Originally Posted By Elderp I signed up for the DL half marathon. Mostly I did it as a goal because I know with the money on the line I will actually train. I need a good training schedule and I know there are some out there who run/walk quite regularly. Right now I do 5k races every month and my time is 40 min. My goal is to beat the bus at the DL half marathon (have to finish in under 3:30). Any suggestions on training and by when should I start trying 10ks.
Originally Posted By bloona Good luck for this, I have only ever managed to do 5km once, that was for my sponsored race earlier this year, I did it in 31 mins, but have no idea how, I think a lot of it was the fact I was determined to keep up with my friend...lol. I do 2 miles twice a week now, in 20 mins (on a treadmill though). Let us know how you get on, sorry I cant help with your training, I got a training plan from the website where I had booked to do the sponsored race on, do they have similar on the one you are doing I wonder?
Originally Posted By peeaanuut Elderp, what is your training schedule now? How often and how far? That would help in getting a starting point to a schedule.
Originally Posted By Elderp I go around the lake where I live about 3 days a week. So 3 miles/3days a week. It takes me about 40 min right now to do the walk. I think I am going to need to get a treadmill though because it is getting cold here and I am not going to be going out much.
Originally Posted By LVBelle I don't have any advice but I think that's awesome! My dad did the Las Vegas half marathon this weekend and it was amazing to watch everyone come across the finish line! It made me feel SO lazy! Way to go for getting out there!
Originally Posted By mrichmondj I love the treadmill! It's a good way to set some structured goals for yourself and also monitor your pace in a fairly strict manner. With the treadmill, you set the pace and go. You can't slow down unless you purposely hit the button to do so. I set new goals for myself every week and ramp up the speed/distance on the treadmill accordingly to achieve those goals. I find it a lot more rewarding than running outdoors because I can watch the display tell me how much faster or farther I am running each week and I know I am making progress.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut the treadmill is also good because you dont get heat exhaustion. What you might want to do is 1 of those 3 days try going around twice. You will find your stamina will increase and your 3 mile time will increase. When you can do 6 miles at your current 3 mile pace than increase the distance again. Also try doing one extra day, not as long as the others. A light day of say 1 mile or so, but push the pace.
Originally Posted By dltraveler I just finished my second Marathon yesterday. There are many different approaches to training. Most agree that you do one "long run" each week, and do shorter runs on the other days. The shorter runs are for conditioning, just putting in milage. You could work on running hills, doing intervals, or just a simple run of a shorter distance than your long day. The long run is the one that builds you up to the desired race distance. You don't want to build up the long day milage too fast, as you could injure yourself. Since you already can do three miles, you might want to increase your long-run milage by one mile each week. As you get into bigger numbers, you could jump up two miles in a week because the relative increase isn't as much. As your long-day milage increases, so does the distance/difficulty of your short days, just in smaller increments. There's a book that I've found quite useful, "The non-runner's marathon trainer" by Whitsett, Dolgner, and Kole. It's distance running for people who wouldn't consider themselves runners (like myself). While it does focus on the marathon distance, the principles still apply, and you could just follow their plan up to the half-marathon distance. If you don't want to buy a book, there's plenty of training programs online. Don't worry that many books and sites seem to expect you to be faster than you are (as in my case). Just do the distances at whatever speed you can, and be happy with your achievements. Good luck with your training and the race!
Originally Posted By mrichmondj In general, if you are trying to achieve fitness goals, I recommend a 5 day a week workout routine. If you discipline yourself to go to 5 days a week, I think you will really start to see your fitness level increase dramatically. It's a challenge sometimes to fit it into the schedule, but I find it a really worthwhile use of time.
Originally Posted By dltraveler While mrichmondj is right about 5 days a week, don't let it stop you if you can't fit in the days. I did my first marathon by training only three days a week. I was slow (5h45m), but I did it. If I was told I HAD to train 5 days a week, I likely would have walked away and never even tried. More training = better results, but anything is better than nothing.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut I also recommend a journal. There are specific runners journals you can buy but they really do help out. Put down where you went, how far you went, time if you keep it, how you felt after the run (do your legs hurt more? are the new shoes ok? etc). It helps you go back. Also dont feel bad if some days you just dont feel like doing your full distance. Sometimes thats just the way it is and you need to do a relaxing/slower/shorter day. As long as you get out there that is the main goal. Also, something that really helped me when I was running cross country was speed workouts. Done on a track you set up a routine that will help increase your speed, stamina...etc. Somthing like 1/4 lap you spring, than walk the rest, than the next lap you sprint 1/2 the lap than walk, than you sprint 3/4 of the lap than you walk. Than you go the other way around. Or you run a whole lap and walk a whole lap. Just mix it up but they really do help out your stamina.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I'm not a runner, but my husband is. I know that his workout program changes daily. Sometimes it's distance, sometimes it's short sprints. He has a book that is really good that has a great program. I can't remember the name right now. I'll check with him tonight.
