So many training plans...what's a girl to do??!!

debomommyforhealth

So, I have looked at almost 5 beginning training plans for half-marathons. They are all so different! Hal Higdon's seems too crazy for me (6 days a week as a beginner is a bit much). Love Galloway's approach, but only 3 days a week of running? Doesn't seem like enough. Any thoughts or anyone know of a plan more in the middle ground? Just started 2 weeks ago,and I am running every other day (between 3-5 miles...faster runs), with my long run on the weekend. This week I have a 9 mile long run. Increasing 1-2 miles/wk on my long runs and going 2-3 minutes slower per mile. Kind of "winging" my training plan...listening to my body. My only goal is to finish this half marathon (preferably under 3 hours). This week I want to do some cross-training on my "off" days but don't want to overdo it, compromising my running days.

Any advice would be much appreciated. :) Thanks! This is all very new to me!

Thanks!!

workout_junkee

Have you looked at the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan? It is 5 day a week plan with 4 days of running. That said I used the Novice 1 for my 20k this spring and found the 6 days a week fine. I finished in 2:08:). You could actually make it a 5 day week plan if you don't use Monday to strength train.... not that I am advocating the idea of no strength training.

Three days a week is plenty of running. Many people only run three days when training for a half... two shorter weekday runs and a long run on the weekend.

krisiepoo

I like Jeff Galloway's... you only have 2 runs during the week but I use them to work on speed and my weekend run I use for endurance. I also upped one of the weekly runs to 45 mins instead of 30 but again focusing on speed.

mabel8580

3 days of running is perfect, especially if this is your first. You don't want to overtrain and get injured.

I agree with your "winging it" strategy. The long run is the most important. As long as that is increasing every weekend, just run what feels comfortable to you during the week. Speed/distance at this stage is not really as important as it is to get out and do something even if its just walking to get used to the time on your feet.

jdelot

Checkout the Smartcoach feature on www.runnersworld.com. I used it for my first 1/2 back in May. It's pretty flexible as far as how intense you want to train. When I was running 10ks a few years ago, I just winged it. I felt so much better after my 1/2 than any of the 10ks I ran. I attribute this to following a plan.

montana_girl

I use the Galloway method, run 3 days a week and have completed 7 half marathons. As long as you are doing one long run a week, increasing the distance over time, then 3 days a week of running is fine for a half marathon.

Since you are listening to your body and doing what feels right for you, then you will do great! :flowerforyou: Just don't over train and remember to taper off the distance you are running a week or so before the race so that your legs will be well rested.

It took me three or four training periods before I found a plan that worked for me. It's a mixture of the Galloway method, suggestions from fellow runners, and what works for me (something I can stick to).

987Runner

I don't know why I've never seen this one before! I'm always on RW, but only saw the plans you have to pay for. Awesome! THANKS!

jdelot

I don't know why I've never seen this one before! I'm always on RW, but only saw the plans you have to pay for. Awesome! THANKS!

So you found the freebies?

mmk137

I only have 3 running days available to me a week. And I ran a half marathon with that in mind.
However I also did insanity on my non run days, and that cross training helped me extremely.

I too also used the runnersworld free app for my training plan.

mmk137

here is the link for the free app

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-321--13476-0,00.html