Question:
I would like to run a half marathon
, (my first), at the end of Sept.
I ran 2 5K races last summer, both
times were exactly the same, 25.23
min. I was happy with the time because
I thought I would not finish under
30 min.. I started to run for the
first time about 3 months prior
to the 5K races. I was in touch
with someone knowledgeable who helped
me with the 5k's, but I don't have
him to help me this time.
Basically
I run 3-4 miles 5-6 days a week
at about 10 min. miles. (I know,
not too impressive ) I am not real
concerned with having a great time
in the half marathon, although I
don't want to finish last, or even
next to last . I think I would be
happy
if I did 9 min. miles, and finished
without ever walking. How do I train
to achieve this by the end of Sept?
Is this a relialistic goal? Any
input would greatly be appreciated.
I was envious of the half marathoners
when I ran the 5k's, I wanted to
be in the half marathon shirt pick
up line at the end of the race.
Answer:
Sounds to me like you are already
ready for a half marathon. When
I did my first half my goal was
to make it to the finish before
the first full marathoner. I planned
to run the first 6.2 miles and then
walk from there to the finish since
I was barely ready for a 10k at
the time. The only problem was my
IT Band problem made my walking
slower than I'd planned on. I still
finished in 2:34 and was happy with
that because it was right before
the first full marathoner. I won't
be so crazy with my first full marathon
though. I started my 18 week program
tonight.
Currently
you're at 20 miles a week. I'm about
25. Our race time and pace are very
similar, my only difference is my
distances and days vary in intensity
and one of the 'hard' days is a
run longer than the others. Right
now it's 8 miles and by September
I'd like to have run 15 miles and
have a mileage base of say 30-40
miles per week. All being well that
would have me in shape for 9 minute
miles.
Perhaps you
should try something similar, so
instead of 3-4 every run, do a 'hard'
3-4, easy 3, fartlek 3 or speed
work session (if you think you're
ready for that - be careful), easy
2-3/rest, rest/x-train and then
a 'long run' say 5-6 then another
day's rest. If you scale each week
up by no more than 10% in milage
and back off the
milage every 4th week or more often
if you feel you need it then by
late July you should still ave a
good base and a long run approaching
the 1/2 distance.
