Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Building up for a halfmarathon with two runs/week?
Have not posted here for a very long time!
I am 10 weeks away from my second halfmarathon and I am thinking about building up for it running only twice a week. I have a very long history with endurance sports, have been a long time MTB marathon racer and road bike racer and I have been a runner for 15 years but I never ran a race longer than 12 km before this year. With running it has never looked good. My leg muscles, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments do not stand much beating, especially from long runs and uneven surfaces. Anything longer than 1:15-1:20 inflicts pretty serious damage and takes several days or even weeks to recover.
My parkrun times suggest that I have to able to finish a HM in about 1:45 but I did my first HM in April with a goal only to finish the race (1:56:xx) without injuries, and it took three weeks to stop feeling beaten. More of that, after this HM I could not run well my parkruns, they got one minute slower. Thus I think that 2 runs/week with my history of recovery after long runs would suffice, one long run 1:30+ with three days to recover and one run 1 hour long, probably with some longer intervals with two days to recover. I also crosstrain three days/week with bodyweight strength training but I would rather avoid any specific leg training on crosstraining days.
At the moment I run three times/week, two short easy runs and a long run with some tempo here and there. Weekly volume 20-30 km/week.
What would you say, yes or no?
PS The goal! The goal is just to finish under 1:55 and stay uninjured.
I am 10 weeks away from my second halfmarathon and I am thinking about building up for it running only twice a week. I have a very long history with endurance sports, have been a long time MTB marathon racer and road bike racer and I have been a runner for 15 years but I never ran a race longer than 12 km before this year. With running it has never looked good. My leg muscles, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments do not stand much beating, especially from long runs and uneven surfaces. Anything longer than 1:15-1:20 inflicts pretty serious damage and takes several days or even weeks to recover.
My parkrun times suggest that I have to able to finish a HM in about 1:45 but I did my first HM in April with a goal only to finish the race (1:56:xx) without injuries, and it took three weeks to stop feeling beaten. More of that, after this HM I could not run well my parkruns, they got one minute slower. Thus I think that 2 runs/week with my history of recovery after long runs would suffice, one long run 1:30+ with three days to recover and one run 1 hour long, probably with some longer intervals with two days to recover. I also crosstrain three days/week with bodyweight strength training but I would rather avoid any specific leg training on crosstraining days.
At the moment I run three times/week, two short easy runs and a long run with some tempo here and there. Weekly volume 20-30 km/week.
What would you say, yes or no?
PS The goal! The goal is just to finish under 1:55 and stay uninjured.
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
It took me four years to run another half (had a foot surgery, then both my parents died in the same year, then I tore my calf...) but I made up for it by running 8 halves in a year. Started the year at 2:12:47 and finished with a best of 2:02:34. By then I was running two days a week plus a spin class (and weights) so it's definitely possible for you to do OK if you cross train.
For the record, I wouldn't avoid leg training entirely. You don't need to do heavy squats or leg press but you should at least do hamstring and glute work to avoid imbalances (and therefore injuries).
Incidentally, I once I upped my running to five days a week I found I actually recovered faster and was able to run faster for longer. (My HM PB is currently 1:57:01). I obviously wasn't as fragile as I thought. The same could hold true for you.