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My First Half Marathon advice...last 3 weekends coming off injury.

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Scarpozzi

Scarpozzi

Lifer
I started full marathon training June 30 from doing nothing. I am doing a half marathon to avoid the last few corrals.

June 30, I started with slow 3 mile runs and 11 days after starting up ran an 8k.

My distance runs have been the 8k, a few 5+ mile runs, a 6.5mi, 7mi, 8.9 mi run and then I hurt my knee about 3-4 weeks ago doing speed work after the 8.9. Since then I've slowed my pace and done a 7mi, 5.5mi (walked 2.5) = 8, and 2mi last weekend after taking a full week off running, though continued aerobics.

I've run 2, 5ks this week at decent pace, crosstrained, and feel like I'm close to 100% now with my knee. My half marathon is September 20....How would you train?

I'm thinking about hitting an 11 mile run this weekend (1.5 miles flat...4.5 up hill....4.5 down hill....1.5 flat) at an easy 11 minute pace...then taper to 8 miles....then 6 miles before race weekend and skipping aerobics that last Thursday before the race to rest up. Does that sound like a decent plan?
 
Well...the avg "acceptable" WoW increase in mileage should be at most 15%. Starting from nothing to doing an 8K was a bit much. And you'd utilize the first 3ish or so months to basebuild...speedwork shouldn't be done at this point in time. Not much we can change there though.

At this point - the smart thing would be to gradually increase back up to an acceptable level, so an 11 would be off the table as well as that half you want to do. There's a lot of variables at play that's hard to answer here.

If you insist on doing it, stick with your plan that you have, but keep in mind how your body feels. There's no point in destroying your body and ruining your long term plan (marathon) to achieve a meaningless short term goal (half). Assuming it's your first so don't mean it's meaningless, but in the grand scheme of things, this won't be the first or last pains you feel during training. Listen to your body and let it dictate what you need to do.
 
I generally follow the 10% rules. I ran the 8k but walked some because of an upper back strain that just plain hurt with every step.

I don't plan on 'racing' the half marathon but have to submit a half or 10 mile results by October 6. This race is the best option for me to post some time since I'm out of town the week after the race and don't have any others within 300 miles in that time frame without losing a week to train.

If I need to stop or slow down, I will. Whatever I run in the half is going to be a PR because this is my first.

The course I'm thinking of running this weekend will have so much downhill on the second half that I should be able to cruise and rest up for the last few miles of flat finish.
 
PenguinPower said:
What's your 5k race pace?
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Both of the 5ks I ran this week had an average of 9:24 pace, so they were about 30 minutes. I wasn't pushing myself on them... If I had fresh legs, I could probably drop that to 8:24 depending on how flat the run is.

I'm not going to do it before the half marathon, but I plan on running a 5k or 8k race some weekend in October to give me an idea of how far I've come. It's hard for me to mentally push myself when I'm doing a training run because I often go out with a set minimum mileage and tack on extra miles if I feel good enough. That keeps me from pushing my pace beyond what I think I could sustain for that extra distance.
 
Downhill running can be harder on your body, especially if you're susceptible to impact injury as I am. Not sure what the specifics of your knee injury are but just something to watch out for. Hopefully you have proper training shoes!
 
cbrunny said:
Downhill running can be harder on your body, especially if you're susceptible to impact injury as I am. Not sure what the specifics of your knee injury are but just something to watch out for. Hopefully you have proper training shoes!
Click to expand...
I just got some Altra Torin 2.0 shoes this week, but didn't want to wear them on my distance run until I test them on shorter distances first.
I had a late start this morning, but ran 11 miles at a 10:04 avg pace. I drank about 12 oz of water and ate a package of stinger chews between mile 3 and mile 6 (during the climb since the first half of the run was uphill).

I felt good enough after the run to mow my yard (1 hour with a push mower). My arms feel more tired than my legs from pumping them as I ran.
 
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