Half Marathon training - thoughts?

_Amy_Budd

Hi all,

I just registered for my first Half Marathon - I have 142 days, or just over 20 weeks to train. I recently completed a 10K, and ran the whole thing.

Some thoughts that may guide your advice:
1. I'm not really interested in speed, I'm interested in finishing.
2. I'm torn between trying to run the whole thing, and doing run/walk intervals like the Jeff Galloway method.

So let me hear it - what worked for you, and what didn't work? Should I try to run the whole thing, or is that just my ego tripping me up?

Thanks in advance for the advice!


Amy

wolfchild59

I used one of the Hal Higdon Half Marathon training programs and found that it worked out awesomely. 10K was also my furthest race before starting training and I had run the whole thing.

I was training for a run in San Francisco that I knew was hilly, so I added some hill training into my training, but here's what my weekly training schedule looked like:

Monday - Strength, upper and lower, heavy (usually to breaking) - about an hour total
Tuesday - Mid-length run, usually around 5 miles
Wednesday - alternated every other week between fartleks and hill training
Thursday - Strength, same as Monday and a three mile run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Cross cardio (any cardio that's not running), I usually did the ARC Trainer
Sunday - long run, started at 5.5 miles and increased by about a mile each week. I had a stop over at 10 miles to recognize the double digit mark and then only ran up to 13 miles so the half would be the longest I'd ever run since I was going to have people coming to watch me cross the finish line.

My training schedule was laid out over 12 weeks and I ran the entire half, hills and all, in just under 2:05. So I'm following the same schedule for my next half as well.

EricNCSU

I also used the Hal Higden Novice Half trainer and was actually able to run MOST of the first 10 miles.. then I walked quite a bit the last 2-3 miles, but I almost made it the whole way in a very slow jog (14:00 mile pace). I'm about to register for my second half (well will be my third, the Disney Half in Jan, registering for it before my second local half in November, Disney sells out!).

terbee

I think that if you ran all of a 10k, you should make it a goal to run all of your 1/2. Especially with all of the time that you have to train. Why walk?
I'm nearing my first 1/2 and have found that with training by doing 4 runs per week I have really built up my endurance more quickly than I ever thought I could. It's that frequency and consistency that does it. When I was running just once or twice a week casually I never built the confidence or mental stamina to keep going, so I would take frequent walk breaks. Start off slow, but be consistent about getting out there and building mileage.

Having 20 weeks to train is awesome. Maybe focus for the first 8 weeks on feeling really, really confident running 5-6 miles non-stop (I started off "comfortable" running about 2 miles and found that it took me about 6 weeks of training to get truly comfortable with 5-6). Then ramp it up to longer distances. But, I am definitely not an expert.

You can absolutely do it! Keep us updated, and join the "half marathon training" group!

Hoakiebs

Followed Galloway for my marathon training. Can't go wrong with that.

3dogsrunning

Its up to you. Running the whole thing is not an "ego" thing, you could totally do that if you wanted. You have enough time to train.
For me, its really what works for you. There is nothing wrong with run/walk but it isn't for me. Once I stop, I continue to stop or have a hard time running.
When it comes to time, I believe that those who run/walk vs run only have similar times.
If it is simply a matter of thinking you can't run that long, I have gone from 5k to finishing 21.1 in less time. Like you, time wasn't a factor but I ran it all.

tschmadeke

The unscientific approach that helped me is to just simply build weekly mileage. No more than 10% increase each week. I did that for my first half-marathon and it worked pretty well. Now I run a 10k a day and one longer run per week. I've run two marathons since and finished both.

Nikstergirl

I was in the same boat as you last year when I started training for my first half. I used the training program from Runner's World, it's called Smartcoach. If you have a smartphone, there's a free app for it (the app only goes up to 16 week programs) but you can find it free online as well and get a program set up for you. Basically you put in a few details, what your recent 10k time was, what your goal is (choose moderate, it's plenty) and which race you're training for and how many weeks you want, what day your long run will be..... then it spits out a program for you with the runs all spelled out. I set it so my long runs are on Sunday which makes my short run on Tuesday and speedwork on Thursday (I do usually do the long run on Saturday, but the schedule says Sunday so I'm flexible). Anyway, my goal was just to finish and I did my first half in 2:16!!! I was beyond thrilled. I've done another since then, followed another plan and took off 6 minutes!

You can do it, go ahead and do some strength training on you non-running days, it will really help your endurance and overall fitness (as well as losing weight if that's a goal) but make sure you take at least one rest day where you don't work out. A nice walk is ok on that day, but nothing strenuous.

Good luck!

wolfchild59

I also used the Hal Higden Novice Half trainer and was actually able to run MOST of the first 10 miles.. then I walked quite a bit the last 2-3 miles, but I almost made it the whole way in a very slow jog (14:00 mile pace). I'm about to register for my second half (well will be my third, the Disney Half in Jan, registering for it before my second local half in November, Disney sells out!).

The Disneyland Half in Sept is the next one I'm training for as well. My very first race was the Disneyland 5K last year.

I'm also running the 5K this year with some friends, but it'll be a slower pace than my normal since they run slower than I do and I'll be happy to take it easy with the half the next morning.

rybo

If you just ran a 10k, you should be able to easily run the entire half in 20 weeks. Easily.