Hello there! Half marathon!

jdevergillo7

ello! I've lost about 60 pounds and kept it off for about 7 years now and have now hit a plateau. I just ran my first 10k last week and it felt amazing, now I want to sign up for a half marathon in September to get in better shape and overcome my plateau. Does anyone have any tips or advice for training and diet? Thanks!

lemurcat12

Check out the Long Distance Runners group -- lots of advice there.

I love the half marathon distance. It's my favorite (doing my next one in early June), but I don't really know enough to give advice.

Somebody_Loved

Echo @lemurcat12 - I love the HM distance! I used the Hal Higdon training plan and it was perfect for me. Good luck!

angerelle

I've just recently run a marathon and found that as my runs got longer I needed to reduce my deficit - for a few months before I went completely up to maintenance (+ ate back my exercise calories). Listen to your body, you will probably need to choose between training for a long distance and losing for a little while (I struggled with that a bit, because I'd been losing at a good rate, but I did make the right decision).

Somebody_Loved

angerelle wrote: »

I've just recently run a marathon and found that as my runs got longer I needed to reduce my deficit - for a few months before I went completely up to maintenance (+ ate back my exercise calories). Listen to your body, you will probably need to choose between training for a long distance and losing for a little while (I struggled with that a bit, because I'd been losing at a good rate, but I did make the right decision).

Congrats on your marathon! I'm experiencing the same thing - I have a marathon in one month and just went into maintenance today. Could no longer do the deficit.

bogwoppt1

Running on a deficit is very hard. On my run days I really have to eat at maintenance. Other days I walk it is much more manageable.

RoxieDawn

Ran HM this past March. I actually leaned out more during my training and I ran better. Right up the taper I upped the calories to maintenance or what I thought was maintenance and I continued to loose right up to the race and one month later.. I had no issues with performance in the least and race day was amazing.

Each person is different in how they need to approach deficits, maintenance and energy balance through all phases of their training.

I ate a food plan for me that was designed to fuel my moderate runs during the week and also the long distance running on the weekends when increasing distance. I was not much into speed as my goal was to only finish hense this was my first one.

I run a charity run this weekend (an 8k for American Cancer Society) and def no need for change in dieting for this run.

lemurcat12

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

angerelle wrote: »

I've just recently run a marathon and found that as my runs got longer I needed to reduce my deficit - for a few months before I went completely up to maintenance (+ ate back my exercise calories). Listen to your body, you will probably need to choose between training for a long distance and losing for a little while (I struggled with that a bit, because I'd been losing at a good rate, but I did make the right decision).

Congrats on your marathon! I'm experiencing the same thing - I have a marathon in one month and just went into maintenance today. Could no longer do the deficit.

I had the same experience with mine in Feb.

acbraswell

Congrats on the sustained weight loss and running! I trained for a half marathon last fall and found that I really had to increase my carbs to have energy for the mileage.

Also, slightly off topic, get plenty of sleep! Good luck with your training!

hapa11

Good for you! Hal Higdon plan was great for me. Be sure to wear the same outfit for your distance runs and then wear that to the half. That way you know you won't have something chafe or rub.

Stacius

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

Congrats on your marathon! I'm experiencing the same thing - I have a marathon in one month and just went into maintenance today. Could no longer do the deficit.

Is the body just not able to handle such long distances and also have you eating at a deficit?

Somebody_Loved

Stacius wrote: »

Somebody_Loved wrote: »

Congrats on your marathon! I'm experiencing the same thing - I have a marathon in one month and just went into maintenance today. Could no longer do the deficit.

Is the body just not able to handle such long distances and also have you eating at a deficit?

I'm sure everyone's experience is different, but once I got into distances of 15+ mile long runs, I could no longer sustain a deficit. My body wasn't getting enough fuel and I could tell through lack of energy, and overall feeling tired/weak on my runs. I was constantly going over my daily goal, too, which was a big indicator that I needed to eat more.

aub6689

^agree. I actually can't handle a deficit past runs of 10 miles. When I do a long run close to or past 10 miles, I ALWAYS eat at maintenance that day.

JenHuedy

aub6689 wrote: »

^agree. I actually can't handle a deficit past runs of 10 miles. When I do a long run close to or past 10 miles, I ALWAYS eat at maintenance that day.

Same here. Even if I managed to eke out a small deficit on long run day, I ended up blowing it (and then some!) the next day. The "runger" is real - don't underestimate it!

Asher_Ethan

I can eat at a small SMALL deficit for HM training, but the week before I usually eat at maintenance with tons of carbs.