Beginner Half Marathon Training - 5 weeks to go!

I'm a TOTAL beginner! My friend persuaded me to sign up to a half marathon and now I am beginning to panic! It's in 5 weeks time....so far I have run 6miles in 1hr 15min....wel I say run, it's a walk/run affair. So I run 6mins and walk 1min and so on....

I'm planning on a long run this week of 7 miles....I run 3 or 4 times per week...do you think I'm on track to at least complete a half marathon? I'm struggling to run further than 6mins without walking for a while....how can I train to run longer? Or am I asking for miracles?! Many thanks guys! image

Comments

  • How long does 7 miles take?



    Try following the "get you round" plan attached



    http://www.209events.com/file/256.pdf
  • Thanks! That training guide looks great for my level.  

    I'm aiming for 7 miles tomorrow. Currently 6 miles takes me 1hr 10mins.

    Do you think doing interval hill climbs helps raise fitness levels? image

  • To give you an idea and I guess everybody is different. I have been running for 6 months now and started off doing 3km runs. Then went up to 5k a few weeks later followed by a 10k after about 3 months. I ran my first 10k in about an hour and now am down to about 50-52 mins. I did my first 10 mile run a few weeks ago in 1hr 43 mins and that seemed to go on for a long time with averaging 10.2 min miles.

    I want to do a half marathon but feel its still to early for me.

    I am thinking a half marathon in 5 weeks is way too quick and you don't want to injure yourself with the lack of enough training. Hats off to you though mate.

  • Hill sessions help for sure but as you only have 5 weeks left and that would be only one session if your looking at the get you round plan I wouldn't bother.



    Everyone is different. A lot of people on here are quite cautions in their advise as injury is a real danger, also most are strong and regular runners.



    I think there is a big difference between running a solid and confident 1/2 and just getting round one, say as a charit fund raiser.



    What Graham has stated above is good advise but no good to you as you only have 5 weeks.



    If you can't run more than 6 mins without walking slow down.



    If you have to walk periodically in training then you can always do the same in your race, better to take walk breaks all the way through that crash at 9 miles and have to walk the rest.
  • Maz, it sounds like you are running too fast if having to stop every 6 mins. Can you make yourself run slower? 

    You should be able to hold a conversation while running... if you can't, then slow down... training should be easy most of the time... run slower and I guarantee you'll last a lot longer than 6 minutes...

Sign In or Register to comment.