First half 6 weeks from yesterday

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jrline
jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
I am hoping my low mileage the last 7 weeks(45 miles in November and about the same so far in December) does not adversely effect my performance. Any tips on a six week training program.

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  • lishie_rebooted
    lishie_rebooted Posts: 2,973 Member
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    You could probably use the last 6 weeks of a Hal Higdon plan...
    You might not PR but if your goal is finishing, you'll probably be fine
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
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    Never gone that far so anything is a PR. I just want to be respectable
  • lishie_rebooted
    lishie_rebooted Posts: 2,973 Member
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    So just have fun with it.
    My first half was in 2012 and my goals for it were: To finish and to finish without walking. Met both goals
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    There is nothing wrong with walking or a planned run/walk approach like John "The Penguin" Bingham or more specifically Jeff Galloway use. I would suggest using the last six weeks of Galloway's half-marathon plan (see http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half-marathon-training/ ). To paraphrase Bingham, your first goal should be to finish the same day that you start.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
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    Run walk is what I do. Got my 15k in under 1.5 hours doing that.
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    I did my all my marathons using run/walk and all my half-marathons. Ran/walked my last half-marathon in 2:01. Should have been less than 2 hours but the jam up at the beginning cost me that two minutes and since the race was a training run for a marathon two weeks after that, I wasn't willing to burn out just to get below 2 hours. That will be another day.
  • MountainMaggie
    MountainMaggie Posts: 104 Member
    edited December 2014
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    I walked a little bit of my first half, but way less than I anticipated when I first set the goal to run one. I was also working 6 10 hour days (manual labor) through a lot of my training, so long runs were less frequent for me than most people. I managed to come at the lower end of mid-pack, and I was fine with that. I've always heard adding a mile a week or 10% to your long run is key. So if you can run 7 miles now, 6 weeks is perfect. I had never run more than 11 before the big day (but it was flat and a lot of my practice runs were hilly and harder). It's also good to allow an extra week for unanticipated illness, minor injury, and life happening in general. Good luck and have fun!!!
  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
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    I think you'll be fine. Just add a mile to your long runs each week for the next few weeks. Or, follow the final 6 weeks of any plan you like.

    Whenever I've trained for a half, it's been a ten week program that gets me up to one 12 or 12.5 long run within 2 weeks of the half. It's modified from a 12 week program and has worked for me.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I'm 28 days out from my race and have been building my mileage over the past few weeks by following a modified McMillan plan (page 22 in his book "You (only faster)"). If you haven't worked with training plans before why not check it out? Greg's book has decent background info no why to run what runs and it's available on Amazon - the paperback is easier to use than the Kindle version.
    Another approach is Runner's World Smart Coach. It's a few $$ per month now on the website but you can buy the iOS app pretty cheaply. Once you download the app, you can set a few values and it will spit out the details of your training plan.
    My fitness is down due to leg operations and a blood clot last year so I don't think I'm up to the stress of Tuesday speedwork + Thursday tempo work. Instead, I'll probably cancel the speedwork and do fast finish long runs on Sunday instead of a standard LR.
    Length of the LR - if you haven't done 10+ miles before I would not do it now. My scheduled LR's are 8 milers of which the last 2 to 4 will be at HMP ("half marathon pace").
    As usual, the last week before the Half will 4 uptempo miles on Tuesday and Thursday.
    One final thought, per McMillan - "There's no sense being the fittest spectator at the race." Under normal circumstances, we would be approaching end of the penultimate phase of a training plan which is designed to bring out fitness to a peak. As a consequence, any training plan that you read will be pushing the runner pretty hard. Don't jump into the last few weeks of a "canned" plan or you might overdo it and end up injured.

  • MSeel1984
    MSeel1984 Posts: 2,297 Member
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    If you have 6 weeks until your race you should still have time to build a little bit more...if you can do 10 miles, you're good for the half.
  • haircuttergirl
    haircuttergirl Posts: 33 Member
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    My first half is in March and I've been stressing over "what if I have to walk at all?" A friend told me that nobody ever walks in a half.
    But from what I'm reading here... I probably wouldn't be the only one?
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    Your friend is flat out wrong. Plenty of people walk. There are even people who do the walk/run method and finish in under 2 hours.
  • lishie_rebooted
    lishie_rebooted Posts: 2,973 Member
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    lporter229 wrote: »
    Your friend is flat out wrong. Plenty of people walk. There are even people who do the walk/run method and finish in under 2 hours.

    There are some halfs where you can't walk them - as in the whole thing. But run/walk intervals are fine.