Question:Why not ? The training runs are not all-out efforts, so you'd expect them to
be slower. In terms of duration, the race and the training run should be about
the same. So in terms of *time*, the race isn't necessarily longer than the
training run.
Answer:
I think the advice to cap your long run at shorter than the goal distance is
given out for marathon training, but not for shorter distances. The logic is
that a training run of 26 miles or more does more harm than good (probably
because it takes so long to recover from such a long training run). The same
logic does not hold for shorter distances, though. A beginner *can* run a
half-marathon off a long run shorter than the race distance, to be sure. But
the "advanced" 1/2 M training plans I've seen generally call for long runs
in the 12-15 mile range. Another way to look at it is time: semi-serious
runners at most sub-marathon distances probably do a bread-and-butter 90-120
minute long run most weeks. If you stay under 2 hours, and don't run hard,
you can pretty much run that every week ad nauseum.
So yeah, go out and run for a couple hours this weekend and next, then
taper.
Your weighted bat analogy isn't appicable in this case. The
weighted bat is not making you stronger. It is just making the
regulation bat *seem* lighter.
There are a few "rules of thumb" for long runs. Long runs should not be
more than 1/3 of your weekly mileage. Long runs shouldn't be done more
than once per week. The last long run before a race shouldn't be closer
than 2 weeks away. For races less than marathon length, begining runners
should run 2 or 3 runs of 66% to 100% of the race distance during the 8
weeks before the event.
Over-distance training (a training run that is longer than your goal
event distance) is OK for events shorter than the half-marathon. But for
beginners, anything longer than half-marathon distance requires too much
recovery time to make it a productive training run. You are also
increasing your chances of getting injured by running too long of a
distance.
You don't have a whole lot of time to train for this event. So I'd
suggest just getting in a "time on your feet" run, no closer than 2 weeks
before the event. That means that you wouldn't run at your half marathon
pace, just run for the length of time that you think it will take you to
complete a half-marathon. Your 22:51 5K suggests that you could run a
half-marathon in about 1:46, which is about an 8:06/mi pace. Of course,
this implies that you've been doing training that is appropriate for the
half-marathon, such as long runs, tempo runs, weekly mileage. But since
you haven't been doing that and your goal is simply to run the distance
without stopping or walking, then you should probably plan on a 2 hour
finish time and just have fun.
For your next race after the half, you might consider following a more
structured plan. A good place to start is with Bob Glover's book "The New
Competitive Runners Handbook."
For a half-marathon, it's a good idea for experienced runners to go
over-distance, because a run of 15-18 miles is not that hard for someone
who's been running for a while. But for a marathon, it's rare to run the full
distance in training, because you get most of the required physiological
benefits out of the first 20 miles or so of the run anyway.
Doesn't work like that. Once you're doing the race, it's a completely
different ballgame regardless. There's a big difference between being
"comfortable" during a 15 mile 7:20 pace training run, and "comfortable"
holding a 6:00 minute per mile pace over a half-marathon.
Once you have the milage, and some reasonably long runs, whether or not you'll
finish the race is no longer the question, it's being able to finish it fast.
For example, I've never run 26.2 in training. The longest I've run is 22, but
there's no question in my mind that I'll be able to finish a marathon. It's
finishing a marathon at a fast pace that is a daunting task.
Not really. If you're going to give an all-out effort, you may as well put on
a bib. A 10 mile training run is not an all out effort. With an all-out effort,
you'll be able to do 13.1 miles, and also do it quite a bit faster than your
training run.
I think you can complete the race running the whole way with the
training you've done. However, you'll probably do better and be more
comfortable if you run 13 miles or so once before the race, provided you
do it 2-3 weeks out from the race and provided you take it easy (don't
race it, just run it).
You probably know that this goes against the grain of most marathon plans.
For my last marathon prep I completed two 22-milers. Both were in about
3:09. They were about 20 minutes shy of my marathon time. Since I was
getting pretty good at recovering from these runs, for my next marathon I
may try to push it to 3:20, however many miles that gets me. For me, that
"on your feet time" seems to be important.
