Training for a half-marathon in May and avoiding injury

IceBus

IceBus

IceBus

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Hey all...

I'm a relatively new running (only been trying seriously to get into running since Christmas after I was laid off with stress fractures last year, one new pair of shoes later...) and I'm hoping to do a half marathon on May 2. It'll actually be slightly under, more like 11.5 miles, as you have to run it as a relay not a true half marathon.

I've been running 3x a week, clocking in a couple of miles each run using the Adidas micoach 'learning to run' program. At the minute I'm running around 9:40min miles so figured something just under 2hrs would be around right for 11.5 miles.

My schedule for the next few weeks is 3 days of around 15-23mins and then after that I figure I've got a decent base on which to switch over to a half-marathon training program with them.

That'll be running 5x a week with a long run once a week. Does that sound about right?

I don't want to over-train and get an injury, but I also don't want to speed things up too early so figured the 4 week 'learn to run' program would be a good way to break me in before going for proper half marathon running training.

Thanks a lot for any advice!
 
I think 5x a week will be a bit too much. I'd do 4 runs max with the longer one at the weekend when you've got a bit more time. That way you'll have plenty of recovery time.

Essentially, you need to be able to run 10K easily at a sensible pace. That was the first big hurdle for me. If you can do that, then 15K isn't much harder and 20K isn't much harder again.
 
Jonny69 said:
I think 5x a week will be a bit too much. I'd do 4 runs max with the longer one at the weekend when you've got a bit more time. That way you'll have plenty of recovery time.

Essentially, you need to be able to run 10K easily at a sensible pace. That was the first big hurdle for me. If you can do that, then 15K isn't much harder and 20K isn't much harder again.
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What do you reckon would be a reasonable pace for a 10k to show I'm ready for a half? I'll try doing one in a few weeks on a Saturday (currently running Mon-Wed-Fri).
 
Sorry, wasn't clear what I meant by 'sensible pace'. It's not so much how fast you can run a 10k in, it's more to do with controlling your pace to a sensible level so that you can keep going across the distance.

So for example, you can put in a good time (for you) on a 10K, but you'll collapse as you go over the line. If you keep your pace down so you don't burn myself out, you can keep running for 15+km and keep going all day at that pace. It's all about recognising what that pace is.

Then you can progressively increase the distance.

It's quite difficult to keep your pace down though :D
 
Jonny69 said:
It's quite difficult to keep your pace down though :D
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That has been my problem training for a half marathon. I can run a mile in 7 minutes, but it burns me out far too quickly. I have been struggling to get my pace down as I would always feel like I was going painfully slow. But last time I went out I averaged a 8:20 mile and managed 6.6 miles. I felt like I could have gone much further, but had to stop myself before I ended up injuring myself.

It felt great getting to a stage where my lungs and heart were keeping up and could keep going. :)
 
What I'm saying is I'll have done 4-6 weeks of 3x a week and then I'd start ramping it up to 5x a week - or 4x a week if you guys reckon that's too much.
 
I think 5x would be too much. It just seems like a lot of extra impact on your legs which you would see minimal benefit from. By all means throw in a cardio session on a rower or something but keep it low impact.
 
As a rough guess you need to get up to 5-6 miles in training as a minimum and the same times you will be doing the race in min/mile.

Going from x3 to x5 is too much you should be increasing weekly mileage by 5 to 10% per week.

On race day the runs are usually a lot easier. In training you need to ache and feel tired, but not in pain. Keep running and mix it with biking and when you've been doing it long enough > 2yrs you will be able to read your body better and avoid injuries. Just be sensible and don't give up. Running is a long term thing not a fad.

Oh don't forget get lot and lots of sleep its very important.
 
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As people have mentioned above really, don't stress about the miles per week, am I doing enough etc aim for the 3x a week and then stick to TIMES not MILES ;)
Run 1 : 30mins
Run 2 : 45mins
Run 3 : 1:30mins

Or whatever you like, hit these and then build on them, adding time each week.
People always worry they are not going fast enough, but they idea is to go the distance to start with and then build from that. My 2m speed is not the same as my 20m speed :)
 
I run 12 minute miles and I don't care what anyone thinks :D

I know I'm slow, but that's the pace that works for me - any faster and I get knackered much faster. That said, for now I am working on distance. I am confident that once I have more distance under my belt, I can look at my speed.
 
I agree with the others, 5x is far too much.

I'm nearing the end of my training for a marathon in April and I only run 4 times a week. But was running 3 when I started.

Just remember to take it easy, you're not training for speed, you're training for endurance. Also, remember to leave 3 weeks for tapering off.
 
Doonhamer said:
I think 5x would be too much. It just seems like a lot of extra impact on your legs which you would see minimal benefit from. By all means throw in a cardio session on a rower or something but keep it low impact.
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What he said... I could run 3 miles no probs (injury wise) but I decided to try a 5 mile run one Sunday and I picked up a knee injury in the last mile somehow. I didn't twist anything, I just over worked the knee due to 5 miles road running (not good for your legs)

That set me back about 2 months before I could run again without any knee pain and I won't be doing that again in one go, I will build up to it.
 
Richie said:
I just over worked the knee due to 5 miles road running (not good for your legs)
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hmmmm - not sure of your logic there really...in training i can run 23 miles on the road with no ill effect on my legs, and of course the marathon is 26.2 and it's on road too

sounds like you had the wrong shoes to me
 
Yeah but the diff is, you didnt get up and run 23 miles after no training at all. I ran 5 miles after a few runs. Perhaps the shoes might be a bit of the problem but not all of it....
 
Cheers guys, sounds like four times a week is the way forward. I'll work on upping my running time and then switch up training to run for longer and longer. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
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