Need advice/help for half marathon training and target pace

Hey,

First of all congratulations on the weight loss. Unfortunately, if you kept running your 10k speed, you’d only finish the half in 1:49 low, so unless you jogged that 10k, I would think it highly unlikely that you managed to run a 1:45 half. A running calculator gives you a predicted time of 1:54, but I find it’s a bit optimistic and most people go out hard in their first half and struggle towards the end. That being said, your 5k time is in line with your 10k time, which suggests your half should be close to your 10k time too, so in light of that l’d suggest sub 1:55 as your A goal and sub 2 as your B goal.

Best of luck

Thanks!

So you think the 2 months of training till November will not improve my fitness/pace?

I mean that depends on whether you think it’s realistic to hold the speed you did the 10k in for another 10k and a bit more. Only you can know the answer to that.

I would, however, say that most people when training for a half marathon (or any middle to long distance event) run 5-7 days a week and they include two sessions and a long run in their schedule. Some on here will disagree with me, but you’ll never really get anywhere just jogging. To get fast, you have to run fast. I’m not saying that you should now drastically change your training plan now, but for your next race, I’d suggest including them.

Good luck

+ 1 on everything from TheBanaman, especially the congratulations for your amazing progress. Very impressive.

I hope you're especially careful about not making any drastic changes late in the plan, especially given the back issues and doctor's advice. To improve, you have to run, and you can't do that if you get injured. Enjoy your current prep, keep on with the solid effort, and see where it takes you. I think Banaman's suggested goals are realistic, but you could wind up surprising yourself. However this race goes, you can carry your great training momentum forward if you want to build up the workouts for your next race.

TheBanaman wrote:

Some on here will disagree with me, but you’ll never really get anywhere just jogging. To get fast, you have to run fast. I’m not saying that you should now drastically change your training plan now, but for your next race, I’d suggest including them.

Good luck

Agreed. Ultimately you will want to have your weekly hard workout (track, fartlek, tempo etc) and a long run. That's the minimum. Then run easy on other days. Some people do two hard workouts during the week, plus their long run, but given the back issues and such, I'd stick with one during the week to start. For now, given you are relatively new, I'd just do one workout, one long run and the rest of the days at an easy pace.

The goal for now is to be consistent. Shin pain and other stuff (not including the back) is all crap you go through when you are new to running. After you get in the routine of running 5~7 times per week, over time that stuff will go away.. but your body is probably wondering wtf you are doing to it! So, be patient and just try and get on your feet daily and log miles. Consistency is more important than how fast your intervals were on a given day.

Also, not sure i'd base your half marathon goal on a 10k you did in training. I can run hard in training, but I can run much harder in a race. If you really want to know, do a proper 10k road race. Some people have no issues with it, but I personally can't get within several minutes of my 10k PR during a training run. Do that and wear a HR monitor during the race to see if you are really working hard, or just jogging out there. The HR monitor won't lie.

Well.. good luck! Post your weight loss tips as well, or how you did it. That stuff is always interesting. Going into your first 1/2 somewhat naïve is best. Just enjoy it.

Thanks for your answers and thoughts.

Well, my weight loss started when I realized that

1. I didn't feel well

2. my daughter was diagnosed with cancer at age 15 - she is ok now - and I decided my lifestyle isn't right to live long

3. I realized I was just fat

In total I dropped 85lbs. If you think of that...imaging somebody makes you carry 85 lbs day and night.....

I started by simply counting calories. No fancy protein only diet or so. Still, I was and still am watching what I'm eating, try to avoid certain things like fries (or potatoes in general), I don't eat bagels for breakfast but oatmeal or yoghurt with fruits, etc. I drink a lot of water, drink almost no alcohol.

I still eat some chips or some popcorn here and there and I also eat some pizza if I feel I need to. And I think that's the key. Sometimes you have to eat a piece of pizza and if somebody would tell me that is wrong I would just laugh.

I supported my weight loss by some exercise and I chose running. When I started, I couldn't run faster than 15min/mile, sometimes that was too fast. It was very difficult to go outside and run as it was so hard. After a few weeks I started to see progress. I was impressed. I suddenly could run faster, doing daily things got easier, I felt so much better.

At that point I was still overweight but I felt better. As my weight loss & running journey continued the "feeling better" continued too. When I hit the 175 lbs I satisfied but realized that I had to lose more weight to run faster. This is when everything changed. Instead of running to lose weight I suddenly wanted to lose weight to run faster.

I still watch exactly what I'm eating and I try to make healthy choices. I would say I completely changed my diet and whenever I go grocery shopping I look at the nutritions and make sure I avoid sugar (especially added sugar) and fatty food.

Today, I weigh around 159lbs, which isn't perfect for a runner only measuring 5'10". I would guess that my ideal weight for running longer distances is at about 145lbs but my wife would not want me to be that slim. I will likely try to get to 153-155lbs and try to maintain from there.

Losing weight and running are very similar. Both need a lot of willpower. You need to be willing to sacrifice and to go through painful moments to achieve your goals. Always.

flo12345 wrote:

Today, I weigh around 159lbs, which isn't perfect for a runner only measuring 5'10". I would guess that my ideal weight for running longer distances is at about 145lbs but my wife would not want me to be that slim. I will likely try to get to 153-155lbs and try to maintain from there.

Losing weight and running are very similar. Both need a lot of willpower. You need to be willing to sacrifice and to go through painful moments to achieve your goals. Always.

I dunno, 159 is a good number, despite what others may think or tell you. It's to the point where training will be the #1 way to get faster. At 200+lbs, then yes, I'd say weight was a limiter, but now you're in the range where you can run pretty darn fast at that weight & height. So do as you're doing, but no need to make your wife mad by looking ridiculous.

The first few months of running for me were totally miserable. By about six months in, I was feeling better about it, but then started to get random injuries.. shin splits, IT band tightness with knee pain and more. A lot of people go through all that.. your body gets hurt because your legs and such still are building strength. You're running, but your legs can't withstand the beating, so your form changes and things get twisted and out of whack.. it's typical. Even for experienced runners. As you log miles, your body will get stronger and thinks like shin splits, IT band and other problems will be less frequent because the stress is lower.

If you are digging this running thing, just train as you are without stressing the details. Run your first half, then consider getting a coach. Or you can get training plans on FinalSurge for really cheap ($25-30 for a 12 week plan). It's fun seeing the difference between training on your own, and following a proper training plan or having a coach.

+1

The above is good advice. I’m about 5 11 and my weight fluctuates between about 155-160. Compared to most on here I’m only average (4:1x 1500m, 16:0x 5k, 33:5x 10k) and I’m definitely not a distance guy as my times show, but I would rather be lean and strong rather than crazy skinny. I also believe bein strong helps running performance and it’s definitely instrumental in preventing injury. If you find you’re getting all the leg and back injuries, then some core work (I can’t run without a strong core. I was out for a couple of months with an Achilles injury, and when I started back I got lower back pain because my stomach had turned to spaghetti, but it soon went away when my core strength came back), some general all body strength work in the gym and getting yourself a cheap $10 foam roller will help, but that’s just my two cents.

Keep up the good work.

Hi guys,

I wanted to touch base again. I know that most of you are laughing at my pace but I was working hard the last few weeks and wanted to give an update to hopefully give you a better idea and eventually get advise on how to pace my upcoming half marathon on November 10th.

I ran a 10k race on October 5th which I finished in 47min 58sec averaging a pace of 7min 44sec/mile

Today I ran 4x2mile repeats with 3min recovery jogs in between. Considering coming of a - for me - high mileage week (50 miles) I cold run the following splits:

1st 2 mile repeat: 15min 21sec (7:39 & 7:42)

2nd 2 mile repeat: 15min 32sec (7:50 &7:42)

3rd 2 mile repeat: 15min 30sec (7:42 & 7:48)

4th 2 mile repeat: 15min 42sec (7:52 & 7:50)

I ran not at a track but on the road and had to battle the wind (12mph) and the hills (the half marathon is somehow hilly, too - Madison). Including warm up and cool down as well as the recovery jogs I averaged a pace of 8min10sec and a total distance of 10.5 miles. Total elevation gain was 410 ft.

Should I shoot for 1hour 45min or is it too ambitious considering the fact that I could not quite hold my pace during my repeats?

Thanks

Florian

flo12345 wrote:

Should I shoot for 1hour 45min or is it too ambitious considering the fact that I could not quite hold my pace during my repeats?

Thanks

Florian

Go for it.

Once I was in similar pace for 4 x 2miles a couple weeks before the race, and did 1:44.

Hi guys!

I ran the Madison half yesterday and thought I’d share my time: 1h 41min 29sec

The two hills at mile 8 and 12 bit me and caused me to not break 100min.

What would be a good goal time for a spring half?

Thanks

Florian