13.1 question

jaimibeth14

I signed up for my first half marathon on December 1st (St.Jude) in memphis! I don't have any type of training plan. I have done a handful of 5K's but need to start training for the half! Any suggestions?

jadesign19

Bump for future me :happy:

JodaNord

Hal Higdons Half for Novice1 or 2 depending where you are at in running...

mlb929

Hal Higdons Half for Novice1 or 2 depending where you are at in running...

Second - I've looked at numerous plans, good the bad and the ugly this is one of the best IMO.

Another - if you have kids - Train Like a Mother book has two plans, a finish it plan and an own it plan. Both are really great for a mom as they tell you "DO NOT SKIP " this workout or it's OK to do something different instead.

workout_junkee

I used Hal Higdon Novice 1 for my race a few weeks ago and had great results. I plan to used Novice 2 for my race in October.

arc918

Another vote for Higdon

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51130/Half-Marathon-Training-Guide

godblessourhome

i LOVE jeff galloway's half marathon plan.

http://jeffgalloway.com/training/half_marathon.html

i have used hal higdon, but did not like it as much. (i've done 5 half's, ranging in time from 2:26 to 3:34. i have another one planned in august.)

SueInAz

Hal Higdon is a good one but you can create one for yourself, as well. You have a lot of time so you can slowly ramp up your miles and endurance. IMHO, the most important aspect of training is to avoid injury so you can actually run the race. Do whatever works for you and your schedule.

I ran my first 10K late last October and my first half marathon in January. The next day I wasn't sore at all. I simply ran my longest (to that date) run every other weekend starting in November and increasing it by around 10% each time. The rule of thumb is to increase your longest run by no more than about 10% at a time. My longest run of all was 11 miles and I ran that exactly 2 weeks before the race. During that time, I was running three days per week, every other day. I slowly increased the distance of these shorter, weekday (and every other weekend) runs from 3 miles to 6 miles using the same 10% rule and increasing mileage every week.

Runs4Wine

I loosely followed the Hal Higdon plan myself for my first and second half Marathons.

I'm now training for my 3rd and essentially just increasing by one mile for my long runs on the weekend. Running 2-3 days during the week with boot camp cross training in between.

Pebble321

I'm following (loosely) the Marathon Rookie plan.
Last year I used a Runkeeper plan, but got injured and couldn't do the race. The lesson I took away from that was "too much, too fast". Whichever way you train, build up gradually and don't try to go fast before you're ready.
Enjoy!

brandyk77

Use Hal

He has a tried and true formula and the schedule will help you keep on track. if you just wing it, it becomes easier to just skip a day here or there and not really know what types of runs you should be doing.

I personally use a coach and I have had huge improvements with this type of approach.

montana_girl

I use the Jeff Galloway program (run/walk/run) and have completed 6 half marthons.... and improved my race time for each event!

Whether you follow Higdon or Galloway, just make sure you are consistant with your training, listen to your body (learn the difference between discomfort and an injury), and most importantly, have fun! :flowerforyou: