4:50 mile/17:45 5k - help me run a 1:29 half in 1 month

If the race is actually a month out aka 4 weeks, youre not in much of a position to change much in your fitness. I'd probably drop the vo2 or combine it with your tempo work. Immediately add in a 13 mile LR at an easy pace just so you get how far that feels. Workouts I'd probably keep the regular tempo stuff youre doing, make it continuous 4 milers if you can, if not it doesn't matter much. I'd also add in like a 2-3x3 mile at goal race pace (so like 6:50). At 40mpw I'd still be pretty surprised if you didn't break 90 minutes.

Your training paces seem a little slow relative to your race times, but that said I think you could likely run a sub 1:30 half tomorrow if you had to.

Agree you should ease off some of the fastest pace stuff, and trade it for miles at goal race pace to tempo pace.

I almost feel like I'm missing something here because I don't think your goal should be challenging for you at all.

Sub 5 mile should be breaking 1:20 without much issues. Need to drop the fast stuff for longer tempo/threshold pace workouts

Kind of a wild proposition where you're not looking to change training for the long term or go back to the distance but the race is in a month.

You have the leg speed. 4:50 milers can break 1:20. With what you said, I would increase mileage if you can. Increase your long run. Add tempo/progression workout into your long run. Move your mid-week workout from VO2 max reps to threshold sessions, increasing the volume the next couple of weeks. Add in a mid-week medium long run. That might be 8-9 miles for you instead of a usual 3-5 miles. Easy pace might change with more miles.

There aren't short cuts to the longer distances. You should be able to go well under 1:30.

i was a 4/8 guy back in the day, probably even leaning more towards the 4 than the 8. i ran XC and did higher mileage, but didn't respond as well as the "true" distance runners did.

that being said, i'm still obviously a passable distance runner, i just cannot rely on equivalent performance charts regardless of how much mileage i'm doing. 17:45 5k is probably just enough buffer room for me here.

also agree that i probably wont be able to get much more fitness in the next month. 13 mile easy run and 2-3x3mile at goal pace would probably be great for "mental gains" though, so will probably go with that, thanks

NERunner0353 wrote:

Kind of a wild proposition where you're not looking to change training for the long term or go back to the distance but the race is in a month.

i mean, obviously i could run 20 more miles per week and run a 1:29 in my sleep next year. but the goal is to run 1:29 next month and never run a HM again.

If you have a month to break 1:30 in the half I recommend

1. No mile/5k racing

2. No mile/5k workouts

Week 1 long run- 12 miles last 4 sub 7:20.

Week 2 long run- 13.1 miles- just get it done

Week 2 Workout- 2 mile wu then 3 x 2 mi at 6:50 with 800 jog recovery

Week 3 long run- 10 miles- last 4 at 6:50 pace

Week 3 workout- 2 mi wu then 4xmile @ 6:30 pace with 800 jog recovery ,then 2 miles at 7:20 pace.

Week 4 long run- 8 miles- cruise last 4 at 7:10-7:20 pace

Race- Go out at 6:50 pace. Grind-

core i7 wrote:

If you have a month to break 1:30 in the half I recommend

1. No mile/5k racing

2. No mile/5k workouts

Week 1 long run- 12 miles last 4 sub 7:20.

Week 2 long run- 13.1 miles- just get it done

Week 2 Workout- 2 mile wu then 3 x 2 mi at 6:50 with 800 jog recovery

Week 3 long run- 10 miles- last 4 at 6:50 pace

Week 3 workout- 2 mi wu then 4xmile @ 6:30 pace with 800 jog recovery ,then 2 miles at 7:20 pace.

Week 4 long run- 8 miles- cruise last 4 at 7:10-7:20 pace

Race- Go out at 6:50 pace. Grind-

thanks, looks like a good schedule, also positioned to leave me fresh for the race. workouts seem rather easy but that's a good thing.

You could probably run sub 90 tomorrow, just need the race intensity.

Add a taper and you are golden.

I am dramatically slower than you and I ran 1:31 off of very similar mileage. I'd say this should be a walk in the park.

As others have said, a 1:29 HM sounds pretty easy for a 4:50 miler. When I was a sophomore at Seneca High School, Louisville KY, spring 1975, I was a 4:50 miler. Neal Pipkin, Jeff Levy and I skipped school on the last Monday in April to run the Kentucky Derby Week HM, a hilly lap around Iroquois Park and then down to the Riverfront. They ran around 1:19 and I ran about 1:24. Fast forward 46 years, I'm 61 now, and I doubt I could break 5:20 for a mile because I train for long races, but can still run 1:24 (I ran a 2:57 marathon in June.) I assume you're a new or younger runner with good speed and not much endurance development, but I think when you run with others in a road race you'll find you can go a lot faster than on your long training runs. Start at 7:00 for the first mile, which must feel easy for you, and gradually pick up the pace and find people to run with so you can relax and focus on running efficiently. In the last few miles, start counting down, 4 to go, 3 to go, etc. You know you can run the last 5k in 20:00.

If you can run a 17:45 you can run a 1:29 hungover tomorrow morning. You really don’t need our help.

glad you all think i can do this tomorrow but at the very least i need to "taper" off some of this intensity

race day adrenaline is not going to save me from how bad i feel on some of these long runs (that again, aren't really that long)

i can much more easily believe my long runs suffer because i do so much work at 5k pace and below, and if i lay off of that i'll be fine.

My shorter distances times are a lot weaker than yours (19:40 5k, ~5:40 mile) but I'm in roughly 1:30 half shape (we'll see how rough tomorrow) and I think, with a month to go, you'll get the most bang for your buck with long repeats. A workout I always find helpful in my marathon builds, which seems applicable to halves too, is 3x3. The first two sets at HMP (a bit slower than tempo) and the last at MP (about 7:10 for a 1:30 half guy), with an honest .5 recovery jog in between each set. With warmup and cooldown, 14 total. You could probably try the reverse, too (first two sets at 7:10, last at 6:50) and it might work better if you don't have the mileage base a marathoner has. Or you could try 3x15 mins at the same paces, for something a bit easier to recover from. In my experience, though, even workout #1 is easier on your body than you'd think and, if you make it your long run of the week, (which it wasn't in my marathon builds) should fit comfortably in a half marathon build. It's an excellent endurance builder.

snowdays wrote:

glad you all think i can do this tomorrow but at the very least i need to "taper" off some of this intensity

race day adrenaline is not going to save me from how bad i feel on some of these long runs (that again, aren't really that long)

i can much more easily believe my long runs suffer because i do so much work at 5k pace and below, and if i lay off of that i'll be fine.

And yeah, with a month to go there's absolutely no reason to be touching anything below 10k pace. Do some strides the week of to remind your body it has extra gears and you'll be fine. Speed Endurance is what you need and that means mileage (mostly easy), with longer runs that incorporate big sections between 10k and marathon pace.

No racing and ease off pace of the speed work but don't stop.

1st week long run I'd prescribe a long 13-15 mile progressive run finishing at or just under goal pace.

&

2nd week i'd do run 8 x 1 mile repeats at goal pace with easy warm up and cool down

Then a 2 week taper back to current milage 30mpw

If it's any help I ran a 1.24 in my early 40s in a big chip times event, in bad weather, off less mileage, a much slower 5K time, and a much much slower mile time. I was, like you, aiming for just 90mins, but unlike a full where going out to fast can be costly, I felt good on the day so just rolled with it. Also a week before i ran 3 miles at 7 flat pace and it felt a little hard. My longs runs always felt hard, anything over 90mins is hard for me. Trust your speed and fitness, 6.30-45 pace isn't that fast, you got this.

Actually just looking at my logs, my mileage was the pretty much the same. 30-45 miles a week in the preceding 8-12 weeks or so, though I inexplicably ran a 55 mile week the week before the half with a 18 mile long run, maybe that was the key. I ran no workouts, just the odd 3 mile tempo, and everything else easy miles with strides at the end. Longest run was that 18 miles 7 days before the race, all other long runs were 10-12 miles easy. No races in the lead up either.

Your mileage is fine, but too much of your training is far too slow.

Just taking your average pace down to 7:30s would do the trick.

And you don't need any long runs for a 1:29 hm, certainly nothing over 10mi.

S 8mi 7:30/mi

M 5x 500m ~1:32 w 300m walk trainers (300m walk includes 2 turns, one straight)

T 20' very light on grass

W 20x 1' run w 1' wait rest (dirt or grass) w trainers, try for 5:40 pace or faster

Th 15' light on grass + strides + 1000m 3'05 w racing flats

F 4mi < 27'

S 3-4 mi walk