Anyone training for their first half marathon?

jdt242
jdt242 Posts: 106 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

Is anyone training for their first half marathon like me? I'm planning on running in February and have just started training. How are you managing calories in running days? Any nutrition tips? Get in touch please.

Jessica

Replies

  • Working2BLean
    Working2BLean Posts: 386 Member
    Yes

    I am running two days a week 5-7 miles then once a month I am running 10K after riding 40 miles on my bike. I add in about 1200 calories that day and keep the two rest days after that at 300 over maintenance.

    Normal training days I am at a 300-400 calorie deficit

    I don't want to carry any extra weight.

    My event I am training for is in August. So right now is building my base time. Not trying to kill it.

    Have you looked at Run Planner?

    Google Running specific apps.

    I use a triathlon specific program. That is my gig. Is there a Triathlon/bike shop in your area? Usually lots of helpful people there.

    They will probably ask about your current fitness state. Knee issues. A good shoe fitting is important.

    Good luck!
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited November 2015
    I am, although I haven't registered for a race until June. I started a 12-week plan 7 weeks ago just to see if I could do it (it's got 3-4 running days and 2-3 cross-training days) and just last weekend I ran 14 miles for the first time on my long run. I do a mix of outdoor and treadmill (2% incline) and my program includes sprint interval training, hills, and tempo runs. I never in my life thought I would be able to actually run (I'd been doing 5K a couple times a week on-and-off for a couple years but that was it) and now I feel like I'm actually pretty capable.

    Now that I know I can run the distance I'm going to keep following the plan but upping my mileage by 10% each week (probably to 40 miles per week) and then start upping the intensity of my speedwork.

    I'd like to get myself comfortably under 2 hours as a first goal, as my attempt last weekend was at about 9:30 min/mile. It would be great to get down below a 9:00 min/mile but that does seem like a pretty big challenge to me right now.

    As far as nutrition goes, I'm in maintenance so most of the trouble has honestly been eating enough. I've unintentionally lost a couple pounds in the past three weeks from the increased activity, so I'm trying to go back to accurate logging to make sure I'm eating the right amount to maintain my weight without gaining or losing further.

    I've only done 3-4 runs long enough to need nutrition during the run, and so far I've just had a gel or serving of bloks or gummies around the hour mark. It seems to work fine for me and I don't feel like I'm going to bonk or anything, but I might try adding another 100 calories around the 10-mile mark to see if it'll help get my speed increased on the last couple miles.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    I'm training for a half. no particular race in mind

    I'm using a plan from asics. You put in what you want and develops a plan based on the information you provide. I have an 8k coming up and I hope to be in the 11:00 min range.
    My long runs are 13-12ish.

    Nutrition: i eat a lot of whole grains and try to eat whole foods. I also eat a little heavier on the carbs for glycogen. I usually run fasted.

    I want to run more races but I'm scared when I look at past results. The times are so much faster than mine. my 9.5 took 2 hours. but i remind myself I've only been running since summer. and the truth is while i wouldn't want to be that person...someone has to finish last but at least they finished
  • Benjamin047
    Benjamin047 Posts: 3 Member
    Hi Jessica, I'm not training for my first half but my 8th but I can give a little advice. Try to run 3 times a week or 4 if you are up for it. Two of your runs (during the working week) should be on the shorter side. If you are very new to running start with just 20-30 minutes and increase this week by week. Ideally you should end up doing 30-40 minute runs for the short runs.

    On the weekend you do your long run. This is the most important so do not miss this even if you have a busy week and can't do both of your short runs. With this run you should run it very slowly but aim for endurance. This basically means the weekend before your race you should aim to run 80-90 percent of the race so about 10 to 11 miles. You need to build up to this slowly so start off not worrying about the distance but try to run for an hour. If this feels hard - run slower!! If you are really struggling with running for the full hour walk part of it - maybe for 5 minutes at a time. Eventually you want to be increasing your long run to 1h30 or even 2hrs depending on how fast you run.

    Feel free to add me if you want. Take what I say with a pinch of salt however and look up progams online. I am far from an expert.

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