Pace Setting my first half marathon

Hi

 

I have just started training for a half marathon and was looking for guidance on a good target to set myself. I am a fairly fit 19 year old with a little experience running shorter distances. 

 

I know that sub 2 hours is an ambitious target for a first half marathon but my easy pace is around 8:40 and my medium pace is around 8:00. This is the pace I feel comfortable running at. Would it be sensible to maintain this pace and slowly up the mileage, or slow the pace down first?

 

I have started training before but it was ruined by s broken arm two weeks in. Before Friday I hadn't run since last summer. I did a moderate intensity 5k run, where I upped the pace to 7:15 for the last mile and felt strong. Today I did a 7k run in 35:40 and ran the last mile in 7:34.

 

Am I going the right way about my training early on? I feel like I have to be exhausted when I stop my run so I always up the pace in my last mile. Should I be focusing more on slowing the pace down? Or should I continue upping the mileage at the same pace?" I ask because I anticipate that I'll hit a wall at some point where I won't be able to maintain this pace. It's concerning me slightly because an "easy/slightly moderate "pace would project to a finishing time of 1:45-1:50 which seems absurd and out of reach.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated at this early stage

 

Thanks

Tom

Comments

  • 1) I don't think you need to be exhausted when you finish your run.

    2) won't your target depend on when the half marathon is?

  • Hi Tom

    My 17 year old daughter did a 2:07 for her first HM with no base fitness and a 12 week training programme that started with run 10 mins walk 5 run 10 mins as that was all she was capable of - what I am trying to say is that sub 2 hours fro a 19 year old male who has done some running, all be it at short distances, is not an ambitious target at all.

    Find a  5 mile race or local parkrun and run it as fast as you can. Then take that time and crunch it into a training speed calculator. Then following a training plan following those training zones for 12 to 16 weeks. As Literatin says above though don't do all your training runs so you are exhausted when you are finished as that is counterproductive (impacts on next trainnig run and also raises risk of injury).

    Based on the times you have quoted above I would think with the correct mileage under your belt you should be able to hit 1:40 - 1:45 and possibly even faster.

  • Thanks for your advice.

    Thats something I need to work on, staying disciplined so that I don't dramatically up the pace for the final mile or two. I've entered a 10k race for the middle of March, and I'm planning on doing a slow 10k tomorrow, and then alternating between increasing distance and speed on different days in the week. Thanks for the info on your daughter, its very helpful. I'll set my target a bit higher then and try and increase the mileage steadily.

    Thank you
  • I started running again about 6 months ago and run all my runs hard. Have gone from around 8 min miles to around 6:30 to 7:00 min a mile and hoping to do an half in 1:30 or less. Run how you want it's your body, but you can only get faster by running faster in my opinion. I find that running further helps with your running endurance I run about 80 miles a week training for an ultra has well.
  • That's something I'll bear in mind, thanks

  • smoke free lee wrote (see)
    I started running again about 6 months ago and run all my runs hard. Have gone from around 8 min miles to around 6:30 to 7:00 min a mile and hoping to do an half in 1:30 or less. Run how you want it's your body, but you can only get faster by running faster in my opinion. I find that running further helps with your running endurance I run about 80 miles a week training for an ultra has well.

    With respect, I run a bit slower than you for most of my runs, with lower overall mileage, and my HM time is a lot quicker.  If you really are running 80mpw averaging quicker than 7m/m I'm surprised you haven't broken down by now... or run a much quicker HM.  I'd suggest you slow down most of your running considerably and save the quicker paces for quality sessions.

  • I don't know if I can run faster than that, have not had a race yet my half is in April . I probably am making all the newbie mistakes of running all my runs to fast. And my miles are usually split with a 5 mile run to work and a undualating 12 after work. My times are below 7 avg helped a little by the downhills. My long run last Saturday was 15:36 miles 1hr46:15sec 6:55 avg. I have been running consistently for a couple of months, building endurance and the speed. I do try to slow down but find it hard to do, if I run with other people I can run at there pace, but on my own I run to fast.
  • Lee, by my reckoning you've already done a sub 1.30 half during that 15 miler. You should be nearer 1.25 on that training run.
  • Most of my long runs are about that pace and I've done a much quicker half - slow it down!



    Realistically if you can do training like that you should be looking at a sub 80 half.
  • Thanks guys, I would like to run a lot quicker half and have 6 weeks to go. Who knows what will happen .
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