Length of run the Sunday before a race...

roxanethree

I ran my first 1/2 marathon a few weeks ago and am running a 2nd in 7 weeks. I finished in a good enough time for my age-41yrs & 1hr 50 min and also my first season racing, but I'd like to try to finish the next one 5 minutes faster. So I picked a new training program and instead of it having you run 6 miles on the last Sunday, it has you do a 2hr comfortable run. I had problems with my one shin after my race and took 1.5 weeks off, so I don't want an "aggressive" program, but I think I want to change it up a little. The first program has 2 days off of running/week and the 2nd only the one day of rest.

So my main question is how far do you run on the Sunday before a longer race? Also if you have any great programs that have worked for you that I can look over. I did a couch 2-5k 1.5yrs ago so I guess I am a little new to running still. Definitely new to longer runs. Thanks!

CarsonRuns

First concern of mine is jumping from 5 days of running per week to 6 days. You should ease into that: 6 days, one week, 5 the next, repeat for 3 iterations, then do two weeks of 6 days and one week of 5 days, repeating for 3 iterations. If you are still healthy then, you can probably stick with 6 days per week. You need to be very cognizant of how much your total weekly mileage increases, making sure that you don't increase by more than 10% from your previous high. Don't increase every week and make sure you have cut-back weeks in your plan too.

The direct question of how long of a long run the week before a race is really a matter of preference and probably of little consequence in this case. I've done 10 miles for a long run the week before a marathon and I've done 10 miles the day BEFORE a half marathon. Too many other factors there to give you a meaningful answer.

SonicDeathMonkey80

How did you come to the "5 minutes faster" goal? Is that arbitrary, or based on another race? You're talking about shaving roughly 25 seconds off your miles. Did you sandbag the first one? Like Carson said, there's lots of factors to consider. I've tapered for a HM and had a crappy race, and I've also raced the day before and PR'd. Whodafuqknows.

roxanethree

Right, they will be two different races. The first one I made a few mistakes-thought I was starting off well until I heard my time at my first and second km and realized I still hadn't slowed down and was going too fast. Then I pushed my way through a long and then steep hill at the 10k mark and never did regain the pace I was trying to stick with. Also I didn't realize how important eating was during a race so ended up pretty crampy at the finish line. Now this 2nd race is through the country and advertised as challenging so trying for a pace to take off 5 minutes probably won't work. I want to be just like the couple that sailed by me so smoothly with about 3 km left.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to figure out my miles/week. I'm still fighting with my weight so sometimes throw in an extra run on my off days to combat the calories so I'm kind of use to a 6th & 7th day, but I've messed up at one point to end up with shin problems in one leg.