Half Marathon training
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I trained up to about 11 miles before my first half and knew I could do that comfortably. Combined with the support and buzz of the day, you'll be fine. I'm confident anyone who can run a 10km can run a half marathon. To me it's 90% in the head from that point on.
I will agree with you on the point that it is mental and that anyone that can run 10k can run 22k.... but ONLY if you train. If you never train past 10k you won't make it to 22. That said, yes if you can run a 10k a half marathon is well within your grasp assuming you train for it.
Yep my point entirely. I'm not saying don't train past 10km, but I feel that from experience the step from 0km to 5km is probably the hardest you'll ever do. 5km to 10km is easier, then 10km to 22km easier still. It's not easy, but easier!
Physically if you can run a 10km with a decent level of performance (say 1hr or less), I believe you physically could complete a 22km, but it's a daunting prospect which is best overcome by running bigger distances.
When I first started to run, 10km was always the target and seemed a bloody long way. As i pressed on with training for Half distance, 10km almost became a comfortable. It's all about familiarity I suppose.
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When I first started to run, 10km was always the target and seemed a bloody long way. As i pressed on with training for Half distance, 10km almost became a comfortable. It's all about familiarity I suppose.
I hear you there. I sometimes forget that running long distances can be considered abnormal. I can't even remember the last time I did any run that was shorter than 6 miles that wasn't a transition run off a long bike ride. If I am going out to run, be it tempo, hill repeats or just easy, 6 miles is kinda my default minimum.
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When I first started to run, 10km was always the target and seemed a bloody long way. As i pressed on with training for Half distance, 10km almost became a comfortable. It's all about familiarity I suppose.
I hear you there. I sometimes forget that running long distances can be considered abnormal. I can't even remember the last time I did any run that was shorter than 6 miles that wasn't a transition run off a long bike ride. If I am going out to run, be it tempo, hill repeats or just easy, 6 miles is kinda my default minimum.
Fair play to you mate. So you've done a few tri's then? I've got my first sprint tri in May. Any tips other than get around? I'm confident I'll complete it, it's just really being realistic between it being my first and setting myself targets.0 -
A few? One could say
Just go out and have fun. Assuming you got the distances down, just go enjoy your first experience putting them together. Careful though, it is mighty addictive and you will soon find yourself wanting to go longer and longer. I started doing this stuff 6 years ago and now am working on building for my 3rd full ironman at the end of June.0 -
Wow fair play. A friend of mine did an Ironman last year. I simply cannot comprehend such an activity!!!0
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Honestly me neither. So one might ask why I am doing my 3rd. I have no idea. The entire concept is absurd
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4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »its your first half, just worry about finishing, plenty of chances to set new PRs in the future
Yep. It's not the pace that matters... but the distance. As long as you're set to finish the race within the time constraints, which it sounds like you are... I would keep doing what you're doing. On your first 1/2 you should just be concerned with finishing without injury.
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Distance first. Speed later. It's you're first HM. Just enjoy it and finish. Train to get faster for the next one.0
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Back to the original point, I trained all winter 2013/14 for my first half, max temp I trained in was probably 9'c. On the day, Spring sprung and it was 24'c. People were flaking out all over the shop. I came in 5 minutes off my target and near fainted, then three months later did my second half in 16'c overcast temp and took 10 minutes off my time. Basically train your best and just accept whatever happens on the day.0
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Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.0 -
Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
With you on that. Both half marathons I've got to the end of an immediately thought there is no way I could do that distance again right now. I have a slightly weird problem that I set some reasonably respectable PB's of 1:41 in the half last year and then a 44 minute 10km. I feel knowing my body that without really pushing training up a level or two and shedding a fair bit more weight, I've not going to better those times so that's why I'm looking at new challenges this year.0 -
Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
This. A 2:00 half isn't difficult at all but I failed at getting a 4:00 full last time. Totally different game. The half marathon distance is still my favorite. Long enough for real endurance work but short enough to throw in some speed. Perfect balance I think. Beautiful distance.0 -
Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
This. A 2:00 half isn't difficult at all but I failed at getting a 4:00 full last time. Totally different game. The half marathon distance is still my favorite. Long enough for real endurance work but short enough to throw in some speed. Perfect balance I think. Beautiful distance.
Yup. It is a great distance to race, and it doesn't destroy you as badly as the long stuff.
Oddly enough I have only ever run two open half marathons. One 7 years ago where I managed a 1:56 I think, and one a few weeks ago at 1:35.
I have, however, done many half-ironman races and I say the same thing there in relation to a full ironman. Much prefer the 5ish hour race to a 10-13 hour race that takes significantly more work to prepare.
My full marathon PR is 3:28 set a few years ago. Despite 5 months of very focused training to get down to 3:15 this past year, I failed and limped in at 3:35. Disappointing to put in that much work and come away with what I consider a failure. I think I would have preferred spending all that time working on more speed over the shorter distance. Who knows maybe a 1:30 half is in these legs. I plan to give that a go later this year.
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Its not mental. Its about aerobic development of the muscles. That said, anyone can probably death march any distance they set out to go. But if they want to run and enjoy a race they train for the distance.0
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my goal for this year is to do a sub 2;00 half marathon. i have three races where i will try.0
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Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
Yes, yes, yes!
I would also add, I hear lots of runners complete their first 5k or 10k and go marching right onto the half marathon distance - even though their first 5k or 10k times were slower or involved lots of walking.
There seems to be this push for big distance vs. overall running improvement.
And, some of this speaking from personal experience. In hindsight, I had no business doing full marathons as a newer runner. I do intend to come back and do another full maybe in 2016, but only after I've worked on lowering my half marathon time under 2 hours. (Current PR is 2:06)
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Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
This is eerie, as once I started doing ~2 hour half marathons consistently, I did my first marathon aiming for a 4:30 (ended with 4:43 because there were way more hills than I'd trained for).0 -
Also, to the OP, definitely focus on distance right now, not speed. Speed will come with time as you get used to running more, but you want to be able to complete the distance and so definitely distance, distance, distance! Your plan sounds reasonable as is, so I say keep doing it!0
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Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
This will be me. As much I want to train and run a full marathon, I'm going to wait until I get my time down because I have no interest in a 5+ hour marathon. My half time is still at the 2:31 mark, so once that's greatly improved in, hopefully, a year or so, I'll look at a full.
I've really come to appreciate the half distance and the work it's taking to get faster at it.
To the OP: I agree with all the others. Distance first, speed later. Your first half will be a PR, so your time will be great one way or the other.0 -
brandiuntz wrote: »Half-marathons are also a great distance to eventually work on speed with. Sometimes going longer to a full marathon isn't a great idea, but working on getting faster at the half distance can be.
Lets say you do your first half in 2:30. Many people's initial reaction is to think "well gee, if I can do that should I try running a full?" but then you will realize you will probably do 5:30 or 6:00 in that full. Do you really want to be running for 6 hours? Probably not.
But... if you can work your speed for that half down to, say, 2:00 over the next year, running a few more races, then the idea of a full marathon could start becoming attractive. You are now looking at a perfectly respectable 4:30ish effort.
Then you might start thinking... well gee what about a 1:50 half? 1:45? 1:40? 1:35? All worthy goals, and all quite achievable by many if you put the work in. Personally I would think working hard to get your half marathon times down under 2 hours is a better goal than struggling through the hell and pain of a 5:30+ full marathon.
This will be me. As much I want to train and run a full marathon, I'm going to wait until I get my time down because I have no interest in a 5+ hour marathon. My half time is still at the 2:31 mark, so once that's greatly improved in, hopefully, a year or so, I'll look at a full.
I've really come to appreciate the half distance and the work it's taking to get faster at it.
To the OP: I agree with all the others. Distance first, speed later. Your first half will be a PR, so your time will be great one way or the other.
You are smart! Lemme tell, you a 5:45-6 hour marathon is NO fun. BTDT!!! NEVER again!
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