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10k to Half-Marathon in 2 months?

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blackNBUK
blackNBUK Posts: 58 Member
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My local half-marathon is at the start of March and a couple of my friends have signed up to do it. I'm thinking of joining them but I'm not sure whether I'm ready yet. I started C25K about 6 months ago and after finishing that I've concentrated on distances around 5k. So far my fastest 5k time at Parkrun is 23:50. I've done a handful of hour long runs of around 10k or 11k but I haven't done anything longer. After the last of these I felt fine apart from my calves being really tight. My weekly distance is probably 20-25k at the moment.

So is it wise to try to step up to the half-marathon in the 2 months I have left? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

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  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
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    I think you could do it--grab yourself a Higdon training plan, figure out where you are right now and start from there. Best of luck to you!
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    My first race was over 10 miles. 3 weeks later I managed a half. So if you have done a 10k and a few Parkruns, then yeah, why not!!
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    I hope you are ready. Cause my first 10K is in March and my first 1/2 is in April.
    My longest long run was 12 miles which was last Saturday. I only ran 10 miles for a long run like 3x in the past month.
    I am at the point where my weekly runs are 32 miles now. (50K).
    I only started running consistently since the beginning of October. Just slowly increase your weekly milage and you will be ready.
  • TwelveSticks
    TwelveSticks Posts: 288 Member
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    I sure hope you'd be ready! You're in pretty much the same boat as me - I started c25k in May last year, have run a couple of 5k's and then 10k's and now I run about 3 times a week, between 5k and 12k per run. I'm signed up for my first half-marathon in March and I have no worries about being able to do it, to be honest.

    If you look at the typical plans, they usually revolve around building your distance with one run per week, up to about 80-90% of the race distance, 2 weeks before the event, then having a light week, the last week before.

    I intend to start increasing my weekly 10k run by 2k per week for weeks T-5 through to T-2, then have a light week in T-1.
  • legallyblonde916
    legallyblonde916 Posts: 43 Member
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    6.2 miles to 13.1 in 8 weeks? Absolutely doable. I'm starting my HM plan now, with a long-run mileage base at 6 miles... it's pretty much where I start every time. :)
  • twinmom_112002
    twinmom_112002 Posts: 739 Member
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    You can do it. Like everyone else says...find a good plan and stick to it.
  • _Josee_
    _Josee_ Posts: 625 Member
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    For sure! :)
  • blackNBUK
    blackNBUK Posts: 58 Member
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    Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I've now signed up! I tend to be a bit cautious about things like this and I just wanted to know that it was do-able.

    Looking at Hal Higdon's programmes I'm probably doing the runs laid out in week 4 or 5 of the novice programmes so should be OK there. Fitting everything in around the other exercise I'm doing might be a challenge though. Currently my week typically looks like this:-

    Monday: Trendmill Sprint class and Strength Training
    Tuesday: Judo Practice
    Wednesday: Soccer game for 1 hour
    Thursday: Rest
    Friday: 5K Run
    Saturday: 10 mile walk in the countryside
    Sunday: 10K Run

    It seems like I should add one more run a week. Can I do that and keep up with the other exercise or will something have to give?

    I think I'll also have to finally learn to run a bit slower. So far I've just been running at my natural pace which is fairly quick, around 5 mins/km or 8 mins/mile. I can keep this up for 5K but at 10K I've already found that I need to walk and/or stop for a bit. The training pace calculator I found suggests that long and easy runs should be done nearer 6 mins/km or 10 mins/mile. Does that sound right?
  • twinmom_112002
    twinmom_112002 Posts: 739 Member
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    Personally I would change the walk into a run. Maybe run 5 miles and then walk 5 miles if you still want to cover the 10 mile distance. Eventually that should become your long run. Soccer doesn't really add endurance although it will help you with your speed (no offense meant, my hubby is a soccer player). You want to be running at least 3X a week and eventually the two short runs want to be up to 5 miles.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
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    Personally I would change the walk into a run. Maybe run 5 miles and then walk 5 miles if you still want to cover the 10 mile distance. Eventually that should become your long run. Soccer doesn't really add endurance although it will help you with your speed (no offense meant, my hubby is a soccer player). You want to be running at least 3X a week and eventually the two short runs want to be up to 5 miles.

    This. Plus I might swap Thursday and Friday so all your runs aren't right in a row. Add a little each week to your 5K run.
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
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    You want at least three runs, one of which is a long run. Even Higdons plans, which are relativley low mileage as training plans go, would have you running more than you currently run.

    Even if you have to slow your paces, volume will serve you better in the long run than will medium distances at a harder pace.
  • RunFarLiveHappy
    RunFarLiveHappy Posts: 805 Member
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    I trained for my first half in 2 weeks, having only run one 10k prior to that. Now I've fully embraced distance running and would say that if you make your long runs your biggest priority your half should go just fine! The benefit is that you'll probably PR in your second half! ????
  • blackNBUK
    blackNBUK Posts: 58 Member
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    I probably should have explained a bit more about the walk. I'm on the committee of a local ramblers club and the weekend walk is with them. Numbers are a little light at the moment so I really should get along most weeks. Plus I like meeting up with them. I've been walking long enough now that that sort of distance isn't a strain so I'd be happy to consider that an easy or rest day. I agree about the soccer, it's too stop-start to be endurance training. Running regularly has done wonders for my game though. Suddenly I can reach the ball first and have time to do something with it!

    So I suppose that leaves me with either doing a run in the morning or lunchtime of one of the days earlier in the week or going for a run on both Thursday and Friday. Is it important to have one day of proper rest each week?
  • julie_emma1
    julie_emma1 Posts: 146
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    Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I've now signed up! I tend to be a bit cautious about things like this and I just wanted to know that it was do-able.

    Looking at Hal Higdon's programmes I'm probably doing the runs laid out in week 4 or 5 of the novice programmes so should be OK there. Fitting everything in around the other exercise I'm doing might be a challenge though. Currently my week typically looks like this:-

    Monday: Trendmill Sprint class and Strength Training
    Tuesday: Judo Practice
    Wednesday: Soccer game for 1 hour
    Thursday: Rest
    Friday: 5K Run
    Saturday: 10 mile walk in the countryside
    Sunday: 10K Run

    It seems like I should add one more run a week. Can I do that and keep up with the other exercise or will something have to give?

    I think I'll also have to finally learn to run a bit slower. So far I've just been running at my natural pace which is fairly quick, around 5 mins/km or 8 mins/mile. I can keep this up for 5K but at 10K I've already found that I need to walk and/or stop for a bit. The training pace calculator I found suggests that long and easy runs should be done nearer 6 mins/km or 10 mins/mile. Does that sound right?

    I would definitely slow down!! Especially for Sunday LRs - as you increase your long run distance, you risk getting injured if you keep going at 8min miles! And I'd add an extra morning run on Tuesdays. Good luck :-)
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    Whatever plan you choose, it comes down to how many miles you run each week. The more miles you run in a week, the better. So if you run 3x a week at 5 miles that is 15 miles. If you run 5x a week at 4 miles each that is 20 miles and actually will get you closer to your goals.

    I don't know about pace. I read one place that the closer and consistent you train at your race speed the better. Other places swear by tempo runs and intervals and other things that I really still learning and experimenting with.

    My personal attitude, I run as hard as I can sensibly sustain but still want to make it enjoyable in the long term. I don't believe in overly easy runs (unless it's the very next day after I do leg work - and still I challenge myself). I guess you would call this a recovery run? idk still learning. I do allow for rest on Sundays (no running or working out). I used to have an easy day on Wednesdays (where I would run a mile less and easier pace) but after my legs got used to the workouts I kind of scrapped the idea of less miles and just took a little longer. Wednesdays also happen to be the day after I do my legs (which falls on Tue nights). I also do leg work on Saturdays after my long run which I built up to 12 miles over 12 weeks of consistent running.

    Anyway, I hope this makes some kind of sense. Good luck!!
  • mjpTennis
    mjpTennis Posts: 6,165 Member
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    Monday: Trendmill Sprint class and Strength Training
    Tuesday: Judo Practice
    Wednesday: Soccer game for 1 hour
    Thursday: Rest
    Friday: 5K Run
    Saturday: 10 mile walk in the countryside
    Sunday: 10K Run

    If this is your current fitness plan, you will be in great shape for the race, and I will recommend that you practice slowing down for those longer runs and for the actual race itself.

    Not sure how life rolls around your plan, but if this were me I would look to moving the rest day to Friday and the 5k run to Thursday. I would also throw another 5k run in on the Judo day. For these 5k runs I would also focus on that 9:30 min - 10 min per mile speed. You need to treat Sunday as your long run day and these should also be at that slow pace you mention above. Sounds like your cardio has improved (nice work) and these Sunday runs will confirm that.

    Enjoy.
  • blackNBUK
    blackNBUK Posts: 58 Member
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    I feeling a lot more confident about my prospects now. I had some free time today so I decided to bring my long run forward and have a proper go at running more slowly. It wasn't exactly exciting but it really worked, I managed to do about 9 miles in a bit under 1 hour 25 minutes and I felt like I could have carried on if I had wanted to. I ended up trying to stick to a fastest pace of 8:50 per mile. That's faster than the pace calculator suggested but it still felt easy and going more slowly felt really forced.

    So I think I've got a plan coming together and a new pair of shoes should be arriving in the next day or two. I just need to get some podcasts together to occupy myself on the long runs and buy plenty more food! I was absolutely ravenous after I finished the run today.

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