Half 6 weeks before full?

dont waste your money run all out, half marathons only take about a day or two of light running to recover from if you have sufficient base mileage, which u do, right?

I agree-run the half hard. Depending on your age, ability, and how your training has been recovery could be anywhere from a couple days to maybe 10 days. Run it hard and you will have a good indication if 3:10 is a reasonable goal (IMO if you're 1:32 or under for the half 3:10 is in the bag). One concession, I wouldn't do another hard workout the week leading up to the half. I would try to get back on your training plan as soon as possible afterwards.

I ran my marathon pr 6 weeks after an easier marathon effort. In looking back on my training log I needed a long easy day 6 weeks out that training cycle and the first marathon (which wasn't planned to be an easy effort but turned out to be due to being a hot day). So the timing of the first marathon was perfect to set up a good effort 6 weeks later.

What about a hard half 4 weeks out? Is it ok to go pretty damn hard? I've got a great base, and before the two other marathons I've done I haven't done a half.

What would be a resonable time for someone to run in a half if they realistically were going for under 2:20? I've done 2:27, but never raced a half hard.

Let it rip and use that half as a real test. No problem at all for recovery with six weeks.

Anecdote time. Four weeks before my first marathon, I had entered a half. My plan was marathon pace for 8 miles and then to drop it down to the pace of my half PR at the time. The thing ended up feeling so easy that I dropped it down to 10k pace, and even then I felt great...I was only ~45s outside of my 5k PR over the last 5k. Ridiculous.

Point is, I regretted not running that thing flat out and getting an honest time, and didn't get another chance to properly run a half for a fcouple years. It was a total waste of money and fitness not to do it right.

Depends on what you have experienced in the past. Personally, when I am training hard for a marathon, 6 weeks before I dont want any other races to distract me, so I just train and train (which maybe why my PR is only 2:18).

21km is a very good pace run for a marathon, so if you can run under 1:30, you have a very good chance to make your goal for the marathon.

Jason

I had the same exact goals 9 years ago, except my half was 7 weeks out. I figured I had plenty of time to hammer it and I did, vowing to break 1:30. I reeled off 6:50 after 6:50 for a perfectly paced 1:29:25 (6:49 avg.)

I then proceeded to completely bomb in the marathon (my second), not having enough quality long runs in the bank or base mileage itself- (I never got up above 60 MPW)

So as long as you've got the base, you should go for broke.

A different approach would be to:

a) use a bit of a taper for the 1/2 to give yourself good feeback on what your taper for the marathon should be.

b) use your day before the 1/2 and the day (morning?) of the 1/2 to rehearse your diet/hydration/washroom considerations for the marathon. In other words, use the opportunity to do a full dress rehearsal.

c) During the 1/2, I would not hammer the whole thing...What if you go out too hard and die....what information does that give you about your Marathon prep??

c) Instead I would run the first 5 K or so of the 1/2 at a relaxed pace, rehearsing the skill of managing your adrenalin levels and making the early part of your run feeling very easy......you need to do that for your Marathon....The pace during this first 5 K will obviously be a bit faster than your Marathon pace, but hold back and keep it similar...

d) After that, assuming you are still feeling very fresh and good, then you should start building the pace and really give yourself a good hard 10 to 12 K. run to finish the 1/2.

This approach should give you a lot of information and confidence in your marathon buildup and pacing.