Is a Half Marathon PR reasonable?
lporter229
Posts: 4,907 Member
Last year around this time (Nov 1) I ran my last half marathon (my 6th overall) and ran a PR of 1:52:03 (8:34 pace). I am running another on Sunday and am hoping to PR, mostly because it would be good for my confidence for my upcoming marathon in January. The problem is that my training has been focused on the marathon and not the half. I looked back at my training for the last half and it is vastly different from what I am doing now. The main differences are:
Mileage- Last year I was averaging about 20-30 miles per week for the 6 weeks leading up to the race. Right now I have been averaging 30-40 miles per week for at least 8 weeks, probably more.
Distance of long run- Last year capped out at 10. I have at least 5 runs greater than 10 miles in the last 8 weeks.
Speed-the big one that has me nervous. At the advice of just about every experienced runner I have come into contact with, I have been trying to slow the bulk of my training runs. I am currently following Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 intermediate plan. Most of my runs have been in the 9-9:40 pace range, with maybe 30 minutes per week at in increased pace of 8-8:30 (one tempo or fast finish run and one speed interval session). Last year most of my runs were in the 8:30-8:45 range. They were usually 6 miles or less. My longer runs were around 9:00.
Strength training/yoga-I was doing much more of it last year. Period.
Because I have done virtually no training at goal pace, I am concerned that I won't be able to achieve it. Based on your experience, is a PR for a HM realistic given my current training?
Mileage- Last year I was averaging about 20-30 miles per week for the 6 weeks leading up to the race. Right now I have been averaging 30-40 miles per week for at least 8 weeks, probably more.
Distance of long run- Last year capped out at 10. I have at least 5 runs greater than 10 miles in the last 8 weeks.
Speed-the big one that has me nervous. At the advice of just about every experienced runner I have come into contact with, I have been trying to slow the bulk of my training runs. I am currently following Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 intermediate plan. Most of my runs have been in the 9-9:40 pace range, with maybe 30 minutes per week at in increased pace of 8-8:30 (one tempo or fast finish run and one speed interval session). Last year most of my runs were in the 8:30-8:45 range. They were usually 6 miles or less. My longer runs were around 9:00.
Strength training/yoga-I was doing much more of it last year. Period.
Because I have done virtually no training at goal pace, I am concerned that I won't be able to achieve it. Based on your experience, is a PR for a HM realistic given my current training?
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Replies
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Sounds to me like you are ripe for a PR. Higher mileage will be a massive help on the half marathon. I would suggest doing a mile or two tomorrow at your goal pace, just to help "dial in" to your half marathon pace. One nice thing about half marathons is if you go out a little too fast and end up slowing down at the end, assuming you are capable of running the mileage, it rarely devolves into a "death march." Worst case scenario you'll just be going a bit slower at the end of the run. So I say go ahead and go for it -- shoot for an 8-ish pace and see how long you can hang on!0
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I think you are maybe running your tempos a bit slow just because you ran a half marathon a year ago at 8:30; have you tried a running calculator? I agree with Dace, higher mileage will probably lend itself to a PR; plus, you have tons more experience running now as well.0
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Thanks for the advice guys. I just did a tempo shooting for 3 miles at 8-8:15, but it ended up being 3 @ 7:45. I am feeling much better now. I think I have been focusing too much on my HR zones and maybe should focus a bit more on PRE for my tempos. I did not monitor my HR during my run tonight, just went by feel. My HR was a little higher than it should have been, but it felt sustainable.0
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I don't see why you wouldn't PR! You'll be golden! Have fun!0
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I think you can definitely PR. Mileage is good, and the speed is there.
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Basically, everything sounds much better than last year (except the lack of yoga, which is nice to have but more relevant to injury avoidance and recovery than whether or not you can PR). So I would be astonished if you couldn't.0
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I also think the mileage indicates a PR is in the cards for you! Don't underestimate the power of lots of easy miles
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Just wanted to give an update. Thanks to all of your encouragement and particularly Dave's advice to go out fast, I ended up with a huge PR. Not only did I shatter my goal of 1:50, I ended up with a time and pace that I never would have even imagined possible had I not gone for it-Final time 1:43:57, 7:56 average pace. 2nd in age group. Feeling pretty incredible and much more confident about my marathon training.0
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lporter229 wrote: »Just wanted to give an update. Thanks to all of your encouragement and particularly Dave's advice to go out fast, I ended up with a huge PR. Not only did I shatter my goal of 1:50, I ended up with a time and pace that I never would have even imagined possible had I not gone for it-Final time 1:43:57, 7:56 average pace. 2nd in age group. Feeling pretty incredible and much more confident about my marathon training.
Awesome! Never underestimate the power of aerobic training!
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Brilliant! I think we're all less surprised than you are, though!0
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Congrats!!!0
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Congratulations! Very impressive!0
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great job!0
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Wow that is AWESOME! Congrats!
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Great work.0
