Question:I'm a pretty new runner - I"ve been running seriously for about 3 months,
and I currently do 5.5K (about 3.5 miles) a day, 6 days a week. I have
to confess - I don't run all the way; I walk some of the hills towards the
end. My best time is 32 mins. I'd like to try for a half marathon at the
end of May - about 8 weeks away. Do I have time to build up enough? Or
should I wait until next year? Any advice welcome!
Answer:
I've been running since I was little! I've done a few
marathons and talked some friends into doing some, too! your best bet is
to vary your training a little - do 3 or 4 days of running then take an
easy day - example: 3 miles, 5 miles, 3 miles, off, 3, 6, 4 then off.
..gradually building up to a 9-10 miler on a long day. if you can get
used to running for almost 2 hours you can do a half marathon and lie to
brag about it!! go to your library and check out some running books -
lots of them have easy to follow mileage charts to train with.....
Another build-up for distance is a week cycle: 3 miles, 4 miles, 5
miles ... (thank gosh) break; 3 m, 4 m, 5 m ... break. The next week
you bump it up a mile: 4 m, 5 m, 6 m ... break; 4 m, 5 m, 6 m ...
break; up one the next week (and on and on). If you fall out of
schedule - no problem! Just go back one week (lose a mile) to avoid
injury. After a while you really don't want to lose ground so you make
a special effort to stay on track.
Do a 10K race first. And after the race ask yourself if you are ready to
go a little over twice as far. You should also add some longer runs into
your training...but I can't talk cause 3.5 miles is plenty for me
I am very frank with you: your running "experience" and your training
(5.5km/day and part of them walked) are not sufficient for letting
you run a half mara (21.097 km) with satisfaction (your satisfaction).
I do not know how old you are and what is your previous sport
experience: on the base of what you said in your messagge I would
suggest:
- set the 1/2 mara as a target for 1 year
- in this year you increase length (till reaching 2 hours running
slow) and increase speed (1 hour, 1.5 hour at different speed)
- you can get a detailed training plan with any local sport/running
society
- be carefull with the back: practice stretching and exercise the
dorsal/abdominal muscles
- 4 days a week are sufficient, if you are not training for the
olympiads then there are also other nice things in the life besides
running
My running experience (this decade) and mileage is similar to yours
and I am planning to run a half on May 2nd. That is if I can get my
long run up to 13 miles before then. On Saturday I ran a 10 K and felt
great. So, if I can add two miles a week I'm going for it.
I recommend Jeff Galloway's book on running. It is great.
I don't want to sound pessimistic, but a half marathon in 8 weeks seems a
little ambitious. If your goal is to run the entire race, 8 weeks will
not be enough time to properly prepare. Most people would recommend that
your long run increase only by a small percentage every two or three
weeks.
I would recommend that you gradually build up to the hal marathon
distance. Start with a 5k race in about a month, perhaps move up to a 5
mile race a month after that. If you are sucessful, move on to a 10k or
two in a few months. This will only put you about half way to the half
marathon, but you will probably experience more success and enjoyment.
From this point, you can plan for the half marathon. If your orginial
time frame of 8 weeks was geared to a specific race, you should be in
great condition to run that race next year.
