Should you have run the full race distance before the race?

mzbek24

I'm in week 7 of training for my first Half marathon (21.1km), and on my training plan the longest distance it goes up to is only 16km. So it would be an increase from 16-21, though also it tapers off 2 weeks before the race, with the last long run being 14.5km.
Should I be fine with that? Or are you supposed to be running the distance/a bit closer to the race distance already in training before the day? I'm just going for completion. Just think I would feel more confident if it was less of an increase, like I'd been running say 18-20km beforehand.

I got my plan from here:
http://www.runnersworldonline.com.au/halfmarathonplan/

MinimalistShoeAddict

The plan looks good to me. It is better than trying to squeeze in a longer run at the risk of not being completely rested on race day

bwogilvie

When I ran a 25K race, I had run 25.5 km on my longest training run. However, I was following the Galloway method, which involves lots of long slow distance running to build a base, combined with intervals and hill climbing to develop speed and power. The idea is that you bring all those together on race day to run a distance that is somewhat shorter than you've done, but to run it a lot faster than on your training runs.

If your goal is completion, your plan is probably fine, but if the big jump makes you nervous, you can tack on an 18 km run (if you have time to work it in).

These days I do a lot of cycling, and I find that I can increase my mileage by up to 30% from one long ride to the next, as long as my total weekly mileage doesn't go up so much. A few weeks ago I did an 81-mile ride, even though my previous long ride for the season was only 55 miles. And the 81-miler had more than twice as much climbing. Cycling is lower impact than running, but you can still do a much longer distance in the race than in training as long as you taper and you don't set a much faster pace for the event than you were doing in your training.

Enjoy the race!

ThickMcRunFast

That's a solid plan for a first half marathon. If you can run 16k, you can run 21k, no problem. In general, for a more advanced half marathon, one would run the distance or over in training.

As the goal race gets longer, you get diminishing returns on the length of your training runs. Most marathon plans (even advanced ones) only go as high as 22 miles because the time it takes your body to recover from the long effort is not worth it in the scheme of the training schedule. You just end up doing more harm than good.