1:30 half marathon

I would drop the Wednesday workout and replace it with a longer easy run. Maybe 7 or 8 miles. If you keep it the mile repeats should be faster and around your 5k pace.

Also run the Friday workout a little faster than 6:50 pace and try to increase the length up to 40 to 50 minutes.

Good luck getting 1:30!

lasjlasui; wrote:

I would drop the Wednesday workout and replace it with a longer easy run. Maybe 7 or 8 miles. If you keep it the mile repeats should be faster and around your 5k pace.

Also run the Friday workout a little faster than 6:50 pace and try to increase the length up to 40 to 50 minutes.

Good luck getting 1:30!

Ok I will do that then. Two speed workouts in a week is probably not the best idea anyways, atleast for a newbie like me. I will start up the longer wednesday easy pace (8:00/mi) at 7 miles and Friday i will try 30 minutes at 6:40-6:50

Overall you have too many easy days. You're essentially only running worthwhile workouts on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the remaining days seem to just be fillers for you. For instance turn that easy run of 4 miles on Tuesday at 8:00/mi pace into something more like 7:00 pace if you realistically want to run 1:30. You have to run 13.1 miles at under 7:00 minute pace and right now the most you are doing in your training at that pace is about 3 miles. Start doing your runs at around 7:00 minute pace for 5-7 miles per day and you should be fine.

Illinois Hurdler wrote:

Overall you have too many easy days. You're essentially only running worthwhile workouts on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the remaining days seem to just be fillers for you. For instance turn that easy run of 4 miles on Tuesday at 8:00/mi pace into something more like 7:00 pace if you realistically want to run 1:30. You have to run 13.1 miles at under 7:00 minute pace and right now the most you are doing in your training at that pace is about 3 miles. Start doing your runs at around 7:00 minute pace for 5-7 miles per day and you should be fine.

shoot yeah i kind of figured I am doing to many easy days. I basically was doing easy days like that because i was being cautious about increasing my mileage in jumps that nobody would really recommend me to do (17mpw one week to 30mpw this week). I am listening to my body and so far no injuries.

I'll do a faster Tuesday. That makes sense. so the new plan looks like this

Monday: 3mi recovery run

Tuesday: 4mi 7:00/mi

Wednesday: 7mi 8:00/mi

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 30min tempo at 6:40-6:50/mi

Saturday: 90min cycling

Sunday: 10-12mi long run at 8:20/mi, afternoon 90min easy cycling

I'll hold this for a couple weeks, as long as you guys think it looks reasonable to get a 1:30 half, and then I'll increase mileage a bit until the taper

Definitely Do what feels comfortable but don't be afraid to take yourself out of your comfort zone every once in a while. You got a solid plan and you should able to drop the pace of your runs slightly as you get farther into the training cycle. Good luck!

Illinois Hurdler wrote:

Overall you have too many easy days. You're essentially only running worthwhile workouts on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the remaining days seem to just be fillers for you. For instance turn that easy run of 4 miles on Tuesday at 8:00/mi pace into something more like 7:00 pace if you realistically want to run 1:30. You have to run 13.1 miles at under 7:00 minute pace and right now the most you are doing in your training at that pace is about 3 miles. Start doing your runs at around 7:00 minute pace for 5-7 miles per day and you should be fine.

shoot yeah i kind of figured I am doing to many easy days. I basically was doing easy days like that because i was being cautious about increasing my mileage in jumps that nobody would really recommend me to do (17mpw one week to 30mpw this week). I am listening to my body and so far no injuries.

I'll do a faster Tuesday. That makes sense. so the new plan looks like this

Monday: 3mi recovery run

Tuesday: 4mi 7:00/mi

Wednesday: 7mi 8:00/mi

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 30min tempo at 6:40-6:50/mi

Saturday: 90min cycling

Sunday: 10-12mi long run at 8:20/mi, afternoon 90min easy cycling

I'll hold this for a couple weeks, as long as you guys think it looks reasonable to get a 1:30 half, and then I'll increase mileage a bit until the taper[/quote]

I am not sure about a fast Tuesday: that is almost like doing another tempo run, which i do on fridays. How much faster shoud the running be

What kind of workouts do people on here think are indicative of 1:30 marathon shape? In my experience it's pretty hard to do significant miles at half marathon pace in the course of a 40 to 50 mile training week and probably not all that necessary. I recently ran a 1:28 half and would have struggled to run that pace for much longer than 5 or 6 miles in training. Tapering and race day motivation make a big difference.

askerofthings wrote:

What kind of workouts do people on here think are indicative of 1:30 marathon shape? In my experience it's pretty hard to do significant miles at half marathon pace in the course of a 40 to 50 mile training week and probably not all that necessary. I recently ran a 1:28 half and would have struggled to run that pace for much longer than 5 or 6 miles in training. Tapering and race day motivation make a big difference.

Tapering is going to be huge for me since I am skipping a recovery week I had planned next week in order to keep up my training. I am planning on winning this half marathon for my age group, and in order to do that, i have to be hitting sub 8:00/mi pace. thats what I found to be true to get me top 1-2 in my age group after looking at the results from previous years of this race

So you're saying what? to just get my mileage up?

13.1 x 6:53 miles, no rest.

I won't add my two cents, but you're getting warmer. How long have you been racing? Why the need for 90 minutes of cycling? Why is your long run shorter than your goal race distance?

I ran 1:27 off of 40-45 mpw this spring. I read that a common predictor workout was 6 miles at HM pace, but I could never run it much faster than 7:00 pace in training.

I did a weekly 5k pace workout (1000s/miles) at 6:00 pace and a tempo run at HM pace starting with 3 miles and adding a half mile each week until I got to 7 miles.

Agree that race day motivation was a big factor.

Loopy the Lhasa Apso wrote:

13.1 x 6:53 miles, no rest.

keep in mind 1:30 is the goal for me, but under 1:40 for my first half will be ok. I am planning on going out at 7:30/mi pace and increase from there if everything feels good. plus race day anxiety and my super competitive attitude should get me to 7:00/mi pace and below for the race

[quote]my left foot. wrote:

I won't add my two cents, but you're getting warmer. How long have you been racing? Why the need for 90 minutes of cycling? Why is your long run shorter than your goal race distance?

--

I have been road racing for one year now. Well the cycling has been helping aiding recovery, such as cycling easy in the PM after my long runs. I come from a cycling background of pretty high mileage riding (averaged ~210mpw, peaked at 320mpw in June, plenty of 100+mi rides so i have the endurance easily to run a half marathon, my limiting factor is the impact of running and SPEED big time).

I like spinning my legs out on saturday to prepare for a sunday long run, but I can always do a run instead

I am getting my long run up to 15mi two weeks before the half marathon

striving for it wrote:

keep in mind 1:30 is the goal for me, but under 1:40 for my first half will be ok. I am planning on going out at 7:30/mi pace and increase from there if everything feels good. plus race day anxiety and my super competitive attitude should get me to 7:00/mi pace and below for the race

Big difference between those times. If you really want to run 1:30 and you think you're close, do not go out in 7:30. You will be 40 seconds behind pace, and the other runners in your pace will be out in front. A 7:10 first mile should be fine.

127half wrote:

striving for it wrote:

keep in mind 1:30 is the goal for me, but under 1:40 for my first half will be ok. I am planning on going out at 7:30/mi pace and increase from there if everything feels good. plus race day anxiety and my super competitive attitude should get me to 7:00/mi pace and below for the race

Big difference between those times. If you really want to run 1:30 and you think you're close, do not go out in 7:30. You will be 40 seconds behind pace, and the other runners in your pace will be out in front. A 7:10 first mile should be fine.

I really do believe I am close. My endurance is top notch i tell you. this sunday yesterday i did a 10 mile run and EASILY could have done 13-15 miles, I am going for 12-15 this sunday coming up. long runs are no problem

I just am worried about keeping a fast tempo. hence I am going to begin working up to a 50min tempo run 8 days before the race. What should my tuesdays be like? thats what i am not sure with

I have:

Sunday: Long

Monday: Recovery run

Tuesday: ???

Wednesday: A little faster than my long run pace, 20-30 seconds faster

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 30min tempo

Saturday: bike

You should go run a 5K or 10K this weekend. That, not workouts, will be the best predictor of (a) whether you can run 1:30 seven weeks from now, and (b) your optimal HM pace.

I think you should do faster tempos and speedwork to get below 1:30.

Everyone is different, so maybe you have enough talent to bridge the gap on race day. But when I went sub-1:30 for the first time, I was doing 5-mile tempo at 6:35-6:40 pace, 800-1200 intervals at 6:00 pace, plus long runs up to 16 miles at 8 minute pace. I was probably older than you and may have less talent, so your mileage may vary.

I will be surprised if you break 1:35. Highly doubt 1:30.

SFbayRunner wrote:

You should go run a 5K or 10K this weekend. That, not workouts, will be the best predictor of (a) whether you can run 1:30 seven weeks from now, and (b) your optimal HM pace.

This.

You need to get a handle on where you're at in order to judge reasonable training paces and to ballpark your near term half marathon potential. There is a huge spread between "my goal is 1:30" and "I'd be happy to get under 1:40".