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Training for a 02/14 Half Marathon

jaimecastellojaimecastello
in General Training Discussions

 Hi everybody from rainy Barcelona!

I've signed-up for a half marathon on February the 14th (yes, that is Saint Valentine's day, so it's romantic recovery dinner with my wife). I guess that I'll do OK with the OS training that I am doing now (I started way back, in October), and just wanted to check with you if you had any suggestions / any past experience for both the training and the pacing parts of the experience.

I'm in the Holiday Run Challenge, so I guess I'll get some extra mileage then, to start on a good basis.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Enjoy the holidays ... see you on the spreadsheet!

Jaime

Comments

  • Dave TalloDave Tallo

    Are you really in Barcelona? Lucky. Got to be one the most beautiful cities in the world.



    There is plenty of time to get lots of half-marathon pace miles in between now and February. If it were me, I'd begin adding these miles to whatever your current long run is now, gradually, to a max of about 90' for the entire session. So, entire set as prescribed in your plan, then additional time as half marathon pace. If you can swing it, try a few 60-75 minutes runs, with all or most at HMP, in early February.

    Continue to build as long as it does not impair your ability to complete workouts later in the week or leads to big fatigue ... it's a long year! 



     

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    What Dave said. From a distance perspective, with your OS intensity, there's no need to run more than 10 miles in the longer runs. Make sure you are getting in all the runs and consider an extra, run at easy pace, great form, with strides, on say Friday.

    Pics please!

    Patrick
  • carls10carls10

    I will jump in here as well.  I am training for a 2/7/10 1/2 marathon.  Thinking of taking Coach P's advice and adding longer run to Fridays  (7-8 miles).  My 1/2 marathon pace is 7:22, thinking of running the Friday runs at 8:00.  Any objections?  I don't really have a goal per say, but would like to come in under 1:30.  I haven't raced a 1/2 marathon in a few years. 

    Thanks for any input! 

  • Dave TalloDave Tallo

    Hi Carly,

    have you worked your paces through the data tool? A 1:30 half would mean running ~6:50 miles in HMP training paces.  Or is 7:22 your marathon pace?    

     

  • Dave TalloDave Tallo

    Hiya Carly,

    Further thought on your proposed Friday run: I'd take down the volume a bit.  Maybe 5mi or 40' at EP with emphasis on high cadence and perfect form, a few strides, and done.  Or, add this as a brick to your Thursday bike if you have the energy, and then take Friday off completely.    

    I think what P proposed is under the umbrella of improving run speed through frequency, but not simultaneous increases to both frequency and volume. Ultimately, you want to maintain the quality of your Saturday bike and Sunday long run, and doing too much on Friday (or across a week) would definitely start to cannibalize the quality of that weekend stuff.  

     

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Dave, great advice....thanks for helping out!
  • jaimecastellojaimecastello
    Thanks a lot everybody!

    Great advice from you all.

    I've had to stop running ... and pretty much everything else due to a flu I caught on a business trip (those airplane viruses!), and I hope I'll be back on my feet in a couple of days.

    Will start adding long runs on Fridays . From my past running experience, and my fitness at this time of the year, I guess 1hr and aprox 12k will be good for me, starting at a slow pace, around 6'/k, and finishing with 1k of tempo at around 5'/k, and going very much by feel (but with the GPS strapped on my wrist) in order not to overload. In my past experience, I can run this long and at this pace without getting too tired, and sustain the effort for the six weeks remaining until the Half Marathon. And also, as I will have to work (teach for 5 hours straight) and travel (a 75' flight, + airport time) some of the Saturdays, I'll take them as off days and do my "weekend" training Sunday - Monday (and reconfigure the week afterwards accordingly).

    Will keep you posted about my training, and I'll appreciate any comments if you see something weird in what I intend to do. An as for the pics ... you don't want to see my face right now, after three days of coughing and nose blowing ... and I promise some pics of my early morning runs in Barcelona. The sunrise at the beach is fantastic (in between those mile repeats in z4).

    Thanks again everybody and happy new year!

    Jaime
  • donnardonnar

    I'm signed up for the New Orleans Half on Feb 28th.  I see that I'm still at just a one hour run through the end of January.  As I am slow this only means 5-6 miles for me,  so wait until Feb to start adding af ew more and just get up to 10 pre race? I've done lots of half's before, just really wted to run this one a bit faster. - which is the point of all this right??

  • jaimecastellojaimecastello
    Hi Donna,

    I've had the same doubts as you do, about really adding more mileage (as I've done in the past when I've run Half Marathons) ... and my take here, following the EN philosophy is that running fast is what's going to make me run faster, so I'll worry about the quality (those two mile, mile and half mile repeats on Wednesday and Sunday, and finishing at a good tempo on Fridays) and the frequency (counting the brick runs on Tuesday and Saturday as proper runs) and see how it works.

    My bet is that frequency (5 runs / week) + quality + weight control (getting back to race weight after christmas) are going to be the key for a fast race. I guess I've got the endurance for the effort (1:30 - 1:40 hopefully for me) with all the training I've been doing (the OS + the compounded training from past years), and I also have the experience of the distance to pace myself, so I guess running a lot of miles will be more of a risk at this stage of the season (injury + drawing "family training credits" from the "bank") that a real need.

    Anyway, we'll see how it works.

    Best regards from an iced-up Madrid.

    Jaime
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