Question for Half Marathoners

Try Hal Higdon Half Marathon novice training!! I used it last year and did Baltimore Half Marathon!!

Ditto Hal Higdon novice.

You run and run and run some more, but seriously Hal Higdon Half Marathon novice training works great for beginners.

Jeff Galloway also has great programs. He uses the run/walk method.

You can run 7 miles? You are in great shape to train for a 1/2...rule of thumb is increase mileage no more than 10% a week...runnersworld has great training schedules based on what you want your finish time to be...

Mix your runs up...one day do shorter (about 3 miles), next day do hills or intervals, next day rest, next day tempo, short, rest and than long run....

If you google for training for 1/2 marathon, you can find training tips and suggestions...

You can run 7 miles? You are in great shape to train for a 1/2...rule of thumb is increase mileage no more than 10% a week...runnersworld has great training schedules based on what you want your finish time to be...

Mix your runs up...one day do shorter (about 3 miles), next day do hills or intervals, next day rest, next day tempo, short, rest and than long run....

If you google for training for 1/2 marathon, you can find training tips and suggestions...

Agree with this. Hal Higdon is good but it should really be common sense and hopefully you shouldn't need to pay for that! If you can do 7, add half a mile a week or so. Don't push too hard too soon but also if you feel you can do something safely, do it! I found that once I was comfortable at around 7/8 miles I was able to ramp up the distances fairly quickly and went from 8 to 9 to 12 in under a month. Maybe not the best advice but I did it and was fine.

I do two runs a week - one short, one long.

The short run is almost always mid-week and is 5k distance.

The long run is usually on Saturday and is not less than 10k and not more than 20k. I try to rotate the long run in a sort of incremental fashion.

Week 1 - 10k
Week 2 - 12.5 k
Week 3 - 15 k
Week 4 - 12.5 k
Week 5 - 15 k
Week 6 - 17.5 k
Week 7 - 15 k
Week 8 - 17.5 k
Week 9 - 20 k
Week 10 - 10 k (start over)

then again, I might just do whatever feels good on that day.

On other days I swim, ride and weight train.

You will definitely be able to run a half. I am not as strict training for a half as I have to be for a full--I just try to do three runs a week, one short (3-4), one medium (4-6), and one long (10-15% more than the week before up to 10 miles, then I just add one mile per week). I have done this a lot, though, so I do have some muscle memory that kicks in. For your first one, try to stick with adding 10% or less per week to the long run and the total mileage. For one run a week, I try to do something different--fast strides, add in a few hills, repeats on a track, upping the tempo of the whole thing, or running at race pace (do this for only a portion of your long run if that's the run you add speedwork to). The general wisdom is to make your long run a slow one, but at some point you need to get used to running as fast as you want to in the race for longer than 4 miles. A half is a great distance--a bit of a challenge but not so hard on the body. Good luck and happy running!

My husband used Hal Higdon. Another option to consider is if you have running stores in your area they might offer training programs (for a fee) for half/full marathons. I did it twice last year and really enjoyed it. They give you a training program, support, and the one I did had group long runs on Saturdays so you had a group to run with and pace leaders. I would highly recommend this method for your first half marathon training. Good luck!

I am training for one as well. We usually do 6-9 miles on Fridays before we started training...now we do 2 miles every morning, and then started at 2 miles on Fridays and went up a half mile every week (only on Fridays)

Lots of good advice already given.

Thank you all! I guess I have been doing some of the suggestions, just didn't know it. I usually run 2 miles 4-5 days a week before going to work and then on the weekends I pull in my long distance runs at 6-7 miles on both days. I will definitely check out the sites suggested.

You have a good base established. Depending on what you are looking for going into the race, I'd suggest building your long run to 14-15 miles. I think that is a great confidence builder on race day.

I've used FIRST. www.furman.edu/first

Check out www.runnersworld.com. You can register for free, then find the "Smartcoach" under the training tab. There, you can build a training plan for whatever distance race you want. I'm currently using it to train for my first 1/2 marathon. It's really cool.

Try Hal Higdon Half Marathon novice training!! I used it last year and did Baltimore Half Marathon!!

Bump!
If you can run 7 miles now, you can train for a half easy. I was running about 6 and I trained for a half in 6 weeks following the last half of the Hal Higdon model. I would consider adding strength training to it though. I injured my leg during the last few weeks. It was fine for running and with Ibuprofen, but walking was killer...so I wish I had been stronger.

There are these threads as well..........
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/429328-anyone-crazy-enough-out-there-to-take-on-a-half-marathon
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/417844-mfp-half-marathon?hl=half+marathon&page=2#posts-6187961
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/444780-any-one-doing-half-marathon?error_user_id=9949627&error_username=zippo32&hl=half+marathon