Half Marathon Training schedule? Do I repeat?

RunConquerCelebrate

So tonight I spent some time going through my logged runs for my Half Marathon training. The program that I followed is from Hal Higdon and it is the Novice 2. I started Half Marathon training a bit early to give myself some time to heal in case I had an injury and give room to move my running schedule around due to kids, work etc.

The program is a 12 week program, I started the training back in August 20th but have had some weeks were I could not run due to other commitments and I was still trying to figure out my schedule. So for example if I completed week 1 the next week when I needed to start week 2 I could not start due to schedule issues so I would skip that week and do week two the following week. (hope this makes sense it is late and it makes sense in my head)

I know that it took me longer than the 12 weeks but I have managed to get my runs in specially the long runs, Looking at my Nike App tracking I noticed that I somehow skipped my long run of 7 miles and jumped to the 8 mile which I was able to run on November 3rd. When I thought I had ran 9 miles my app showed that I ran 8.79 instead. On November 25th I ran 10.50 miles. Which means I have two weeks left on my training and two long runs 11 miles and 12 miles.

Sorry long story short here are my questions for you expert runners:

1. Should I run my 11 miles this Saturday, when I have a race scheduled on Sunday it is a 15K

2. Once I am done with this program I still have time until my Half Marathon which is in March of 2014. Do I repeat the program?since my training was not consecutive from week 1 to week 12. Or do I move on to the next level of Half Marathon training which on the Hal Higdon website is the Intermediate Program? I asked Hal this question on his Facebook page but at the time I asked the question I thought I was going to train consecutive and he suggested I move on to the next program but since my training was not consecutive I am not sure what to do.

Thanks for your input

Forgot to add I have ran 3 10ks this year and my 15k that I will run on Sunday. One of those 10ks was ran while training.

RunnerElizabeth

I wouldn't worry too much about the fact that you added a couple of weeks to the schedule. The point was to gradually increase your running so that when you officially train for your half you aren't starting from nothing. That goal is already accomplished.

Your 11 miles is scheduled the day before your 15k race? Skip it! Do your 15k race and run your best! You aren't going to have any impact on your March goal race by skipping the 11 now and running a good race. And putting forth a solid race effort now is good for practice before your goal race.

So by my calculations, you should be starting your 12 week race training cycle a week from Monday? (I started mine for my Feb 23 race this week). So it's up to you if you finish your that your currently on, but you might do well to take the week off before your next training cycle starts, I do this a lot, take 6 days off in between cycles and only run the long run. It helps me refocus and I go into training with fresh legs.

As far as which plan to do, I think this is a choice you need to think about. The big difference between Novice 2 and intermediate is the introduction of speed work. Do you feel ready to handle this now? How are your knees holding up? The week after your race you could always try the first speed workout from the intermediate plan. The other difference is the extra day of running. Do you feel confident that your schedule will allow a fifth day of running? Do you personally want to add a fifth day? If so, go ahead and move to the intermediate program. But if you feel more comfortable with novice 2, it's okay to do that again too. I've followed that schedule twice. And for my fifth half I'm now doing my own thing.

Just my 2 cents at 2 in the morning. The most important thing is to try and have fun with it!

CarsonRuns

For question 1, I would run an easy 5 or 6 on Saturday. On Sunday, do a 1 mile warmup, race, then a 1 mile cool down. That will get your mileage in.

For question 2, remember that a training plan is a guide. Use the knowledge you have gained from this training cycle and use it to help design your own program going forward. Build mileage slowly. The more mileage you run, the more fit you will be.

RunConquerCelebrate

I wouldn't worry too much about the fact that you added a couple of weeks to the schedule. The point was to gradually increase your running so that when you officially train for your half you aren't starting from nothing. That goal is already accomplished.

Your 11 miles is scheduled the day before your 15k race? Skip it! Do your 15k race and run your best! You aren't going to have any impact on your March goal race by skipping the 11 now and running a good race. And putting forth a solid race effort now is good for practice before your goal race.

So by my calculations, you should be starting your 12 week race training cycle a week from Monday? (I started mine for my Feb 23 race this week). So it's up to you if you finish your that your currently on, but you might do well to take the week off before your next training cycle starts, I do this a lot, take 6 days off in between cycles and only run the long run. It helps me refocus and I go into training with fresh legs.

As far as which plan to do, I think this is a choice you need to think about. The big difference between Novice 2 and intermediate is the introduction of speed work. Do you feel ready to handle this now? How are your knees holding up? The week after your race you could always try the first speed workout from the intermediate plan. The other difference is the extra day of running. Do you feel confident that your schedule will allow a fifth day of running? Do you personally want to add a fifth day? If so, go ahead and move to the intermediate program. But if you feel more comfortable with novice 2, it's okay to do that again too. I've followed that schedule twice. And for my fifth half I'm now doing my own thing.

Just my 2 cents at 2 in the morning. The most important thing is to try and have fun with it!

Thanks for the input you gave some good insight and has me thinking on what to do. Not sure I am quite ready for speed work. I think I should try adding speed work after I run my first Half Marathon so I might just repeat the program again and take a week off after my 15K. Not sure with my schedule I can add another day of running. The days that I am at right now are working.

RunConquerCelebrate

For question 1, I would run an easy 5 or 6 on Saturday. On Sunday, do a 1 mile warmup, race, then a 1 mile cool down. That will get your mileage in.

For question 2, remember that a training plan is a guide. Use the knowledge you have gained from this training cycle and use it to help design your own program going forward. Build mileage slowly. The more mileage you run, the more fit you will be.

Carson what a great idea I did not even think about doing a mile warm up and a mile cool down to meet my mileage. I will definitely be doing that on Sunday.

I have to figure out how I can figure out a plan for my next training cycle. I just do not want to go back down to running low miles on Saturday. Thinking I might start the program at 5 or 6 miles instead of 4 and go from there. Thanks for the feedback.

CarsonRuns

For question 1, I would run an easy 5 or 6 on Saturday. On Sunday, do a 1 mile warmup, race, then a 1 mile cool down. That will get your mileage in.

For question 2, remember that a training plan is a guide. Use the knowledge you have gained from this training cycle and use it to help design your own program going forward. Build mileage slowly. The more mileage you run, the more fit you will be.

Carson what a great idea I did not even think about doing a mile warm up and a mile cool down to meet my mileage. I will definitely be doing that on Sunday.

I have to figure out how I can figure out a plan for my next training cycle. I just do not want to go back down to running low miles on Saturday. Thinking I might start the program at 5 or 6 miles instead of 4 and go from there. Thanks for the feedback.

Here is what I wrote for another poster about creating your own schedule.

One option would be to write your own plan based on what you find in a pre-packaged plan you find on-line. Just setup a calendar and put your weekly mileage goals down first. Then fill in your long runs, keeping in mind that the long run shouldn't exceed 1/3 of your total weekly mileage (1/4 is even better). Then, fill in the rest of the week to get to where the mileage needs to be.

That way you can keep your mileage where it is instead of going by someone else's schedule Write it up for the next month and if you like, I'll take a look at it and give you feedback.

RunConquerCelebrate

For question 1, I would run an easy 5 or 6 on Saturday. On Sunday, do a 1 mile warmup, race, then a 1 mile cool down. That will get your mileage in.

For question 2, remember that a training plan is a guide. Use the knowledge you have gained from this training cycle and use it to help design your own program going forward. Build mileage slowly. The more mileage you run, the more fit you will be.

Carson what a great idea I did not even think about doing a mile warm up and a mile cool down to meet my mileage. I will definitely be doing that on Sunday.

I have to figure out how I can figure out a plan for my next training cycle. I just do not want to go back down to running low miles on Saturday. Thinking I might start the program at 5 or 6 miles instead of 4 and go from there. Thanks for the feedback.

Here is what I wrote for another poster about creating your own schedule.

One option would be to write your own plan based on what you find in a pre-packaged plan you find on-line. Just setup a calendar and put your weekly mileage goals down first. Then fill in your long runs, keeping in mind that the long run shouldn't exceed 1/3 of your total weekly mileage (1/4 is even better). Then, fill in the rest of the week to get to where the mileage needs to be.

That way you can keep your mileage where it is instead of going by someone else's schedule Write it up for the next month and if you like, I'll take a look at it and give you feedback.

Thanks Carson, I am going to attempt this, this will be the first time and I hope I understand what I am trying to do. I would definitely would appreciate some feedback thanks.

aldousmom

1. Should I run my 11 miles this Saturday, when I have a race scheduled on Sunday it is a 15K

2. Once I am done with this program I still have time until my Half Marathon which is in March of 2014. Do I repeat the program?

1. skip the 11 miler, race the 15k. Done.

2. No. run 8-10 miles every other weekend (or whenever you usually do a long run), do speed work once per week. Don't start over.

Good luck!

I run marathons (or longer) monthly, sometimes more frequently. I spend way less time training now that I don't "detrain" between races. I wish someone would have pointed that out to me ages ago. ha ha ha.