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Everyone's pb-ing. Does that mean I will too..... <wishing for a good one>
Bunny, this time I don't think it's the lack of distance training that's making my legs feel tired / weak, as it's pretty much from the start. I guess I could take a few days off and find out, but as I've got a race in 2 weeks, I'll be tapering next week anyway. 25 miles last week, not bad going for me
Going to do a nutty Kenyan sesh tonight - and get even wobblier legs!
Good to hear from you. I haven't got round to replying to your email (my apologies for that). MK will be my first 1/2M and to date I have got my mileage up to 8 miles and increasing it 0.5 miles a week at the moment. The only reason why I am doing Cranfield is because of going to the Uni there, I doubt I will be taking this one seriously at all.
karlb - Daventry is nearer for you, but a very small race. Re Cranfield - do you ever not take a race seriously? Wish I did enough not to worry so much before each one!
karlb - Watch that nostalgia, too many memories of your mispent youth might overcome you entirely, especially if the smell of the union bar assails your memory.
I have a very good idea the sort of pacing I want to do, so I hope I won't be far off!
What I really wanted to ask was if anyone had a particular half-marathon training programme they could recommend for me? I have now done 2 x 10K races, 2 x 5K races and am signed up for my first half at the beginning of Sept. I am not running this week, as I am knackered (went to give blood yesterday and was knocked back as my iron levels are too low). So I'm currently up to 10K racing in my training, I'm just not sure how to progress on to half-marathon training - any tips?
Ramble over
I did 12 Kenyan hills last night and am actually a bit embarrassed to say I found it quite comfortable and could have done more, especially after all the big deal I made of it a month ago when I only managed 7. I think it's about time I turned the speed up.
As for training for a half, I think that the most important thing to start with is to increase the length of your long run so that your legs can get used to having to work for longer. I would recommend (and feel free to completely disregard this ;o) ) that when your legs have recovered from your race that you try and do another 10K at whatever speed you like (the most important thing at this stage is to spend time on your feet), and then start adding on one mile or maybe 10 minutes to the length of that run each week. If you're worried about setting a good time for the half then you can think about speedwork a bit nearer the time.
Hope that helps.
Dave
8o)
As for half marathon training schedules, I found that Hal Higdon's intermediate schedule was perfect for me
(http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/inter.htm)
It's less aggressive than the Runner's World schedules, and it let me shave 4mins off my pb, so it's gotta do something right! But, as for all schedules, you've got to adapt them to your personal needs. For me that meant swapping days over, skipping them completely...But I did follow it as a general rule!
Which half are you doing in September?
Dave - I don't care about my time for the half as this is my first one, I just want to be able to complete it, preferably without any walking breaks.
I get bored with 'ordinary' runs, but at least I can still run.
ceal - hope your massage works.
I hope Steaders is ok too - I hope he hasn't given up on running.
I can go on forever about treadmills, if you want advice just ask (sorry to bore everyone else though!). Best rule of thumb though, is you need to spend minimum £1000 to get a decent machine. Then it depends on your preferences - how fast you want to go, how tall you are (stride length), how much space you have. I shall assume you're under 21 stone though!!!
jennyD - I'm not very good at writing reports at the best of times, LOL! And there's now way mine will be funny, sorry! Let's see, the weather was cool and cloudy to start with, but the clouds soon gave way to sun splitting the sky and way too high temps - there were lots of women collapsing in the heat, unfortunately, and many who looked like they were going to be very sunburnt - I hope they had sunscreen on! I started off at a nice slow pace, and tried to make sure I didn't get carried away with the pace of others, or get too bothered by being overtaken (what is about being overtaken that irks so much??) I was doing OK until about 5K, and thought that was the time to move my speed up a wee notch, but I found I had nothing in my legs to speed up with, so I just decided to keep on plodding - I thought it would make me happier to keep running even if slowly, than to have to stop and walk later because I did too much earlier. So I got over that hump and kept on plodding, took a swig or two of my Powerade whenever I felt really tired ( I know I don't need to refuel when running for that length of time, but I get a really dry mouth when running, and don't like drinking water when running). Everything was fine from then on until the last 1K, when I starting wondering why I was doing this darned race in the first place, I'd like to stop now thank you, etc, etc. I literally dragged myself over the last k and looked at my watch for the first time as I crossed the line. Was slightly disappointed about the time, but glad to be done, as it was absolutely roasting by then. The race was won by Lornah Kiplagat, the defending Kenyan champ, who did it in 31m44s.
My main positives after the race have been that my achilles has behaved itself and I managed to run the whole thing with no walking breaks.
Anyone stil awake??? ;-)
Sorry about that:-))
By the way - the reason I didn't look at my watch was that I wasn't aiming for a particular time (!?!?!so why was I so disappointed ?) and knew that if I did watch the time I would not listen to my body, which was how I wanted to tackle this one, in order to enjoy it more that last year's.
Ceal hope you'll be feeling fully fit soon.
Tonight on my way home noticed they'd mowed the grass in one of the local parks and i thought to myself intervals i'll do them tonight, was going to do them tomorrow, but just brought it forward a day. Had planned on doing 8 x 300metres 90 secs recovery.
Set up Garmin to do most of the work.
A nice 20 minute warm up just shy of 2 miles then i began with (HR)
1 - 1:30 (165)
2 - 1:34 (172)
Bit of a slow start put it down to grass being a bit lumpy in places and not done any intervals since last October
3 - 1:23 (175)
4 - 1:22 (177)
So much better according to Garmin 1:22 is 7:23 minute miling. I ike the sound of that
Not quite 7:14 pacing but moving in the right direction
5 - 1:26 (177)
6 - 1:25 (179)
7 - 1:30 (182)
pace slowing a bit HR rising and on the last rep legs felt very wibbly so decided to abandon the 8th. Its only one i know but reckon the last one would have been much slower.
Didn't realise till after run that on the last rep HR reached a max of 186 -a new recordable max, previously 185. No wonder legs felt like jelly.
Finished of with a 20 minute cool down which was where i met the delightful teen.
I said i wouldn't stop. ;O)))
Congrat to Laura - I really admire the not looking at your watch! I have only once or twice run a race to enjoy it, and it does make such a huge difference to how you feel I think. I can relate to the confussion about feeling disappointed to. When I ran a half last Nov, it was for the fun of it, and I REALLY enjoyed it. When I crossed the line in 1:57 I was shocked and left wondering "what if I had gone all out to go fast?". Not sure if that is where your disappointment comes from, but - as other have said - don't be disappointed because 65 minutes is a great time! In the heat as well, you did very well indeed. I was thankful my race was only a 5k on Sunday, I think 10k I would have passed out with the sun.
And I back the advice already given on approaching the half too. Build up your long run. I would go on time rather than distance for now. Far more satisfying! You have some good running to build on - I think you may even surprise yourself!
Yes! Where is Steaders?!