn't really feel the pace slowing that much, so only noticed when the second K buzzed in at 4:10. Not a complete disaster, but I felt I needed to pick it up a bit so I don't end up leaving too much work to do at the end.

Split: 4.10
Total: 8:11

Kilometer 3

Started to pick it up, but was maybe relaxed too much into that slightly easier pace, so I didn't make as much time in this K as I would've liked.

Split: 4.07
Total: 12:18

Kilometer 4

Did a quick adding up of the second splits, and realised I had 20 seconds to make up, so I stepped on it. Had a plan of doing the last 2k at a pace of around 3:45min/km which would take me under my goal time with a few seconds to spare. This K chimed in at 3:42, so all was going to plan. Was starting to feel it a bit more than I had expected however, so I knew I was in for a tough last kilometer.

Split: 3:42
Total: 16:00

Kilometer 5

Was starting to feel it a lot now, but kept telling myself 'there's only X metres left' (I continually underestimated this value, but it was good to have that feeling of only having 500 meters left to go, even if it was actually 700 odd metres). The legs felt a bit jelly at the end and didn't really have much left for a kick of any sort, so I just kept a steady going over the last couple of hundred of metres, knowing that the sub 20 was secured. Ended up doing a surprising 3:40 for the last kilometer, I had felt that I slowed down a bit from the previous one, but no complaints!

Split: 3:40
Total: 19:40

Delighted with another race distance done and another decent performance. It feels good to now have concrete goals and times to beat in future races, rather than just having a guess at what time I'd be able for and going for it.

Warm-up and cool down brought the total mileage for the day up to 13k for the day.

I'll do an extended recovery run tomorrow of about 10k, depending how the legs feel.

gramar · 13-08-2016 12:30pm

That's a very good run especially being your first at 5km.
A 5km under 20min is my ultimate goal. I think I could retire then.

Battery Kinzie · 13-08-2016 1:29pm

gramar wrote: »

That's a very good run especially being your first at 5km.
A 5km under 20min is my ultimate goal. I think I could retire then.

Cheers. You don't seem too far away yourself based on your 5*1k intervals you did.

Battery Kinzie · 17-08-2016 11:43am

Tuesday 16th August: 8k easy @ 5:50min/km with avg HR of 160

Wednesday 17th August: 6k easy with 6*100 strides after @ 5:48min/km with avg HR of 158

Taking a bit of a down week this week after three races in the last 3 weeks and to get a bit of rest before I start training for the HM. Still haven't found a plan that 100% fits me, so I may end up doing my own thing and keeping it simple by doing 1 tempo/interval run a week, one long run and the rest easy, with strides once a week.

gramar · 18-08-2016 2:31pm

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Cheers. You don't seem too far away yourself based on your 5*1k intervals you did.

There's a 5km on the 18th of September around the city which is a flat course so I'll be eyeing that for a good time. Main thing is start near the front and avoid the masses. I don't think it'll be sub 20 but sub 21 would be ok and show progress if nothing else.

Battery Kinzie · 18-08-2016 9:04pm

gramar wrote: »

There's a 5km on the 18th of September around the city which is a flat course so I'll be eyeing that for a good time. Main thing is start near the front and avoid the masses. I don't think it'll be sub 20 but sub 21 would be ok and show progress if nothing else.

Good luck with it.

Battery Kinzie · 29-08-2016 12:02pm

Thursday 18th August: 8.5k (5.3miles) @ 05:47min/km with avg HR of 158

Sunday 21st August: 15k @ 05:45min/km with avg HR of 164

Can't remember much from these. Missed Saturday's run due to a worse than planned hangover. Worked out well though as I wanted to take a bit of a rest week after doing a good few races in the past month.

Total weekly distance for 15th-21st August: 39k

Tuesday 23rd August: Tempo run: 4.5k @ 4:27min/km with a warm up and cool down to bring total to 10k

Planned to do a 20 minute tempo run at 10k pace plus 10 seconds per kilometer (so 4:30min/km give or take 5 seconds), which ended up working out quite nicely at an even 4.5k. Had to dig deeper over the last 500m than I would've liked, though it still felt 'comfortably hard'. The Alpen I had for breakfast was just sitting in my stomach and I felt like I needed a good burp, which didn't help at all, so that's Alpen crossed off the pre-run breakfast list. Heart rate for the tempo section averaged out to 188 (~88% of max) and peaked at the end at 195 (~91%), which confirms that I was working a bit too hard towards the end. I had thought of another reason to explain why it felt so hard, but I've since forgotten that, so I'll have to stick with the Alpen one.

Wednesday 24th August: 6.5k @ 6:10min/km with avg HR of 158

Legs felt good, no Alpen either so stomach was fine. HR higher than normal for that pace, but that's expected I suppose.

Thursday 25th August 10k @ 5:55min/km with avg HR of 165

Took in a few hills around my area, nothing too strenuous, but I definitely noticed the heart rate rising even as I slowed going up the hills.

Saturday 27th August 16.1k @ 5:48min/km with avg HR of 158

Did my long run on Saturday as opposed to Sunday as I knew I would be having a few beers on Saturday night and would be going to the Dublin game on Sunday so didn't fancy getting up early to fit it in. Felt great during this. Thought at one stage my HR monitor was having an episode as it was quite low compared to pace and distance ran, but to be fair, I felt comfortable in my breathing. Decided not to push pace to get HR into relevant zone as I had had a big enough running week so just took it relatively easy, though having said that, my thighs were a bit 'sore' towards the end.

Sunday 28th August: 8k @ 5:52 min/km with avg HR of 163

Didn't feel any effects of the beers the night before and got a good recovery-easy run in.

Total weekly distance for 22nd-28th August: ~51k

My biggest mileage week with a good tempo run and some hills taken in. I'll start focusing on stretching out the long run and keeping the Tuesday workouts going over the next few weeks in preparation for a half marathon sometime in October/November.

Battery Kinzie · 31-10-2016 9:50pm

Been a while since I updated here, I keep an Excel log too so I've forget to do both recently as I've been more busy with other stuff.

Since last update (2 months), I've kept the weekly mileage at around 40-50k a week, with the odd week in the 20s for differing reasons. I've hit 19k, 20k and 21k in my last 3 long runs, all at a fairly comfortable pace of around 5:30-5:45mins/km. I'm pretty happy to have that as my 'easy' pace now, considering it was in the mid 6min/kms when I first started running to HR at the start of the year.

I plan to do the Clontarf HM in 3 weeks, and I'm going for 1:3x. Not sure what the x will be yet, it all depends on the day really. I've downgraded a few of the weekly workouts in the last few weeks due to having a bit of a niggle that I didn't want to aggravate, so I'm hoping that my increased long runs will help me. Did a 21k long run in 1:56 the other day and was comfortable, so I'm feeling good for Clontarf.

Looking beyond that, I was in at the marathon yesterday, and, surprise surprise, I want to do it next year. The crowds on the day and sense of achievement from the both the novice thread and the main DCM thread here on boards has be wanting a bit of that. So my general plan for that will be to keep the long run around a HM most weeks until around May time, and then start more marathon specific training. There's a few events in the first half of 2017 that I want to have a stab at, but already I'm looking forward to DCM 2017!

I'm also well on the way to running 1000 miles for this year, which will be cool.

Battery Kinzie · 04-11-2016 8:04pm

Tuesday 1st November: 2*5k with 4 mins rest and 1 mile hard to finish off

Looked up a half marathon predictor workout, and this was one I saw. I liked the look if it, so went for it. With a warm up and warm down included, it ended up being 10 miles, which is a first for me midweek. My goal for the HM is under 1:3x, which should be very achievable. Probably a bit soft. I'd love to go under 1:35, but that may be a stretch too far. This 2*3 miles part of this workout was supposed to be done at HM pace, so about 4:45 for me, maybe 4:30 minutes per kilometer.

First 5k: 4:26 min/km pace, avg HR of 85% of max

Second 5k: 4:34 min/km, avg HR of 87% of max

Hard mile to finish: 4:17 min/km, avg HR of 86% of max

Very happy with this workout. Not sure what % of max my HR should've been, but the effort felt good. It wasn't all out, it felt just like I always read how a tempo run should feel. The second 5k was a wee bit uphill so pace was a bit lower.

Wednesday 5th November: 6k recovery

Not a lot to say.

Thursday 6th November 8k easy

Felt good. Not a lot to say again, but legs didn't feel all too bad after the big run on Tuesday.

tailgunner · 04-11-2016 8:07pm

Nice session. Are you following a plan or just picking sessions you like the look of?

Battery Kinzie · 04-11-2016 8:08pm

So, how much faith do I put in that HM 'predictor'? It predicts a sub 1:35, however I'm not convinced. I'm thinking of going out on 1:40 pace and seeing how I feel after halfway. If I'm feeling good, I'll step on the pace, though maybe 5 minutes is a bit much to make up over the last half? I went out way too conservatively in my last half and ended up leaving so many minutes out on the course, so I'd be wary of doing that again.

Battery Kinzie · 04-11-2016 8:10pm

tailgunner wrote: »

Nice session. Are you following a plan or just picking sessions you like the look of?

Just picking sessions really. Mostly tempo stuff the last month or two.

I follow a general plan of workout Tuesday, recovery Wednesday, easy Thursday and then one easy and one long on the weekend. So the Tuesday workout is pretty much decided on the Monday, depending what I'm feeling.

Battery Kinzie · 04-11-2016 8:52pm

I should add, based on my 5k and 10k times (19:30 and 42:23 respectively), all the calculators suggest a HM time of 1:33 or less. I know these assume that you are adequately trained for the distance, which I feel that I am...

tailgunner · 04-11-2016 9:40pm

Your 10k PB is a few months old isn't it? Assuming you've been fairly consistent since, particularly in terms of getting the long runs in, I'd say 1:35 is a very realistic target for the HM.

Battery Kinzie · 04-11-2016 9:48pm

Yeah, it was at the Fingal 10k in July. I've been doing a long run every weekend, maybe I missed the odd one or two. Generally 16k at least, up to 19k a few times and one 21k.

gramar · 06-11-2016 3:54pm

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Tuesday 1st November: 2*5k with 4 mins rest and 1 mile hard to finish off

Looked up a half marathon predictor workout, and this was one I saw. I liked the look if it, so went for it. With a warm up and warm down included, it ended up being 10 miles, which is a first for me midweek. My goal for the HM is under 1:3x, which should be very achievable. Probably a bit soft. I'd love to go under 1:35, but that may be a stretch too far. This 2*3 miles part of this workout was supposed to be done at HM pace, so about 4:45 for me, maybe 4:30 minutes per kilometer.

First 5k: 4:26 min/km pace, avg HR of 85% of max

Second 5k: 4:34 min/km, avg HR of 87% of max

Hard mile to finish: 4:17 min/km, avg HR of 86% of max

Very happy with this workout. Not sure what % of max my HR should've been, but the effort felt good. It wasn't all out, it felt just like I always read how a tempo run should feel. The second 5k was a wee bit uphill so pace was a bit lower.

The two 5km runs looks interesting and its something I'd like to give a go some weekend. Was that about 85/90% of race effort you did it at?

Battery Kinzie · 06-11-2016 6:24pm

gramar wrote: »

The two 5km runs looks interesting and its something I'd like to give a go some weekend. Was that about 85/90% of race effort you did it at?

I did it at around planned half marathon pace. It's meant to be a good predictor of your readiness for a HM in a certain pace, but we'll see how well it applied to me in a few weeks.

Battery Kinzie · 20-11-2016 1:57pm

Tuesday 8th November: 6k @ hopeful half marathon pace (~4:30min/km). 10k with warm-up and cool down.

Felt good during this. Tempo runs are probably my favourite type of run. Nothing like getting up to a tough enough pace but still being in control and doing this for 20-30 mins. Still skeptical about keeping that pace for 21k, but we'll see.

Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th and Saturday 12th November: 6k, 8k and 7k respectively, all at about 5:30 min/km give or take 5 seconds

Not much to say here. All easy runs. Standard. (to be honest, I don't even remember these)

Sunday 12th November 15k @ 5:30min/km, average HR of 162 (max is 214)

I do remember this one at least. Enjoyed this one, and enjoyed the shorter distance. Felt good all throughout, and really looking forward to the HM on Saturday.

Tuesday 15th, Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th November 8k, 6k and 6k respectively.

Again, all these were run around 5:30 min/km. Threw in 6 strides at the end of the Thursday run for some reason or another, not really sure why. The wind was quite strong for these 3 runs, and I was dreading having to run an out and back race with the second half against the wind.

Battery Kinzie · 20-11-2016 1:58pm

Saturday 19th November Half marathon race - 1:33:50 (PB)

I won't bore you all with the details, but I loved this race. As I mentioned in earlier posts, all the calculators were pointing towards a time of around 1:32 - 1:34 depending on which calculator and which race distance I used to predict. I also did a 'predictor' workout which I ran at a 1:35 pace and felt good throughout, but still I didn't really believe I had it in me, so I went out a bit conservatively.

Kilometers 1-8

Planned to run these all at about 4:35 to 4:40 min/km pace as I was afraid of going out too early and blowing up, especially with a headwind and a couple of kilometers on the beach on the way back. I was feeling great and felt like stepping up after a few K, but I told myself to wait til 8k before reassessing my pace (an idea I stole from the Novices thread with their 10-10-10 strategy, only I adjusted it to 5mile-5mile-5k).

Kilometers 8-16

Had a bit of a chat with another runner for a few minutes and kinda noticed how easy it was to talk to him (he sounded well too), so I decided to pick it up a bit. Put in a string of kilometers from 9k-15k which were all 4:20-4:29, and still felt good. Kilometer 16 came on the beach, and my pace suffered here as I drifted towards 4:40, but I still felt like I had a good bit to give, but I was still a bit wary of giving too much, so I held on for a kilometer split of 4:33.

Kilometers 16 to Finish

A bit of adding in my head told me that 1:35 was well within reach, but there was still a danger of losing it if I lost too much time on this fecking beach. Try as I might, I just couldn't get back to the low 4:20s on the sand, so I had to settle for a 4:31 17th kilometer. But once I got off that beach, I noticed the difference immediately. I got a kick straightaway, probably a mixture of knowing that I was done with that beach, and that I was on the final straight. Just over 3k to go, and I still felt I had energy left in the tank. I noticed here that I hadn't been passed by anyway since the halfway point, and I got another buzz off this as I passed another couple on the bridge off the beach. Finally I felt like I could give it the whole hog without being fearful of blowing up. Finished the last 3k in 4:15, 4:08 and 3:55, with a finishing time of 1:33:50.

I was obviously very tired by the end, but to be honest I probably could've tacked another low 4 minutes kilometer to the end of it, though not much more. I felt really good in that final straight. But overall I wouldn't have ran the race any differently, which is pretty much a first for me. I possibly could've picked up the pace a bit earlier and shaved 30 seconds off, but probably not much more. It felt almost too easy in the early miles, but I was for once sensible enough to hold off and keep the pace steady.

Another victory for the race time predictors!

tailgunner · 21-11-2016 9:30am

Brilliant stuff. Sounds like a very well-executed race.

Wubble Wubble · 21-11-2016 10:10am

Well done, that course always looks easy with the lack of hills, but it's deceptively tough, as I've found to my cost on more than one occasion!

Battery Kinzie · 21-11-2016 9:41pm

Cheers both. It's not an easy course no, that beach on the way back is tough with the headwind that is generally always a factor. Nothing even resembling shelter either.

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