Some background: 38M, height 1.73m (5'8") weight 74kg (163lbs). Been running since Dec 2019, prior to that no running but did weights and played team sports for most of my life. Did no real structured trainin between Dec 2019 and the lockdown (end of March). Got to about 40mpw and a 20:16 5k PR in a time trial towards the end. Was running quite hard at that time - almost no easy runs. Once in lockdown I lost fitness for a bit then started running easy building up miles.
Last month: build up to 50mpw mostly easy and steady runs with the occasional tempo and long run. Averaging about 6 runs a week. Doing hill sprints or strides during easy runs but no speedwork otherwise.
No significant injuries since starting running, just minor niggles now and then.
Goals:
1. Short term - registered for a half-marathon on Sep 13, will be my first real race. Thinking 1:30 or even 1:25 might be within reach.
2. Longer term - 2:55-3:00 marathon next spring. Not 100% sure if I want to commit to the training, will depend on progress I guess.
I looked into various structured plans (Daniels/Pfitzinger/Hanson) but realised that I cannot commit to a training schedule as I run in late afternoon and want to be able to do social runs or bike rides or just go out on essentially arbitrary days. So almost every week I would have to change the schedule.
This brings me to my current plan:
Run 6-7 days a week @ 50mpw building up to 60mpw towards end of August.
Workout every other day unless I feel I need to take 2 days easy to recover.
Workouts: alternate
a) tempo run @ current HMP minus 5-10% (20 mins nonstop or cruise intervals)
b) long run @ easy pace (maybe with some HMP in the middle)
c) medium-long steady run - 40min-1h @ MP plus 5-10% rest easy
d) cruise intervals @ ~10k pace
e) vo2max intervals @ 3k-5k pace
No speedwork apart from hill sprints & strides on easy days - the track is still shut here and I fear injury running fast intervals on the road.
Questions:
1. Do the above workouts seem reasonable? What proportion should I devote to the different workout types? Doing a bit of everything early on and then focusing on near-HMP workouts closer to the race?
2. Can some of the workouts be done on consecutive days? Maybe could do tempo straight after a medium steady run? As those 2 seem to be the easiest workouts.
3. How long should my long runs be for half marathon training? Assuming 60mpw peak mileage.
4. I've got two virtual 5k races coming up in the next two weeks and I need a pace. I ran 5 x ~2min @ ~3k pace with 2 min easy pace recovery today, with the following paces: 6:17 6:57(??) 6:09 6:06 6:14 min/mile. Felt fine, could have definitely pushed harder if I had to. What's a reasonable 5k pace to aim for? 6:30 seems safe but maybe I could go faster? 6:20?