Training for a half marathon

So this is my first week of my half marathon training. I have ran 8 5ks and I feel like it's time to bump it up a notch. In Oct. I am going to run a 10k. I haven't decided when exactly I will do my half marathon just yet. There are so many to pick from. There's one in Nov. Dec. March. I would love to do one closer to my house, but doing one in Memphis for st. judes childrens hospital seems like it would mean so much more. Memphis is only about 3.5 hours from me. I'm not sure. I haven't decided yet. I just thought it would be great to connect with other people who are training for their first half marathon or who have already ran one. 

=]

My only caveat on doing the Memphis one is that I would consider that a destination race. I don't know that I'd make that my first race at this distance. Do one closer to home and then do that one. You should be half marathon ready easily by December. How long are you going on your long, quality runs?

When traveling for races, you have to take into account travel fatigue, will you be sitting in the car and then running? Will you be staying in a strange hotel and then racing?

Try to do some out of town 5 and 10ks first to see how you react and how it changes your prep.

I'm a relatively new runner as well that has become obsessed with it lol. I'm not great (read fast) but I enjoy running now. My longest run is 7.6 miles and after my 8k race this weekend I plan to try to run 10miles next Saturday.  I plan to run my first half in October since there is one in my home town on that day. I agree with kelrantymus. Run your first one close to home and then travel to do one.  Why not run the October or november one at home and then run the Dec one in Memphis. You can do this.. and a half marathon a month apart is a decent pace for recovery etc (in my novice opinion).

For a running only race, one day per mile raced is a good recovery period.

You don't necessarily have to do a 10k before you do a half. If you can consistenly run 14 or 15 in training, then 13.1 will be very doable.

I've seen training schedules that showed the longest people ran when training for a half is 12 miles and the 13.1 would be their longest run ever which would be done during race conditions.  Are you opposed to this?

Original Post by brian702lose:

I've seen training schedules that showed the longest people ran when training for a half is 12 miles and the 13.1 would be their longest run ever which would be done during race conditions.  Are you opposed to this?

Brian, me personally? No. However, I have found I perform better when I go farther in training than I will during a race. The exeption being bricks. I may not do a full distance during a brick but have done well beyond the distance in each sport before a race.

The half marathon, while daunting at first, is a fairly easy and accessible race distance for many, many people and is fairly easy to train for. It allows for a variety of fitness and performance levels and thusly, a variety of training.

I do, however, strongly advocate not to run more than 30 miles in a week. This increases the risk for injury and strain and you lose the benefit of recovery. Only ultra-marathoners and extreme endurance athletes need to run that far every week.

ETA: I am a triathlete so my training is very different and since I am training for the half Ironman distance, my experience is vastly different from someone who just wants to do the 13.1 run. There are excellent training resources out there and I highly recommend Active.com.

do you have a training program that you are following?  I followed one on nike.com a couple of years ago and was really surprised how easy it was to add mileage and maintain my pace.

best of luck!!

I am following the Hal Higdon program. I'm tweeking it some and going at my own pace, but I am using it as a base. I am running a 10k in Oct. before running the half marathon. You are right, Memphis would be an pretty long ways away. I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas which is about 4 hours away from Memphis. The Fayetteville half is only 40 minutes away. I also have friends I can stay with up there. I'll probably go with the Fayetteville Half. It seems to be the most logical. The most I have ran so far is 4.5 miles. I got up to running 8 miles last year while training for a half, but I had to have surgery and had to stop running for a while. I have a long ways to go, but this is something that I REALLY want to do. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to train for it. I also think it's odd that a lot of programs train you to run only 10 miles before the half. To me, that just doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't know though, I'm no expert. Maybe that's the way it's normally done? 

I never thought of that! Good idea!! =] Thanks!

Original Post by kelrantymus:

My only caveat on doing the Memphis one is that I would consider that a destination race.

I guess this is personal preference.  I would consider Memphis an "any time" marathon  ...  because you can run it any year you want.  NBD.  I doubt it has ever sold out.

Boston, NY, Chicago, Disney, Big Sur, they are destination marathons to me.

Original Post by kelrantymus:

When traveling for races, you have to take into account travel fatigue, will you be sitting in the car and then running? Will you be staying in a strange hotel and then racing?

I think this is overstated.  You usually arrive at least a day if not two ahead of time because you have to go to the expo for packet pick up.  They normally do not allow that on race day.

Staying in a hotel is no big deal. 

So find a HM that sounds interesting to you and go run it.  Have fun.

Original Post by brian702lose:

I've seen training schedules that showed the longest people ran when training for a half is 12 miles and the 13.1 would be their longest run ever which would be done during race conditions.  Are you opposed to this?

Yes.

Original Post by cpa_pfs:

Original Post by kelrantymus:

My only caveat on doing the Memphis one is that I would consider that a destination race.

I guess this is personal preference.  I would consider Memphis an "any time" marathon  ...  because you can run it any year you want.  NBD.  I doubt it has ever sold out.

Boston, NY, Chicago, Disney, Big Sur, they are destination marathons to me.

I judge anything requiring a hotel a destination race. I don't count marathons requiring a qualifier as destination simply because they're big and sold out but because I have to make plans and travel and be sure I have everything, etc.

Sleeping in a hotel may throw some off. I wouldn't dare dream of doing my first Ironman out of state or country and staying in a hotel. But I may just be a pansy about that kind of thing. I just did my first out of country triathlon a few weeks ago. But then again, just running is a little easier. You don't have a bike, multiple pairs of shoes, swim gear, etc., to worry about and it's probably a lot easier to just roll out of bed at the hotel and get your running shoes on and go.

Julie, do what feels right to you. But know that halfs are a dime a dozen and you can run them anytime and any year. So if that race is something you really, really want to do but aren't sure this year, sign up early for next year.

Original Post by kelrantymus:

 

I judge anything requiring a hotel a destination race.

That's a reasonable definition.

As much as I would love to go to memphis and run that half, 4 hours is kind of far for my first half marathon. I think I might feel more comfortable with something closer to home like Fayetteville or Tulsa. Either way, it'll be an adventure! =] Maybe eventually I will branch out to bigger cities and maybe even run a full. Who knows? lol But first I must tackle the half! =] Original Post by cpa_pfs:

Original Post by kelrantymus:

 

I judge anything requiring a hotel a destination race.

That's a reasonable definition.

I've now run two half marathons, neither one close to home. If you really want to run the one in Memphis, DO IT! The thing I realized from my first to my second is pick some place interesting and make it a bigger race. Bigger race means more people cheering, means more motivation! My first Half was in Springfield, MO and a lot of the course was through residential streets. BORING!! My second was in Dallas and it was more scenic and way more fun. When you're out there for 2+ hours the last thing you want is no one cheering and running by old houses!!

Also, I went to school in Fayetteville so I know the area. Don't forget to take into account HILLS! Living in Fort Smith you should be able to train for the hills but don't underestimate them. 

Lastly, don't up your mileage too much from week to week. You've got lots of time to train so don't be afraid to take your time and add a mile a week for your long runs. And for both of my halfs the most I ran was 12 miles. I remember passing the 12 mile marker during my first half and thinking, I've never ran this far before! 

Good Luck with your training and know, you CAN do this!! 

Original Post by cpa_pfs:

Original Post by brian702lose:

I've seen training schedules that showed the longest people ran when training for a half is 12 miles and the 13.1 would be their longest run ever which would be done during race conditions.  Are you opposed to this?

Yes.

Please explain the logic.. Unlesss you are training for a full I see no reason to train 15 miles for a 13.1 mile race unless you are " a competitive runner".  Your first one I really see no logic getting up to 15 miles before running a 13 miler. People always tend to finish strong with the crowds going nuts..

I've seen it done both ways, but think it matters most to the runner and what he/she feels is necessary. I slowly built up to 13 miles and ran 13.2 about 2 weeks before my first ever half. My only reason was mental. I wanted to know I could do it without killing myself before race day.

I've seen people have success training a few miles short of 13.1, a few miles over, and right on the number. There's not one right answer here.

Original Post by brian702lose:

 

Please explain the logic.. Unlesss you are training for a full I see no reason to train 15 miles for a 13.1 mile race unless you are " a competitive runner".  Your first one I really see no logic getting up to 15 miles before running a 13 miler. People always tend to finish strong with the crowds going nuts..

If someone is running a 10K, would you recommend that they not run that far in training?

How about a 5K?

What about 1 mile?

smaller feats maybe... for the hm its a whole different animal to a beginner...

Good points, I think most people who run regularly could go out and run 13 miles, it's not that far honestly, but if you are trying to get a PR, then your training is going to vary. There are several ways you could approach it. I just hit a PR ( 1:36) 1/2 marathon and my training was just very consistent shorter runs (6 ) miles 4 to 5 times a week at a pace slightly faster than what I wanted to get for the race. I think that really helped me out a lot to push harder in training than actual race pace. I never once went out and ran 13 miles ( simply too long and don't usually like running that long a distance because I am shot for a week afterwards ). But just getting in the weekly mileage and pushing fairly hard in those runs allowed me to easily add few miles extra in the race at slightly slower pace. If it was a marathon, doubt this approach would work but for a half not bad.