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Matt Fitzgerald does give some good recommendations for fuel intake. However, he also qualifies it with the fact that there is a limit to how fast you can process calories ( and what the source of calories are). The gel recommendation on one every 45 minutes clocks in at 133 calories per hour...right in the mid-range.

Since I'm training for a full-marathon, I can't really say. My mileage this week is going to be around 70 or so (my highest weekly total so far). However a coworker of mine just finished training for and running an HM this past weekend. His weekly miles were generally up to around 25 miles/week on the end of this last…

Shields up! Trans-warp drive ready and even a tractor beam if you need a little pull at the end! Live long and prosper!

Stranger things have happened!

Just giving this a little thought: Relatively speaking, if your pre-race nutrition is up to snuff, you probably don't really need the extra fuel during the half-marathon. Yes, I know three hours is a long time to be running without supplemental energy, but it is really unlikely that you'll run out of glycogen in the time…

One more thing. From the training you asked about, it looks like you are using Fitzgerald's Level 2 HM plan. I tried to search that out but could only find that you are using the 80/20 plan. So having used Fitzgerald's 80/20 plan for marathons, here is what I can say about his plan for 14 miles two weeks out from the HM:…

Generally speaking, I go for the distance. The 14-miler is really there for two reasons...first, so that you can know that you can make the 13.1 distance. Second, so that your body really isn't surprised by the extra distance under something other than training conditions. I don't know what your experience has been during…

I did two marathons on back-to-back weekends. I raced the first one was doing great until mile 23.5 and then hit the wall...hard. I picked up the pace at mile-20 and separated myself from the little group I had been running with since about mile 16. They never caught up with me after I bonked. Finished with a decent time…

Congratulations! Good to hear you made it through the rough patch relatively unscathed.

A coworker of mine did it two years ago. He said the o'dark thirty starts were really tough (asked me if I knew that they started that early? Yes, I read the website). I haven't done it since Disney is not necessarily high on our list of places to go.

My plan calls for a race both four weeks and two weeks out. At four weeks, the max distance (on a Saturday) is HM distance but at MP. Note that my schedule then calls for a 17 mile run the next day after the race with Monday as the rest day. Then two weeks out it calls for a 10K Saturday race (also at MP), followed by a 16…

Best is to use a track and the stopwatch function on your phone. Although the GPS on many new phones can be quite accurate, different programs can result in completely different results from the same data. This error can be as much as about 5-7% difference. Most people don't run more than one tracking program at a time and…

Welcome! And welcome back to the running world. It was 10K's that got me started years ago (and the longest race that I had run in the 1980's was a 10K). It was also a 10K that got me back to running after 27 years. Now, I'm up to marathons (ran my first one 3 years ago) and enjoy running all distances up to marathon…

It appears the consensus in several books is that 10-14 days won't cause you much loss of conditioning. And it makes sense because a taper is just a variation of cutback in mileage to "recover" from training. Cross-training would be any cardio and resistance training that doesn't re-strain the calf muscle.

Just remember these long runs just the training for being on your feet. It will feel hard as you move up to the next mileage level. That is normal. If you do this long enough, there will be days when you just don't feel like doing the long mileage or it just doesn't feel good. There will be other days when a 20-miler is…

I have a TomTom with the optical (Mio) sensor so this may not be relevant. In the current version, they do not use HR as the basis for calorie calculation. Instead, the HR data is used for training zone but it is MET table data that the watch uses for estimating the calorie expenditure. (They say) this is to prevent…

This is really what I found that works AND a more precise daily measurement of your actual calorie count. I've used the Weight Loss Calculator Spreadsheet maintained by @heybales along with a lot of data I've accumulated. My target daily deficit deficit is 325-350 calories. I eat a relatively steady diet with some…

I think I may have said something like it's not a wine and cheese tasting, it's a race. That's my typical response.

As long as you keep your fitness up during the cruise time, there will likely be no difficulty. However, the air will likely seem "thick" to you at first when at sea level.

@RunRachelleRun , My warmup routine typically starts about 30-minute before race start. On larger races it can be a bit difficult because you have to get to your starting wave /group /corral. But it gradually progresses from a series of slow jogs to a series of 100m strides just before getting into the starting grid.…

From a practical standpoint, running an even split with nothing left in the end is the "optimum." But there is the other component that Fitzgerald is also all about...fueling before the race and fueling during the race. In the end, it is all about energy management. If you burn at too high a rate that exceeds what you have…

@runbabarun. There are lots of factors to consider when one run "goes wrong" or feels unproductive compared to another run of a somewhat shorter distance. We attempt to do things in much the same way each time to minimize the number of variable factors. But sometimes we just don't get it right. And sometimes cumulative…

Variations on a theme. One of the things that happens is the improvement and moving targets as you train. This isn't a bad thing. The way it translates is what seems difficult at the beginning gets easier towards the end. So, let me put this out there for comparison: Resting HR = 47 bpm Max HR = 190 (note I've actually…

For a race as short as 5K or a little longer at 4 miles, I tend not to worry where the heart rate goes. You can run at or near your LTHR over the course of the 5K. Of course, if you go too far into Zone 5 early in the race, you'll eventually have to drop back because you'll consume whatever O2 reserve you have. Checking…

Outstanding!

@ArB729: Closest HM I've run is two weeks apart. But that was in the context of training for a marathon, so the experience is just a little different than if the HM distance is all that you are currently doing. I have run two marathons on back-to-back weekends. From that perspective, here is what I can share. You can…

Ran the Four on the Fourth in Carrboro, NC (about 10 minutes from where I live). This race is part of the Le Tour de Carrboro race series (next race in October is a 10K and the one on Thanksgiving is an 8K race). I was signed up for all three. Normally, I'd be in Hilton Head, SC and would run their 5K race. But not this…

I'll be running a "Four on the Fourth" locally in Carrboro, NC on Monday, July 4th. The dewpoint has been around 71°F all this week so it'll be a challenging race to run.

Wow!

Seriously, a chest infection is nothing to play with. It can go from bad to worse in no time. You're probably looking at a couple of weeks for it to clear up well enough that you can get back out there. Maybe as much as four to six weeks at the longest. Yes, you'll lose some conditioning but it's better to be looking at…