Half marathon 2 weeks before a marathon????

Night Nurse

I know it must be on here somewhere but I cant find any definate advice

I am running Dublin mara 15th oct, have done 4 x 20+ mile runs and a couple of 18s and feel I have done enough LSR

There is a half marathon locally 2 weeks before the marathon and i really want to race it, would it be wise, I guess I want someone to say yes thats fine go ahead it wont affect your marathon time.

I dont really want to do it at marathon pace, I want to race it.

So was going to make yesterday 20 my last long run, a 10 -12 next week then the half the week after any thoughts please??

Night Nurse

Sorry that should be dublin on the 30th half on the 15th What am I like ????????

[Deleted User]

i did a very fast (faster than my goal marathon pace) 20k 1 week before my latest marathon, maybe a bit silly, but it was a lovely day
it gave me the confidence to do slightly faster pace than planned for my marathon and it all worked nicely

UltraCas

My marathon taper starts three weeks before the event and goes, 20, 15, 10 miles, so if you follow that, theen an HM fits perfectly!

If you do want to race it though, rather than just use it as a training run, then maybe cut your last run down to 5 miles instead of 10 to make sure your legs are fully rested.

[Deleted User]

Hi NN

By all means go ahead and run the half, but I wouldn't recommend 'racing' it. The old adage is each mile 'raced' takes a day to recover from before racing again, so it's right on the borderline.

I did exactly what you're planning before FLM this year - ran Reading half two weeks before. I did a great PB (1:23), but at FLM I fell to pieces in the last 8 miles and missed my target time by 15min+, despite having done the appropriate long runs in training. I really feel that Reading took soemthing out of my legs.

Hope that helps!

Night Nurse

Thanks for ther advice I did my half yesterday in 1.42 one of my better times but not a pb just controlled steady pace, so will taper sensibly now and run no further than 6 miles next sunday.