Running Help

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kym38
kym38 Posts: 48
in Fitness and Exercise
I am training for a Half Marathon in May. Any tips out there to get past the 7,8,9 mile runs? I can do 6 no problem, but 7 kicked my butt yesterday!
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  • GrayJohn
    GrayJohn Posts: 74
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    buy a car ; )
  • SWgal
    SWgal Posts: 62
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    Hey! First congrats on your half marathon training, I too am training for one at the end of May...

    What is helping me is going to www.mapmyrun.com and maping out half my distance, then the distance is broken up in half and feels more doable! Once I make it to that half way mark, I know I get to turn around and run home! I also load my ipod up with new music and run slow...you should always run your long run at least 1:30 minutes slower than your standard pace.

    Good luck!
  • Colfiii
    Colfiii Posts: 124 Member
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    :)))))))) ... I thought about that some time ago when started running
  • Aninha_PP
    Aninha_PP Posts: 32
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    I am training for a Half Marathon in May. Any tips out there to get past the 7,8,9 mile runs? I can do 6 no problem, but 7 kicked my butt yesterday!


    The best thing to do is adding only 10% of mileage per week. Otherwise you will cause muscle stress or even fractures. And really doesn't matter time, since you have first to built endurance...

    PS - CONGRATULATIONS FOR DOING THAT! I should do it too!
  • Phatdaddymike
    Phatdaddymike Posts: 74
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    slow your pace by a minute or more per mile...walk if and when you need to best of luck!!
  • JMun
    JMun Posts: 409
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    Hey! First congrats on your half marathon training, I too am training for one at the end of May...

    What is helping me is going to www.mapmyrun.com and maping out half my distance, then the distance is broken up in half and feels more doable! Once I make it to that half way mark, I know I get to turn around and run home! I also load my ipod up with new music and run slow...you should always run your long run at least 1:30 minutes slower than your standard pace.

    Good luck!

    thanks for the pace tip!

    I'm training for my first half marathon in June. I use imapmyrun on my iphone! Yesterday I had my hubby drop me off 11km from home and told him not to rescue me and I ran home. During the week I do timed intervals focused on pace.
  • liscar
    liscar Posts: 311 Member
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    you set a weekly goal of increasing your distance no more than 10%. One of your runs a week should be short but have sprint intervals in it. jog for 1min. sprint for 30 seconds and repeat several times.

    Try adding some walking into your long run so that you get the distance but not run the whole thing at first, trick your mind so to speak. We don't have to add mile 7 right away --- try your usual six, take a short walk break and then just 1/4 mile more and so on.
  • RatherBeInTheShire
    RatherBeInTheShire Posts: 561 Member
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    Also.. a lot of it is mental.. You have to push through that mental barrier. I'm up to 12 mile runs. It doesn't happen over night.

    Good luck! I'm doing a half in May too!
  • sarahliftsUP
    sarahliftsUP Posts: 752 Member
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    I am training for a Half Marathon in May. Any tips out there to get past the 7,8,9 mile runs? I can do 6 no problem, but 7 kicked my butt yesterday!

    Awesome for you! I haven't run anymore than 5k but I do know that having good music definitely helps me push through when I feel like stopping.
  • sheetsofheaven
    sheetsofheaven Posts: 57 Member
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    Congratulations, I admire all you runners. I just started "trying" to run and am finding it very difficult to breath! Any tips for beginners?
  • sheetsofheaven
    sheetsofheaven Posts: 57 Member
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    buy a car ; )
    Funny!
  • Janis01
    Janis01 Posts: 1
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    Great goal! I ran my first 1/2 marathon fall of 2009 and I loved it! I found the six mile mark to be a tough one to break too. I think the last post was right on, add only half a mile a week or so. I also found it helpful to pick a distance and complete it, even if I had to alternate walking and jogging, eventually I didn't need to walk at all. Rest days, proper hydration, and positive attitude are essential too. Don't beat yourself up if you dont hit your running goals everytime, it will come, listen to your body. Good luck and enjoy!
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
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    Yup... a lot of it is mental. Try this... when you do your long run, tack some walking onto the end. Walking out the last couple of miles sometimes helps put it into perspective. You'll get to thinking "OMG, I coulda run that?" and You'll visualize yourself crossing that line a lot easier.

    The 10% rule is solid as well. Never add more than 10% per week or you'll risk injury.

    Also are you taking some form of nutrition on your runs? A beginner mistake is to not take any water/gatorade/Gu/Chomps etc and you eventually crash and don't hit your distance. Basically what do you do when your fuel tank reads empty? I usually take a small snack with me on training runs longer than an hour. For training, I'll bring a granola bar or two and have them every 4 miles. I also train with a camelback which holds 2 liters of fluids. Normally i will it with water, but for anything over 10 miles Gatorade is a solid choice.

    A good guideline is fluids every 20 minutes to prevent dehydration.
  • SWgal
    SWgal Posts: 62
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    !
  • SWgal
    SWgal Posts: 62
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    Congratulations, I admire all you runners. I just started "trying" to run and am finding it very difficult to breath! Any tips for beginners?

    Yes! Two years ago I was the same way...could barely run without feeling awful!

    What helped me is starting with a walk/run training plan. There are lots of them out there, but I stared out by walking two minutes and running/jogging for one minute and each week I would reduce my walking time and increase my running/jogging time until I could run for a full 30 minutes straight. This allowed me to gradually get used to running, and built confidence...keep up your hard work!
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
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    I see you are from North Dakota? Which Half are you preparing for? I'm from Winnipeg and have a couple of half's coming up in May.
  • Jbli
    Jbli Posts: 11 Member
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    I was just bit by the run bug myself! First 1/2 for me was in Vegas this past December. Knowing I was going there was motivation alone, nut training in the beginning for me included :
    -walk 1 minute, jog 1 minute, run 1 minute, and sprint 1 minute. If I needed to walk longer or had it in me to sprint longer I went with what my body told me. Sounds like u r up to the 6 mile mark so that is awesome!!!
    -make sure u are hydrated enough prior to ur run as well. Nuun tabs are what I like to use!
    - music, music, and more music
    -so much of it is mind over matter. 3-5 seems the hardest to me, break it down tell yourself, 3 more, 2 more, .40 etc. Self talk. If u send your mind there, ur body will follow!
    -great shoes!
    -good stretching and recovery mix with cross training during the week to get rid of the lactic acid in ur muscles.

    Now I'm ready to run a 1/2 at Lambeau Field in May, another in June and August, and a dirty girl 5K in August (11 circuits involved). I am addicted and never thought I would actually ENJOY running like this.

    Good Luck and believe in yourself!
  • meg_wickett
    meg_wickett Posts: 4
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    Another thing you could consider is trying to hook up with a Running Room, or a store in your area that goes for weekly runs. Often, they do longer runs on Sunday mornings. You will have the benefit of being able to choose which group to hook up with based on distance/speed, and seeing how other people make it through the suffering!

    Maybe you have a friend/colleague/neighbour that's also looking for company on long runs?
  • kym38
    kym38 Posts: 48
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    Thanks everyone!! I fun to have people care about your health & fitness.
  • liscar
    liscar Posts: 311 Member
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    Congratulations, I admire all you runners. I just started "trying" to run and am finding it very difficult to breath! Any tips for beginners?

    invest in a heart rate monitor
    you may have to start out so slow it feels like you are actually walking, but you have to train your heart to beat a little slower so you can breathe easier. BEST thing I ever did for exercising was getting a heart rate monitor. Couch to 5k program is fabulous, but if you are having problems breathing, you are running too fast :) you should be able to sing along to a song ---- that's perfect pace. As you practice that, it gets easier and you get faster :)

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