Pushing past the Bonk - Qu for runners!

niknak2308

Hi all,

I'm currently training towards my first half marathon which is in 6 weeks time. I started training in December and have steadily worked up to running 6 miles fairly comfortably. By which I mean I can run it, need a minute here or there to re-coop. I'm running 12min miles at the moment which is probably slightly faster than my comfort zone. But by the time I get to the 5mile mark my body seems to want to give up on me... My calves cramped at the 5mile mark today, and I was having to powerwalk as any faster I struggled to maintain it for more than 30secs.

I'm training on the actual route that the HM will be taking so I am aware what the elevation is and where, and where the mile markers are. Today was my first time of doing the 2nd half of the route (ie towards the finish) and I was gutted I was still feeling so tired despite it being the flatter half of the course, along with the fact it's just half what I need to be doing on the day!

During the week I run 3 times (usually Mon Wed Fri) and normally do a recovery run of 6/7k at comfy pace, speed training on the middle run and then hill work on the last. My long runs are usually Sat but sometimes Sun.

My normal pace is 5k (3.1miles) in 38mins so I'm by no means a fast runner, but I did only start out 9 mths ago and have done just the one race last July (5K).

I guess what I'm after is any advice on pushing my body to do that extra mile, so that on my weekend runs I get upto at least 10miles done in one run before attempting the full 13miles on the day. Should I be working more on my speed? Or perhaps doing longer runs during the week (normally do 40-60mins each night).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!:ohwell:

rybo

You need endurance. I'd stop all speed work and bump the length of you weekday runs. (Within reason) Maybe do hills every other week. You just need more easy miles to build your base.

ValerieMomof2

I agree but also how many calories are you eating? I am also training for a 1/2 and I was trying to cut my calories and I would hit that wall as well. I finally decided getting through my 1/2 was more important so I have upped my calories and try to focus on better food overall

wolfchild59

What are you doing in addition to just runs? I found that I hit harder walls while running and had more bonked runs when I was mostly only running.

I started following one of Hal Higdon's half marathon training plans that included cross cardio training, strength training, and speed intervals and I mostly stopped hitting walls and bonking runs.

The only issues I had after starting the more varied training schedule were temperature issues during the training for my second half marathon, when I wasn't prepared for summer afternoon heat, and I bonked a couple then, just because I overheated.

SpleenThief

During the week I run 3 times (usually Mon Wed Fri) and normally do a recovery run of 6/7k at comfy pace, speed training on the middle run and then hill work on the last.

What's your weekly mileage?

Tentatively it looks like A. You're not running enough mileage and B. your long run comprises too large of a percentage of your weekly total. Increasing your weekday runs so your long run is about a third of your weekly total is a good start. A fourth would be even better. Adding a fourth run would help.

Speed work may or may not be a good idea this early in the game. Tell us a bit about what a typical speed session looks like for you.

jzammetti

I agree that you should (1) build distance rather than speed and (2) cross train with weights to build muscle endurance. I had the same problem and this approach is successful for me. Best of luck to you!!! (The speed will come...)

niknak2308

Thanks for the replies so far...

Ok, in answer to the questions...

I've got my goals set at 1200 but I do eat all my cals back. I'm not seeing much weightloss recently but am losing inches. I have been trying to focus on better hydration as I know I suck at that, and generally better eating choices, but I'm by no means a clean eater.

I'm not currently doing much else aside from my usual daily walking (prob 2ish miles a day) when I'm not running. I had read about improving the core muscles so was thinking about trying to figure in something like that too.

To clarify - I run 4 times a week, 3 shorter runs during the week and one long one on the weekend. My weekly mileage is between 15 - 18 miles at the moment.

My speedwork is not specific to be fair, it's more a fartlek approach of seeing a point and trying to go faster until I reach it and then repeat. Most of my runs are fairly up and downy elevation wide so it sort of co-incides with the hillwork I suppose.

I'm seeing from these responses that I should be upping my mid-week mileage too, which I can see does make sense so I'm getting more used to the distance. The reason my mid-week runs are shorter is mainly due to childcare issues but I suppose for a month or so I could sort something out to deal with that.

Thank you all so far!

ValerieMomof2

I was trying to eat 1400 calories when I was starting and was really finding that was too little, I had to bump my calories to 1700 minimum to fuel my runs. That's just me, so if others have trained for a 1/2 with 1200, I would like to hear how they did.
I would also add strength training in. My weekday runs are no more than 3-4 simply bc of time