Running a Half During Marathon Training
hskriver
Posts: 33 Member
I am currently training for a marathon on 4/12 (it will be my second) and some co-workers are creating a team for a local half marathon on 3/15 that I am interested in running. The half falls on a day that I would be running 13 miles anyway, so it works from a miles perspective. However, it would fall in between a 20 and a 22 mile run and is supposed to be a recovery week. I am not sure that I would be able to just "run" the half like a normal long run. I always find that once I get into a race environment that it's hard to hold back and not "race" the event. I'm also not sure it is worth the $70 entry fee if I just run it like a normal long run. So my question - Would it be detrimental to my marathon training if I sandwiched a race in between the two longest runs of my plan?
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I don't have any personal experience in this but I read an article recently (can't remember where but I want to think it was by McMillan) that actually recommended doing a half marathon 3 or 4 weeks before your marathon.
If you're worried about going too hard maybe try to keep it to marathon pace?
That's all the help I can be.0 -
I'm the same way. You gotta ask yourself what's worth more to you. Recovery weeks are pretty important - skip them at your own risk. I'd run it at your easy pace and do the last 25% at MP, or turn it into an interval workout with the first and last 2mi as warmup/cooldown.0
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not every race has to be a peak race.0
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I'm in the same situation. My first Marathon is in May and I'm thinking of a 1/2 in Feb. It will only be my 2nd time running a 1/2 and I'd love to improve my time, but it is to be run at marathon pace which means I'd have a slower time...but the medal is really awesome so I might just do it anyway.
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I do a half 5 weeks out to see where I am. Last time I had to adjust. I moved a 20 miler to the next week and made the half week a cut back week with that half being the only hard day along with a shake out + strides the day before.
I would do 20 / half (14-15 with warm up) / 18 as my long runs for those three weeks
Or 20-14-20 I would think would be fine. But I know I would probably do 18ish or maybe 19 the week after a race because , when I did that 20, it was rough!0 -
Doing a HM 5 to 6 weeks out is what is generally recommended. It's far enough out that you recover from the effort prior to the marathon and it's a great way to gauge your fitness prior to the marathon so you can dial in the pace. 4 weeks out is a little too close for my liking, but it also depends on how much faster your HM pace is compared to your long run pace. Mines a good 2+ minutes per mile faster, so I tend to get a little beat up after a HM at race effort. If there is less difference, like a minute or less, I'd say you are less likely to be detrimentally fatigued after the race and 4 weeks from the marathon would probably be okay.0
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I ran a half two weeks out from a marathon this past October. But then again, my training scheduled called for a 14 x 1 where the mile pace in each of those 14 miles was about 30 seconds faster than marathon pace. But it is also called for a full 5 minute walk (not jog) between each mile to recover.
I opted for the HM at marathon pace, which would have put me in the finish in just shy of two hours. Instead, I got jammed up at the beginning and lost a full two minutes on the first mile and about another minute in the second mile before the roadway widened and the crowd thinned sufficiently to get fully up to pace. I also knew it was serving as a training run, but kept the long-view about what I was doing, so I didn't go out and burn up the last 11 miles just to make up three lost minutes. Finished at 2:01:33 (a PR) and was satisfied with sustained pace once I broke free of the crowd.
Learned a valuable lesson about starting a very popular half marathon without a wave start on a narrow roadway. Felt very, very good at the end and it made the last two weeks of tapering pretty easy.
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Hal Higdon's plans call for a half in the middle of marathon training, so it's pretty commonly accepted.0
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Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I'm going to skip the half. This is only my second marathon, so I'm not quite sure I'm comfortable enough making changes to my plan and I don't want to risk losing that recovery week. I also don't think it's worth a $70 race fee if I do anything less than race it.0
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I'm in the same boat. My second ever marathon is 4 weeks from a half that I'm registered for this coming weekend. It's also my recovery week and I've adjusted my schedule so I have 2 days rest before the half & a rest day and recovery day after the half.
I have NEVER run a race where a PR wasn't my goal and as now that is my intention for this weekend too. Having said that, ultimately I'll go by feel... If the weather is rotten or if during the race I don't feel I have a PR or close to one in me, I'll back off and run it closer to marathon pace or slower.
In your case, I wouldn't fork out the $70 and stick to the training plan. I registered for this one 11 months ago not yet knowing if I was going to attempt another marathon.
Good luck to you!0
