Looking for Half Marathon Training Advice

first off, if you really read letsrun religiously, you wouldn't be asking for advice here. beware of the trolls

but i'm not a troll, i swear. not today anyway

i think you'd continue to improve by doing the same thing you have been doing, but you could speed up the improvement by adding mileage to your easy run days, and to your warmup/cooldowns on your workout days.

for example, you're doing ~40 mpw. make your 3 easy days all 6-8 miles, making sure that they really are easy and not too fast. add in a warmup and cooldown to your pace runs and workouts if you havent yet. at least 2 miles of warmup, at least 1 mile cooldown.

but again, you dont have too much to fix. continue to be consistent and you'll keep improving for a long time. maybe not quite 1:25 by november, but it's possible off of a 18:37 5k. keep doing some 5ks every few weeks, try to get under 18. if you can get under 18 or even 18:10ish, you'll really crush 1:30, but maybe not 1:25. it takes much longer to improve at a half marathon than it does for a 5k.

Looks pretty good. I would do a longer long run, up to 2 hours. Fitness will come with time, so dont push it too fast on the hard days. It will all come eventually.

Thanks Reed. I misspoke when I said religiously. I search these forums when looking for training advice. I do warmups and cool downs on my pace and speedwork but neglected to mention that.

I've seen a lot of seasoned runners suggest more mileage on their long runs, maybe 15 miles. Should I try to work tha LR up to? I noticed a lot of muscle fatigue around mile 11 last race.

yeah, def. build up your long runs to 2 hours, or 15 miles.

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll work on building my base on the easy runs and working up to a longer run.

I know this thread is fairly old, but I just wanted to thank you guys for your input.

I took the advice you offered, upped my easy days and I have currently worked up to a LR of 14 miles and still progressing toward a longer one. I also added some easy miles to warm up and cool down and I am currently running about 50+ mpw.

I just came off of a 37:35 10K 3 weeks ago, and just ran a tune up half marathon race on Sunday at 1:24:59 - Got it by 1 second.

I got the Philadelphia Half coming up in November and hope to squeek out a sub 1:22.

Thanks for your input guys.

You're crushing it! Keep it up and stay healthy.best of luck. Don't be bummed or make drastic changes if your progress starts to slow;you are improving insanely fast right now.

You are way too heavy for a distance runner. If you want to run fast you will have to lose weight. Like a lot. You lose 20 pounds and you will be amazed how much faster you are. Yes, I know that means losing muscle weight for you, but do you want to run faster? Seriously, at 5'11'' / 185 you are a clydesdale.

JKurtz wrote:

Here's my stats first (29yo, male,185lbs, 5'11, and 8% BF so losing weight isnt too much of an option anymore).

Jon

Haha. Thanks man. I know it's going to slow eventually, just enjoying the ride while it lasts.

I'm down to 180 6% BF, and plan on losing maybe 5 more for November. I know being this heavy is going to limit my ability. But, I'm still progressing and until I have to make a decision between muscle and speed, I'm going to stay right here. No sense losing days at the gym to win an age group award at a local 10k. Just my current thought process...

At some marathons, I've seen "lift and run" competitions. The winners have a balance between strength, speed and endurance. You would probably be very competitive. I'm 5'9 / 133 - needless to say, I wouldn't do too well in the gym.

I just looked this up. Cincinnati has a "Pump and Run", where you bench press your body weight for as many times as you can. They take off 2 minutes for each repetition.

This seems pretty cool.

JKurtz, keep plugging away man, I'm 6'2" 195 and ran a 1:20 HM this year so it is possible for us big boys to be semi competitive at the half marathon distance.

My advice is going to be similar to others, keep trying to gradually up the mileage and I think for a HM getting a long run up to 15 miles is beneifical. Another thing I like to do is finish distance runs strong, meaning your first few miles of the day should be your slowest and your last few should be your fastest. This gets the body used to finishing strong.

Also, I'm running the Philly Half so maybe I'll see you there, congrats on your sub-1:25, chances are you ran that on a harder course than Philly. The Philly Half has a small hill at 6 and then a larger but short hill at 9, its a pretty flat course overall man.

JKurtz1 wrote:

I just looked this up. Cincinnati has a "Pump and Run", where you bench press your body weight for as many times as you can. They take off 2 minutes for each repetition.

This seems pretty cool.

Columbus has a big one in March put on by Arnold Scwarzenegger

Reg, thanks for the encouragement man. Good to know there's even a bigger guy out there running faster. Nice 1:20.

I think the devil himself designed the Staten Island Half. Couldn't find an elevation profile and there's a steep climb somewhere around mile 12. I went 6:20, 6:05, 6:32.

The Philly half seems fast from the profile. I'll probably see you there. If I don't good luck to you man.

That 1:20 was in Ocean City, you talk about a fast course. The Philly RNR Half is a slightly quicker course than the Philly Half but the Philly Half is fast enough.

We'll see what I have left after the NYC marathon but hope to see you there and keep up the good work, your improvements are quite remarkable man!