Ran my first sub 90 minute half marathon yesterday!

I have wanted to run a sub 90 minute half marathon ever since running my first in 1:43 in 2021 and yesterday it finally happened.

I ran my second half marathon race in Feb 2023 in about 1:35 but then had a year off due to some health problems and ran a significantly slower half in bang in two hours after minimal running in January 2024. After this I fell away from running in a bit way again.

Fortunetly I caught the running bug once again about 4 months ago. I was mostly over my health problems and decided I was going to be consistent and finally make the sub 90 happen.

I booked the same race as my sub 1:35 pb and starting slowly building to 50km a week and then peaked at 70 km a week.

I built up to a slow 24km long run then started tempo runs at 1:30 half marathon pace just over 2 months out. I started with 15 minutes tempo and eventually built up to 2 x 20 minutes tempo at target pace. I didn't follow a plan but planned out my weeks in a way that resembled one. A typical week looked like the following.

Mon: 10k easy, Tues: 8k easy, Wed: 10k easy, Thurs: tempo(maybe 2x15mins at target pace as an example), Sat: rest, Sun:23k easy. Easy pace: 6 min/km

If I'm being honestly I found it really hard to hit the pace at all when I started the race pace tempo runs and my first 15 minute tempo run was about 4:40/km rather than the 4:15 I would need to run for my target. It really made it feel like sub 1:30 was impossible and I should re-evaluate.

However about 3 weeks out started to hit the paces including in a 50 minute tempo and a for 20 minutes in a fast finish long run and decided to go for it and see what happens.

I tapered for 2 weeks and on race day it was about 5 degrees Celsius with light rain which was ideal as I run hot. However the windwas stronger than I would have liked.

I warmed up with 1km light jog and some drills and dynamic stretches then dropped off my baggage, had a gel and went to my starting block with 5 minutes to spare feeling nauseous as I always get incredibly nervous for races.

I felt like an imposter in the super shoes and half tights I bought for this attempt. Everyone looked like a serious runner in my block and for some reason I felt like they could see I was different.

I pushed these thought aside be concentrated on staying warm because unfortunately I went on my own and this race strictly prohibited throwing jumpers/ponchos at the starting line. I was freezing and couldn't wait for the gun to go off. I put on my playlist, which consisted of 170bpm tracks I had test in training and willed the time to go faster. I went through my plan again in my head to distract myself.

I was planning to run at 4:13/km as this course has 2 long tunnels and the last time I ran it my watch hit half marathon about a minute early. As the course has a fair few slopes I planned to run by effort up the hills and make the time on the down hills.

Once the gun went off it was quite chaotic and hard to get off to a fast start with runners bunched in tight but I hit 4:14 for the first km and felt good. I ran the tangents like I had read about the night before and enjoyed the course going through the town and then next to rice fields and forests. Despite the rain my spirits were high.

While I felt strong I was breathing really heavily 2km in. I was worried about taking my gels because I had tested them only at slower speeds and wasn't expecting to breath this heavily this early on. After 30 minutes I took the first g and intantly got a stitch as well as a horrible feeling in my mouth. I was disappointed in myself after having a strong start and thought my race might be over due to not taking gels at race pace in training.

I concentrated on relaxing while not slowing and after about 5 minutes the stitch eased off and I was feeling strong again. After this I decided not to take my second gel and hope for the best. I also took no water as it was cold and I didn't want to lose time navigating the drink stations.

Other than the gel the first 15km went by fine and I ran an average of 4:13 like I wanted but it felt harder than I would have liked. I was getting worried about the latter stages.

The tunnels involved running down a slope before entering. I was worried about not seeing my pace inside so I ran slightly harder than before because didn't want to risk losing time while I couldn't rely on gps. The hill on the way out felt brutal so I ran it by effort and made sure to accelerate a little on the flat later. Several people overtook me on this hill but I told myself to stick to my own strategy.

By the time I got to 17km it was took a great deal of concentration to maintain pace. My stomach was feeling heavy and every km felt longer. It felt like I was significantly accelerating just to maintain the same speed. I started choosing people to chase and slowly overtake and overtook several people which made me feel a bit more confident.

According to my watch I was slightly ahead so it was really tempting to ease of the pace but doing so would be really risky. It required a lot of mental negotiation to keep going and I was determined to run the same pace to the end.

I kept telling myself "don't let it come down to a sprint finish. Push now push now push now. Don't count on a sprint finish! No! No! You have to run fast now!" This was going through my head on loop every 10 seconds as the race got harder and harder. I forgot how hard racing can be and it took every ounce or my determination to keep this up as I ticked or the Kms.

We eventually got to the last U-turn before the home straight and slowing down and accelerating when you are tired always feels horrible. but I knew I was almost there having run the course before. There was just over 1km to go. I didn't look at my watch and just emptied the tank. I was questioning if I had done enough but I gave it everything.

When the finish line came into view it still looked so far and I looked at the time and saw I had just under 2 minutes. How far is that? 100? 300? No idea! Can I get there in 2 minutes? The doubt was creeping in until the end but I crossed the line with 20 seconds to spare. I'm really glad I didn't count on banked time and kept pushing.

I was too tired to celebrate and sat on the grass at the side of the road while more cheerful looking runners walked past me. I felt like I was going to vomit and started crying. I wasn't even emotional. It was tears of sheer exhaustion.

But after a few minutes my nauseou started to fade and it sunk in. I had run a sub 90 minute half marathon. 2 years ago when I fell away from running and had various health problems I thought I would never be in pr shape again. But hear I was. With a 5 minute pr and under that 90 minute barrier I had been dreaming off since my first half.

After the race I got straight on the shuttle bus and went home to rest and that night I went out for fried chicken with my girlfriend and just basked in the afterglow of the high I was feeling. Overall a really good day.

Today I can barely walk down to the stairs so I will take a few days off but I want to target a faster 10k next then maybe a marathon.

My biggest take away from this race is to execute a plan. In the past I have always turned up at the start line unsure how fast to run. I would just wing it.

This is the first time I went in with a strategy for splits, nutrition and hydration (even if I had to abandon my nutrition plan) and this gave me a clear goal on race day and much more satisfaction when I hit it. I'm more proud of how I ran the race than I am of the time.

On a different note. I need to get confident navigating drink stations. It was cold so I didn't really need water but if I ever race when it's hot this is not something I can get away with.

This is a meandering post and I'm a terrible writer but if anyone made I this far thanks for reading and I hope you hit your running goals or atleast have run trying!

I have wanted to run a sub 90 minute half marathon ever since running my first in 1:43 in 2021 and yesterday it finally happened.

I ran my second half marathon race in Feb 2023 in about 1:35 but then had a year off due to some health problems and ran a significantly slower half in bang in two hours after minimal running in January 2024. After this I fell away from running in a bit way again.

Fortunetly I caught the running bug once again about 4 months ago. I was mostly over my health problems and decided I was going to be consistent and finally make the sub 90 happen.

I booked the same race as my sub 1:35 pb and starting slowly building to 50km a week and then peaked at 70 km a week.

I built up to a slow 24km long run then started tempo runs at 1:30 half marathon pace just over 2 months out. I started with 15 minutes tempo and eventually built up to 2 x 20 minutes tempo at target pace. I didn't follow a plan but planned out my weeks in a way that resembled one. A typical week looked like the following.

Mon: 10k easy, Tues: 8k easy, Wed: 10k easy, Thurs: tempo(maybe 2x15mins at target pace as an example), Sat: rest, Sun:23k easy. Easy pace: 6 min/km

If I'm being honestly I found it really hard to hit the pace at all when I started the race pace tempo runs and my first 15 minute tempo run was about 4:40/km rather than the 4:15 I would need to run for my target. It really made it feel like sub 1:30 was impossible and I should re-evaluate.

However about 3 weeks out started to hit the paces including in a 50 minute tempo and a for 20 minutes in a fast finish long run and decided to go for it and see what happens.

I tapered for 2 weeks and on race day it was about 5 degrees Celsius with light rain which was ideal as I run hot. However the windwas stronger than I would have liked.

I warmed up with 1km light jog and some drills and dynamic stretches then dropped off my baggage, had a gel and went to my starting block with 5 minutes to spare feeling nauseous as I always get incredibly nervous for races.

I felt like an imposter in the super shoes and half tights I bought for this attempt. Everyone looked like a serious runner in my block and for some reason I felt like they could see I was different.

I pushed these thought aside be concentrated on staying warm because unfortunately I went on my own and this race strictly prohibited throwing jumpers/ponchos at the starting line. I was freezing and couldn't wait for the gun to go off. I put on my playlist, which consisted of 170bpm tracks I had test in training and willed the time to go faster. I went through my plan again in my head to distract myself.

I was planning to run at 4:13/km as this course has 2 long tunnels and the last time I ran it my watch hit half marathon about a minute early. As the course has a fair few slopes I planned to run by effort up the hills and make the time on the down hills.

Once the gun went off it was quite chaotic and hard to get off to a fast start with runners bunched in tight but I hit 4:14 for the first km and felt good. I ran the tangents like I had read about the night before and enjoyed the course going through the town and then next to rice fields and forests. Despite the rain my spirits were high.

While I felt strong I was breathing really heavily 2km in. I was worried about taking my gels because I had tested them only at slower speeds and wasn't expecting to breath this heavily this early on. After 30 minutes I took the first g and intantly got a stitch as well as a horrible feeling in my mouth. I was disappointed in myself after having a strong start and thought my race might be over due to not taking gels at race pace in training.

I concentrated on relaxing while not slowing and after about 5 minutes the stitch eased off and I was feeling strong again. After this I decided not to take my second gel and hope for the best. I also took no water as it was cold and I didn't want to lose time navigating the drink stations.

Other than the gel the first 15km went by fine and I ran an average of 4:13 like I wanted but it felt harder than I would have liked. I was getting worried about the latter stages.

The tunnels involved running down a slope before entering. I was worried about not seeing my pace inside so I ran slightly harder than before because didn't want to risk losing time while I couldn't rely on gps. The hill on the way out felt brutal so I ran it by effort and made sure to accelerate a little on the flat later. Several people overtook me on this hill but I told myself to stick to my own strategy.

By the time I got to 17km it was took a great deal of concentration to maintain pace. My stomach was feeling heavy and every km felt longer. It felt like I was significantly accelerating just to maintain the same speed. I started choosing people to chase and slowly overtake and overtook several people which made me feel a bit more confident.

According to my watch I was slightly ahead so it was really tempting to ease of the pace but doing so would be really risky. It required a lot of mental negotiation to keep going and I was determined to run the same pace to the end.

I kept telling myself "don't let it come down to a sprint finish. Push now push now push now. Don't count on a sprint finish! No! No! You have to run fast now!" This was going through my head on loop every 10 seconds as the race got harder and harder. I forgot how hard racing can be and it took every ounce or my determination to keep this up as I ticked or the Kms.

We eventually got to the last U-turn before the home straight and slowing down and accelerating when you are tired always feels horrible. but I knew I was almost there having run the course before. There was just over 1km to go. I didn't look at my watch and just emptied the tank. I was questioning if I had done enough but I gave it everything.

When the finish line came into view it still looked so far and I looked at the time and saw I had just under 2 minutes. How far is that? 100? 300? No idea! Can I get there in 2 minutes? The doubt was creeping in until the end but I crossed the line with 20 seconds to spare. I'm really glad I didn't count on banked time and kept pushing.

I was too tired to celebrate and sat on the grass at the side of the road while more cheerful looking runners walked past me. I felt like I was going to vomit and started crying. I wasn't even emotional. It was tears of sheer exhaustion.

But after a few minutes my nauseou started to fade and it sunk in. I had run a sub 90 minute half marathon. 2 years ago when I fell away from running and had various health problems I thought I would never be in pr shape again. But hear I was. With a 5 minute pr and under that 90 minute barrier I had been dreaming off since my first half.

After the race I got straight on the shuttle bus and went home to rest and that night I went out for fried chicken with my girlfriend and just basked in the afterglow of the high I was feeling. Overall a really good day.

Today I can barely walk down to the stairs so I will take a few days off but I want to target a faster 10k next then maybe a marathon.

My biggest take away from this race is to execute a plan. In the past I have always turned up at the start line unsure how fast to run. I would just wing it.

This is the first time I went in with a strategy for splits, nutrition and hydration (even if I had to abandon my nutrition plan) and this gave me a clear goal on race day and much more satisfaction when I hit it. I'm more proud of how I ran the race than I am of the time.

On a different note. I need to get confident navigating drink stations. It was cold so I didn't really need water but if I ever race when it's hot this is not something I can get away with.

This is a meandering post and I'm a terrible writer but if anyone made I this far thanks for reading and I hope you hit your running goals or atleast have run trying!