[Closed] Half marathon questions

Google "Hal Higdon" he does a number of training schedules for both the half and full marathons. I followed his Novice plan a few years ago and got round in 1:57 and I was not running as far as you currently are when I started the plan.

Both!

Mix it up though. Do longer runs, probably slower than you are currently running.
Also do shorter runs faster, preferably intervals.
Mix in some hill work and all things being equal (and I have never met you!) I would be surprised if you couldn't easily be inside that time.

Thanks both

I am also overweight but there are a lot of hills where I run so that's my excuse for being slow 😉

If you are running 4 or 5 miles 3 or 4 times a week now, you will have no problem completing in that time by March. Just slowly rack up your distance to about 8-10 miles. But you only need to do it once a week when you have more time. On your other runs keep to the 4 or 5 mile distance and watch your times come down. You could get much more complex than that but you don't need to.

I trained a similar amount to you for about 6 months and did the Great North Run in 1hr 45min.

Have fun.

EDIT: What I did was have a route which was exactly 4 miles (including a huge hill as I live at the top of it) and I would just run it once, twice or three times depending on how much time I had. Strangely it wasn't boring as I became focussed on getting my times quicker. By the time the race came around, I was running 12 miles then having lunch and going out and doing another 20 miles on my mountain bike in the afternoon! No chance I could do that now.

That was about my time for the Royal Parks half and I hadn't done a lot of training (once a week for a few miles if that) and nothing beyond 10k before. I ran the first half at a pretty slow pace then was walk/running the rest.

If you can keep up 3-4 times a week and start increasing mileage on the weekends (when you've got more time) you should be well under 2 hours.

build up milage gradually!

Used a Hal Higdon schedule for my first marathon - Snowdon. 3hrs 36mins. Its all in the training and they really do work. Runner world have them i think.

just keep on doing what you're doing and you'll be fine. 2hrs35 is pretty easy and is almost double my best time. 😉

Yep what m_f says (even if his time was quite slow...only joking matey). The only thing I'd change from what he says is to vary your circuits - I have a 10k circuit door to door from home - no matter how I'm feeling when I start it, I can't seem to shorten the time it takes me to run it - something to do with your body getting too used to the same route (but a bit of research is needed on that I guess) - yet, if I ran it at my half-marathon pace, I'd run it in around 6 minutes less!!!! Bizarre - I can't figure it out.

If you pick up a training plan off the interweb, it'll probably start going into detail about intervals, fartleks and all that blah - useful yes but this is your first half-marathon so there's no point in being so ambitious. Each week go out every second day or so and rack up your distance to the point where you're quite used to running 10 miles on a Sunday morning. You have loads of time before March so you'll piss round in less than 2 hours - honest - without killing yourself training.

You should do the above for a three week period, then have a week where you take it easy (say 3 easy pace runs, almost a jog, for 30 - 40 mins).

If you're really brave, on one of your "long" runs a few weeks before the half-marathon, try running the full distance. Don't worry about times when you do this, even if you have to jog the last few miles - that way, when you're doing the race (don't underestimate how you'll feel if you've never run more than 10 miles when it gets to 11 and 12 miles), you can say to yourself, "I've done this".

Best of luck, but as m_f and I are essentially saying, just put the miles in and you'll get faster without it feeling like you're really trying. Up until 1.30 hm times, it ain't really that technical.

Well it was the GNR - you can't run at all for the first half of it due to the mass of people. And the one thing that REALLY u****ed me off about that was you choose an estimated finish time slot on the start grid so I went for the sub-2 hr one (go further back if you are going to run a slower time), yet I found people ahead of me walking. Why the hell are you walking if you entered the start-line at the sub 2hr (or quicker) marker.

I could do my MUCH hillier 12 mile run (three times up a 1.5 mile hill) in 1hr 30min so I reckon I could have easily done the GNR sub 1hr 30 if it wasn't for the crowds when I was fit.

There - I feel better for pointing that out 🙂

Yep, you'll be fine. Mix your training up and keep it fun. Try and get your longest run past 9 or 10 and it'll give you a lot of confidence. That said, my first half was off a longest of 8 and a bit. I'd imagine the 2h35 thing is just when they start taking marshalls down, they wont physically stop you.

Get some miles in and take the watch off for some of em - don't get bogged down with times 🙂

I could have easily done the GNR sub 1hr 30 if it wasn't for the crowds when I was fit

Sounds like me after the Bristol half!!! 😀

The last piece of advice for the OP is TAKE IT EASY for the first 3 or 4 miles - it's easy to let adrenaline get the better of you and get put off by all the eejits running past you like they're doing a 10k - you're in hare and tortoise territory now and as long as you take it easy, you'll be passing them all after 7 miles - and that feels bloody good.

Maybe use a pace runner if there's one there.

Ohh, and have a run on the night before (or if you really daren't) the night before the night before.

Saying that, I went out for an Italian meal and quite a few beers on the night before 🙂 And more beer to celebrate after I had finished.

I find a whole one too much, but I'm sure they got shorter when they were renamed Snickers.