Is there any good reason? I feel like running a half would just be a waste of a race.
Is there any good reason? I feel like running a half would just be a waste of a race.
How is it a waste? It could only be a waste if you ran it at marathon pace. With a short 1 week taper and if you actually race it, it will get you mentally prepared to race and mix-it-up in the marathon.
It doesn't have to be a half. The point is to do something mildly challenging to check what sort of shape you're in, see how you can handle the pace, and make sure you haven't lost a total edge for racing.
The problem with it is that many marathoners in the shape of their lives spend their fitness on the half and then bomb in the marathon they are supposedly training for.
IllinoisMaster wrote:
The problem with it is that many marathoners in the shape of their lives spend their fitness on the half and then bomb in the marathon they are supposedly training for.
How do you "spend" your fitness. Seriously, I am respectfully asking what you mean.
1) They run all out in the half, instead of using it as a training run.
2) They can't recover fully for the marathon.
3) They run a marathon time much slower than what they were originally expecting.
IllinoisMaster wrote:
1) They run all out in the half, instead of using it as a training run.
2) They can't recover fully for the marathon.
3) They run a marathon time much slower than what they were originally expecting.
Someone, quick call Ritz, Hall, Geb, Wanjiru, and quite a few of the other elites who don't know any better and do this.
Someone, quick call Ritz, Hall, Geb, Wanjiru, and quite a few of the other elites who don't know any better and do this.[/quote]
Ritz and Webb have been unsuccessful with half marathons during marathon training.
Geb and Wanjiru have been so much better then everyone else that they can cruise a half like its a tempo run.
the dancing cougar wrote:
Is there any good reason? I feel like running a half would just be a waste of a race.
Your question answers itself. If you see no point, don't do it. Physically, it's no problem. Greg Meyer ran a 30k, a 15k a ten mile and prd in the 5k and 10k plus a 4:09 mile in the weeks leading to his 2:09:00. However, if you only have so much in your emotional tank, save it up.
runfastpleasenowsir wrote:
Ritz and Webb have been unsuccessful with half marathons during marathon training.
Haha nice typo.
Anyway, the answer is probably money. Sure, running a 10K or shorter would be less taxing on the body, but you are less likely to win a 10K race than a half marathon race when in marathon shape. You can still be in pretty good half marathon shape when in marathon shape, so assuming you get lots of appearance fees no matter what race you do (10K or half marathon), financially it is smarter to run the half marathon since you might win/place higher, even though it is smarter to run the 10K instead of a half in terms of what is more stressful on the body.
Geb is good enough to WIN half marathons and marathons during his marathon preparation.
A race is better than any training session you can do
ukathleticscoach wrote:
A race is better than any training session you can do
Not necessarily. A long marathon-paced session could arguably be better than a half-marathon race. Specificity matters.
On the other hand, if you are already getting in plenty of MP work, then why not go blast a half.
I've only done a few marathons, so take this for what it is worth. I always found it really difficult to figure out what pace I should be trying for during a marathon. I know what I WANT to run, and given my running history at other distances what I think I should be able to do.
Those two pieces of information didn't help me much though, and I went out too fast the first 3 times I ran a marathon.
For attempt 4 I decided to concentrate much more on what my training was pointing towards pace-wise, rather than what I aspired to do. It worked, it was my fastest one and the only one where I came even close to even pacing.
I haven't found anything that helps better assess how you should attempt to pace a marathon than a long race 3-4 weeks out. The marathon is all about pacing the first half properly, something that is easier said than done, and the half marathon can help you judge that objectively.
As you said he should be doing that anyway - but I would go for the race given the choice between the 2
It sounds like the op is not racing at all - there is no point training without racing
A half is traditional. It doesn't push your marathon training to the edge as in glycogen depletion. You taxing your body, without the being detrimental to your main race efforts.