12 HALF-marathons in 12 months - A lighter challenge

rdunne

Hello all

I have an idea for a good challenge that will keep you going the full year and get you travelling a little .

It’s pretty simple 12 Half's in 12 months. Preferably one a month. This will keep your fitness up , You can’t really slack off for a few weeks , but it won’t be too hard on the body.
I’ll be looking to do it mostly in Ireland and would love some ideas of which ones to do.. I’ll look to UK a little too.

So what do you think?

shotgunmcos

rdunne wrote: »

Hello all

I have an idea for a good challenge that will keep you going the full year and get you travelling a little .

It’s pretty simple 12 Half's in 12 months. Preferably one a month. This will keep your fitness up , You can’t really slack off for a few weeks , but it won’t be too hard on the body.
I’ll be looking to do it mostly in Ireland and would love some ideas of which ones to do.. I’ll look to UK a little too.

So what do you think?

Expensive

RayCun

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Expensive

says the triathlete :pac:

rdunne

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Expensive

It could be, Half's seem to have a premium compared to 10K or 10Miles, But I see runireland have 3 for €90. which is very good. Also the amount of Half's has exploded over the last year or two so you do have options

R

A0

rdunne wrote: »

Hello all

I have an idea for a good challenge that will keep you going the full year and get you travelling a little .

It’s pretty simple 12 Half's in 12 months. Preferably one a month. This will keep your fitness up , You can’t really slack off for a few weeks , but it won’t be too hard on the body.
I’ll be looking to do it mostly in Ireland and would love some ideas of which ones to do.. I’ll look to UK a little too.

So what do you think?

It depends on the way you want to train and run them. If you want to achieve a PB and optimise your training as much as possible then you will never be able to run 12 half marathons in a year without being overtrained / injured at some stage. Should be alright if you run them at a pace you feel comfortable though. But then, why not focussing on 2-3 HMs and try to improve your time? Might be less expensive and time consuming and more rewarding And you could still do a bit of travelling.

If I remember well (check if they are still on...) you have Milton Keynes Half, Reading Half (flat, ideal for a PB) in England.
Edit: there's also the Rock n Roll HM in August in Dublin (it's a new one) + the usual in Phoenix in September.

TheRoadRunner

Anybody who is serious about bringing their times down over distances of 5k upwards should be running 12 miles at least once a week. Why not ensure it's 13.1 miles and run 52 free half marathons in training

A0

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Anybody who is serious about bringing their times down over distances of 5k upwards should be running 12 miles at least once a week. Why not ensure it's 13.1 miles and run 52 free half marathons in training

No, not every week, it depends on where you are in your cycle - fitness level - personal level, etc. Not everybody can do that and in some cases, you can be serious about your running and not always doing 12 miles at least once a week. Mileage fluctuations over the year don't always reflect how serious or good a runner is.

ecoli

A0 wrote: »

No, not every week, it depends on where you are in your cycle - fitness level - personal level, etc. Not everybody can do that and in some cases, you can be serious about your running and not always doing 12 miles at least once a week. Mileage fluctuations over the year don't always reflect how serious or good a runner is.

A 60mpw is not too far off in terms of training optimally for for 5k plus training especially as tRR said its someone serious about lowering their times.

I do agree that not everyone can commit to that level of training for various reason but I think when you are talking about the ability to race 12 HM in a year you are talking about the people who are able to commit to more competitive levels in training and racing

In relation to the OP if you targeted 2-3 in a year and had a good build up this could well work to keep you motivated better than 12 races as you are giving yourself enough of a build up to see significant improvements which may keep you motivated moreso than 10-11 mediocre performances

huskerdu

True A0, but the Road Runner has a bit of a point.

A commitment to do a 21km , 12 times this year, isn't that big a committment for a lot of runners. I do this anyway.

But, I have no interest in entering 12 half marathon races. The downside of the plan

the expense
the travel time involved,
Most of them you will end up doing at an easy pace, and only doing your best time for a few of them.

However, if the OP has the time and the money and feels that it will keep him motivated to keep up running for the year, its good plan for him.

Have a look at the list of 2012 races, there are lots to choose from.

rdunne

My own reasons for doing this are that I have spent the last few years missing a lot of training due to college and hips! So a year with a good base of 30-40 miles a week with plenty of Half will get me back into it. I also don't have a club any more so this will help keep me motivated

ecoli

rdunne wrote: »

My own reasons for doing this are that I have spent the last few years missing a lot of training due to college and hips! So a year with a good base of 30-40 miles a week with plenty of Half will get me back into it. I also don't have a club any more so this will help keep me motivated

Why does it have to be a HM? there are plenty if 5ks-10ks around this will allow you to training consistently get good performances and be able to recover adequately to race 12+ races a year?

You could throw in a half here or there where the shorter distances may actually benefit in terms of performance at the longer distances?

Last year I did about 20 races with one one HM and got a few PBs along the way and the races kept me motivated without compromising performance?

A0

@ecoli and huskerdu, yes I know and my point was that you can be serious about your running and not always doing 12 miles at least once a week. As I said, mileage fluctuations over the year don't reflect how serious or good a runner is.

But then with regards to the OP, we all agree that running 12 HMs a year is doable.

Good luck OP :-)

A0

rdunne wrote: »

Hello all

I have an idea for a good challenge that will keep you going the full year and get you travelling a little .

It’s pretty simple 12 Half's in 12 months. Preferably one a month. This will keep your fitness up , You can’t really slack off for a few weeks , but it won’t be too hard on the body.
I’ll be looking to do it mostly in Ireland and would love some ideas of which ones to do.. I’ll look to UK a little too.

So what do you think?

Any update? How many HMs did you do so far?