Advice on half marathon training

greenb

Hi,

I'm a relative newbie to running....been at it for about a year but with no specific goals in mind to date, just building up a base.

I run 4 times a week, usually 9 to 11 miles in 3 runs mid-week and a long run at the week-end. Long run is now up to 11 miles. Have just been doing the longer runs for about 2 months now....adding a mile every other week.

I've now decided to go for a half-marathon at the beginning of March (Meath) and wanted to follow a specific program (Hal Higdon novice 2).

It's a 12 week program, building from 13 miles in week 1 up to 23 miles in week 11. Given that I'm already doing about 20 miles a week, is such a program suitable. If I were to start at week 1 it would mean reducing my mileage and building up again......or should I just continue what I'm doing and jump into the program say in week 6 or 7 before the race. Is there a more suitable program I could be doing.

Any advice greatly appreciated.....sorry if this seems like a stupid question............thanks.

RoyMcC

Not stupid, it's a common query. My opinion is your second option - jump in when your programme matches with your training.

menoscemo

greenb wrote: »

It's a 12 week program, building from 13 miles in week 1 up to 23 miles in week 11. Given that I'm already doing about 20 miles a week, is such a program suitable. If I were to start at week 1 it would mean reducing my mileage and building up again......or should I just continue what I'm doing and jump into the program say in week 6 or 7 before the race. Is there a more suitable program I could be doing.

Any advice greatly appreciated.....sorry if this seems like a stupid question............thanks.

It sounds like a Novice progarmme would be too soft for you. They are generally made for people who just want to get around the distance, but you are already running close to the full distance already.

Why not have a look at one of Hal's Intermediate programmes?

greenb

menoscemo wrote: »

Why not have a look at one of Hal's Intermediate programmes?

I have done....they scare me!

Any plan that has tempo runs, intervals etc....just confuses me. I like a plan that just says run! I suppose I should try and get my head around speedwork. I do most of my runs at the same pace (slow!)...average 10 min miles for the long run, I just try to go a little faster during the week, maybe 26-28 minutes for 5K. The 26 is really pushing it for me, although I have done just one 5K race in 24:58 (nearly killed me, threw up the works!). I don't have access to a track. Do many people do interval training on the road?

BTW, I'm 50 years old and maybe a stone overweight (lost a stone and a half running over the last 9 months). Do you think I'd be able for Hals intermediate plan?

Thanks for the advice.

menoscemo

greenb wrote: »

I have done....they scare me!

Any plan that has tempo runs, intervals etc....just confuses me. I like a plan that just says run! I suppose I should try and get my head around speedwork. I do most of my runs at the same pace (slow!)...average 10 min miles for the long run, I just try to go a little faster during the week, maybe 26-28 minutes for 5K. The 26 is really pushing it for me, although I have done just one 5K race in 24:58 (nearly killed me, threw up the works!). I don't have access to a track. Do many people do interval training on the road?

BTW, I'm 50 years old and maybe a stone overweight (lost a stone and a half running over the last 9 months). Do you think I'd be able for Hals intermediate plan?

Thanks for the advice.

Sounds like you are already doing Tempo runs during the week. If Your PB for 5k is 25min then running 5k at 26-28 minutes is efffectively a tempo run anyway.

You can do intervals on the road. It doesn't have to be exact distances anyway. Like for example if you have to do 800m at 5K pace, just run hard for 4 minutes (since your 5k pace is 8 min/mile) rest and repeat.

Best of luck with your training.

Gambas

As a novice, I was really happy with the plan below for my first half.

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/rws-10-week-sub-150-half-marathon-schedules/97.html?print=true

In the first few weeks I skipped one easy run per week, as I built up from 3/4 sessions per week, but by the second half I was doing the lot. See what you think.

greenb

Thanks Gambas. I'll definitely have a look at that one. Looks tougher than most of the plans i've seen.