My half marathon thread

[manlymatt83]

03/14/2008:

My sister forwarded me a link to Team In Training Boston. She thought it would be really good for me. I talked to the girl for a few hours and I've decided I'm going to do it.

The race I'll be running is a half marathon in San Diego, California in June. I'm very excited. I'm in shape enough to run about 5-6 miles at once, but anything more than that and it starts to really hurt, so i'll definitely need to train for this. I'M VERY EXCITED.

 

[sash1]

i did a half marathon once.. wasn't fun

good luck

 

[zebano]

Excellent, I always thought it would be really cool to be able to say I ran a marathon. Good luck.

 

[KeithTalent]

Congratulations! I did my first one in February and is was a tonne of fun, my next one is in May.

Good luck and keep us posted!

KT

 

[manlymatt83]

Any fitness experts know how this will help me with my weight loss/being in shape goals? I was 270 pounds, now I'm down to 195, and I eat right, but I still have a little bit of fat around my waste. I'd really like to tone that up. I know dieting helps too, but apparently the coach says he's going to have us running somewhere around 20 miles per week. I assume this should help me lose an inch or two around my midsection, especially if my diet stays strong and solid?

 

[Koing]

Very nice! Be consistent and you will do well.

You wouldn't catch me doing that!

Koing

 

[SWScorch]

Good luck, man! If you ask me, half marathons are the perfect distance. Long enough that you're not going balls to the wall (like in a 5K) but shorter than a full marathon which really just sucks and makes you wonder why it ever seemed like a good idea. Running 20 mpw will probably get you to lose a few more pounds, especially with the longer runs necessary for a half. Ideally, you'd want to work up to 12 miles or so to make sure you're ready but anything in the double digits is probably ok. 5-6 miles right now is a really good starting point and much better than most virgin halfers are. So you got a leg up already! Be sure to let us know how the training and the race go!

 

[Bateluer]

Lots of fun

Good luck.

 

[imported_Irse]

Half marathons are fun. But you will need more than 20 miles per week. Add .5 miles to your long run each week for the next four weeks then try to add 1 mile each week after that. Of course you will go a bit slower. Do some interval training in between too.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Irse
Half marathons are fun. But you will need more than 20 miles per week. Add .5 miles to your long run each week for the next four weeks then try to add 1 mile each week after that. Of course you will go a bit slower. Do some interval training in between too.

Yeah, this is true. I was putting in over 30 just during cross country (running 5 days a week) and I'm not even a distance runner. You wanna get up to at least 1 or 2 10 mile runs before the race so you know what to expect.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm in the same spot mjuszcak. I just ran my first 10K today and it hurt my legs a lot. My breathing was great and my pulse rate stayed on target the whole time, so I'm confident that I'll be up to half marathon distance in a few more months.

On a side note, I'm going to be registering for my first triathlon this week. Cayuga Lake Triathlon in upstate NY, near my birth place. My wife is actually pushing me to compete now, I think she's interested in seeing me compete against others instead of just myself.

 

[dakels]

Nice Megatonic! I tried a mini triathlon like that in northern NJ. I did horribly lol. While at that time I could run a marathon and still have some gas left, decent swimmer (not as good as you'd expect for having a pool in back yard), but I am horrible on a bicycle. My friends would laugh because I could run 30+ miles and not keep up with them doing 10 miles on a bike. Multidiscipline training is essential

 

[Megatomic]

Thanks dakels. Biking and running are my strong suits, and I have been a swimmer my whole life. But where I live I have no place to train for speed, so I'll just have to survive the swim and make up for lost time during the bike and run splits.