Half-Marathon Training: The Beginning Stages & Mental Block

When you say you're eating better, what do you mean? For many people this means higher protein and lower carb. But, you needs carbs for running. Other than that, I'd just say keep plugging along. Don't look at your speed at all. You should be going slower while training for a half.

For me... that was where I was when I was training for my marathon, and I had to downgrade to a half. (Best decision ever ,btw... for me at that time...) One of the things I had to keep "mantra"-ing were these:

There are a lot of other people who aren't doing what I"m doing. I am doing great just being out here.

I then sometimes would go through the alphabet complimenting myself
A - You're doing Awesome! Let's go!
B - You're Brave for trying this - come on.
C - You're courageous for being out here. You can do it!
D - You are dangerous!....

You get the idea. cheesy? Yes. Did it help? Yes.

Some other things I did were invest in those gatorade chews and the jelly belly energy beans. Now... I'm not going to tell you they work - because for all I know it could have had a placebo effect. But for me it was enough.

ALSO... I NEVER ran for time. Ever. It just so happened that by the end of my training I got a lot faster, but when I ran for time, it wasn't fun and I didn't enjoy it. It felt stressful and pressureful. The same reason I had to stop running with hubby - he was much faster and I felt like a failure when I couldn't keep up.

So.... DO YOU! Be your best you! Be proud of you and keep goin

Also, if you haven't done so already, I'd sign up for the half, just so you know you have a "fixed" date.

I live in FL so I know how the humidity can just kill you on a run. Do you have access to a treadmill in the a/c? Maybe doing some of your training there where the heat is not an issue will help boost your confidence a bit. Just keep it up. Once you get back into the swing of things and get used to the higher temps, you will see improvement. Good luck! And remember that since this is your first Half Marathon, it will be a PR no matter what your time (I have to keep telling myself that for my first Duathlon next month).

msthang444 - I love the alphabet game you have going on! I will have to try that next time!

Humidity is a killer - at least for me. It degraded my runs drastically.

Are you able to get your runs in during a cooler part of the day?

ETA: I peeked at your profile and see you're in Ohio (I'm in PA so we're practically neighbors!) so maybe try running in the mornings before it gets too hot. Oh, and you have the most beautiful red hair!!

Honestly, the thing about a half marathon is that there is a lot of room for imperfection because you have a lot of time. The biggest thing is make sure you cover the distance on your long run every single week. If you get the distance covered, once a week, just get that done, the rest honestly will take care of itself. Make sure you have a stretching routine when you wake up, go to bed, and before you run and follow it religiously - then you can let go because you will know you are doing your best. It's kind of like being good at putting in golf - half of the battle is having a ritual before you do it.

Humidity wrecks me, too. In fact, that's pretty normal, I think. It makes it so much more difficult for your body to regulate it's temperature, and it can be just draining.

Here's a thing to remember: No single run is reflective of your ability to run. You can't judge what you are capable of doing by any single attempt. I know that feeling you're describing, where you start to question yourself and your abilities because you're having a tough time out there. But one run is just that: one run.

I saw someone else recommended finding a running group to do long runs with. I think that's a really good idea. And if that's not possible, how about just finding one running buddy? There are days I would never make it through my run (or sometimes even make it out the door!) if not for my running buddy. We push each other to keep going, and the time goes a lot faster on my long runs when I'm with her, even if we're not talking. Just knowing someone else is in it with you can change the way the run feels.

And train in the elements you will be racing in. You won't do yourself any favors chilling on a treadmill when you need to be acclimating yourself to the heat.

When you say you're eating better, what do you mean? For many people this means higher protein and lower carb. But, you needs carbs for running. Other than that, I'd just say keep plugging along. Don't look at your speed at all. You should be going slower while training for a half.

This...are you getting enough carbs?

I'm not a runner, but I participate in endurance cycling events and training is similar. There are a couple of things that stand out to me generally with not knowing exactly where you are...

For one, you mentioned an injury...how long was the recover and did you just go straight from recovery to this training template? If so, it may be too aggressive and you'd be well served to give yourself a few weeks to ramp up. I have an event this coming Saturday for which I've been training for months...it was actually longer than a standard training template would be for such an even largely because I was coming off of an injury and had to take an extra 4 weeks or so to ramp up to the actual training schedule...**** happens.

I would also ask what your nutrition is like. People get gung ho about training for these types of events without realizing that training is different than working out. If you have a large calorie deficit to lose weight, training can be very much a challenge as you simply will be lacking the nutrition and energy to perform optimally for long distance endurance events. Carb fear is also an issue for many...they try to do these types of events while they aren't getting anywhere close to an optimal level of carbohydrate intake.

To boot, people forget that as workouts turn into training bouts and those training bouts get more and more intense...timing and quality of nutrients become that much more important to performance. Are you eating properly before your long runs? Do you eat during your long runs? Are you getting prompt recovery nutrition after your long runs? These things become more and more important as you train.

Lastly, as Capt_Apollo pointed out...training often sucks...it is completely different than just working out. I can tell you right now, as much as I love to ride, I can't wait until this event is over so I can lay off the miles...I'm tired of riding 6 days per week...I'm tired of riding 100 miles + per week...I want my Saturday mornings back to go take my kids to the zoo or just go to the gym or hit the pool for a few laps rather than spending hours riding around my city.

I'm sick and tired of being in the saddle...that said, I look back now on my training with great fondness and have some great memories...I'm proud of where I am now vs where I started. There were so many times along the way that I thought I'd never make it and times when I thought I would give up...but here I am ready to ride on Saturday morning. I think back to February when I just started training....the cold and the wind and the sometimes light snow or freezing rain...taking my training into spring and my first nice long ride wearing shorts and a regular jersey with no hood to keep my face and head warm...to the more recent rides in increasingly hot temperatures.

It's all be an awesome journey and I can't believe that this particular one is almost over...and as sick as I am of it all, I know I'll soon be starting down the path to my next event...my next round of training bouts...that next bit of love and hate. I will give myself a little well deserved rest and then I will become restless and will be right back at it, most likely *****ing and moaning the whole way....

Focus on increasing your distance and don't worry about your speed. Get yourself up to 17k then work on speed. Increasing your distance will boost your confidence.

what breaks you down, mentally? personally i find that i get bored if i were to do loops in my neighborhood. if i need to get distance in, i need to run away from a fixed point, and then run back to it, because if i stop to walk, then i've got to walk for a really long time.

i can run 13 miles no problem, as long as it was an out and back. but run a 1/4 mile track 104 times? no thanks.

Hi!

You've received so much great advice, but the one thing I'll add is that you will have good training days and bad ones. By race time, the bad ones won't matter so much if you did your job of showing up every day to the training plan.

You've got this.