Ran my first half, now what?

mlogantra76

Looking for some advice.

I ran my first this past Sunday! It went great and I finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes.

I have just signed up for the Mississippi Blues Half which is in 6 weeks and will likely do one Feb 8th, March 8th, and April 27th.

My goal is to again be able to run the whole thing at about the same time. If I get a PR, that would be great but I'm not really focusing on time right now.

Here is what I have done for the last few months: 3 weekday runs of 5 miles. A long run on Saturday(my longest before the 1/2 was 11 miles). Sometimes, I run a 5k race on Saturday and do the long run on Sunday but probably won't do this in the next few months. So at least 4 days of running a week.

Should I continue at this rate? Should I taper my long run for a few weeks? I don't want to risk injury or burn out but I also want to maintain where I am at.

CarsonRuns

Just take it easy for a week or two (about 50% to 75% of your highest mileage weeks), then repeat the last 4 weeks of your training plan leading up to the next race. Maybe even tack on an extra mile to the long run one or two of those weeks.

aldousmom

a hundred responders, a hundred different opinions.

run 8-10 miles every other weekend (whenever your long run is). speed work once per week. if you feel fatigued from your most frequent race, skip the speed work and run easy, but keep to your usual days/frequency of running.

good luck!

mlogantra76

Thanks for your responses. I was thinking /hoping that decreasing my mileage for a few weeks wouldn't hurt anything. I'll shorten my long run as well and then pick it back up in a few weeks.

mjpTennis

Congrats on your race. Your plan sounds great.