Sub 80 HM

twas I

1 Like

Running 1h20 off 25km per week? That is absolutely ridiculous!

Training is so weird, what works for different people.

2 Likes

This is why the cookie cutter advice really gets on my nerves. Because your background and genetics have so much more to say.

In that example @Poet clearly had a decent aerobic engine from the swimming and riding. He would definitely had gone faster with more focussed run training, but that was enough to carry him through.

I’ve averaged 29.4km per week this year, with my highest week only being 53km. That’s clearly pretty low from a pure run focus. But my background and the cycling i have been doing will fill in a lot of the gaps (as it will for you), with just that little bit of specificity needed on the top.

6 Likes

“Long” runs of 12, 13 and 14km :open_mouth:
I was bricking it on race day.

Looks like the Derbyshire hilly rides on Wednesday worked for me.

I did some 200s, 400s and 800s on consecutive weeks in January, as I built to the race from 4th January.
But they were 40 minute 9-10km sessions.

1 Like

That’s encouraging - maybe as we get older we don’t need to run the volume perhaps we did when we were younger, rather make every session count. Prob shouldn’t be so hard on myself

You saying i’m old?!? :face_with_monocle:

2 Likes

Gives me a 9 minute allowance to slow down from peak to age 49.

1 Like

Yeah who renamed? I liked my own exclusive thread :slight_smile:

If we AG I ran sub 1:14 at 46, that will should give you kids something to aim at…

As GB says cookie cutter advice is pointless, you need to work out what works for you.

for example,
We have a guy over here, running only 7 or 8 years, I have known him for 2 years, he pretty much has always run 40k on a Sunday, this use to take him circa 3 hours, now he has upped it and is knocking out 42k each weekend somewhere between 2:55 and 3. This is as well as 20k on a Saturday. That is a sub 3 marathon very weekend

Now no coach on the planet would advise that, but he found that he breaks easily with speed work and high mileage, so he just gets silly volume in on that one day. It works for him, he is rarely injured now and is a f*cking good runner and very difficult to beat as you know he has the endurance at pace…

If it hadn’t been for COVID he would be a sub 2:40 runner at 51.

6 Likes

This guy, does he also run on weekdays?

Yeah, about 14 or so a day. Sometimes has a day off.

1 Like

I thought he broke with high mileage?!

:joy:

1 Like

Yeah fair point, it’s all relative. My level of high mileage :roll_eyes:

4 Likes

:rofl:

Starting an 8 week build for an attempt at a half. First stop towards getting closer to a 3-3:10 iron Mara next year.

Main take from this thread was building time at race pace. Hoping for a 1:15-16:xx (3:35-3:39k). Those paces sound impossible in my head and in training, but I did 1:17 last year and reckon I’m quicker now, so hoping for the same magical turn on on raceday.
Yesterday managed 3x10 as 2min @3:30, 6min 3:40, 2min 3:30, 3 min recovery. Felt like death at the end!

Best set last year 2.5 weeks out was 37 minutes as 3x11 min at 3:39 with 3 min between at 4:05. So if I can improve over next 6-8 weeks looks like I’ll be in a better place.

Different race, not sure just how fast this year’s will be, decent but some parts off-road and some very minor bumps.

13 Likes

Massive effort mate. You are talking times and pace that are not fathomable to me! :boom:

Good luck Chris, going to enjoy watching this one & following on Strava. What’s the race?

Lovely target, get up and at it mate. I think you’ll easily go sub 77 (assuming no injury or calamity), probably sub 76 as well. Being a similar pace to me across a few distances, i think the step up to running 3.35s for that long just ‘seems’ that much harder, which makes it more of an ‘on a perfect day’ type experience. My friends that have all gone comfortably under 75 are sub 16 5km runners, sub 34 10 km etc.

Looking forward to seeing this develop though :+1:

4 Likes

This is it, trying to go faster becomes so close to my 5k pace, you need to be on the right day to hold at the sustainable sweet spot. Someone earlier (maybe @stenard) said something similar about being to run a half close to the rivet.

3 Likes

McLaren Vale, a local small race, route is along the ‘Shiraz trail’ through the wine region.
Nothing like Marathon Du Medoc though.

1 Like

Barossa Valley?