Can I be ready for a half-marathon? (Read 1035 times)

Barb, I'm a relatively new runner, so I remember the excitement of C25K and wanting to jump in, hard. I'm still relatively new to the sport (one year running last week), but my first inclination is the half is too much too soon. I would run a few more 5ks, work on getting your long run built out and your weekly mileage up a bit more, then do a training plan for the half. That probably will push you back until 2009 (April??), but too much too soon can lead to injury and not loving the sport as much. You have the rest of your life to run a half, but only one body. Injury can be the death of you (as can carbs, meat, sleep, or life in general), butmore importantly you're less likely to stick with things unless you build up reasonably and slowly. Just my two cents. Look to other, wiser people (or wise-asses) for thoughts. Chris

Why do it? Why jump into something that may do more harm than good, and turn you away from running? Patience. Running teaches you to be patient, because you get better the more patient you are.

Hi Barb, My opinion is that you have not successfully built enough weekly mileage to do a Half Marathon. You have 6 weeks to train, and to do so properly, and not get hurt, you would have to get to roughly about 25-30 miles per week base miles ( done at a nice easy training pace) to be able to survive it. Having said that, If you want to go and see what you can do, do it, but be prepared to walk alot of it, and possibly cause you some injuries. I am running my first half the same day, and I have been training for it by increasing mileage since April this year. As Scout says, this is a sport of patience, and you must be in order to keep running. I would also add to find a good solid half marathon training program for newer runners ( Such as Hal Higdon Novice) and start there. Find another half that you can reasonably train for, and go for it! Much success in your running! Keep up the good work!

Hi, Barb - I would err on the side of caution. It is SO easy to get overenthusiastic and end up injured. I thought I was being careful, but I think I ramped up too quickly and got achilles tendonitis. It has taken me TWO MONTHS to recover from it, meaning I missed two of the best running months here in Maine. You have plenty of time to run HMs - my running partner is older than you, and her cousins, in their 60s, are placing in their age groups. Just my two cents, based on my experience! Good luck, whatever you decide!

Hi, Barb - I would err on the side of caution. It is SO easy to get overenthusiastic and end up injured. !

Same advice here. You may need to run for more time and more miles before you start the HM training. I ramped up to a Half Marathon after running in a couple of 5 milers and it turned out to be too much for my body to handle. I'm on the sidelines with tendinitis in my hamstring that's going on 6 weeks now. (HM was on 6/22) Just take it slow and enjoy building miles. It is certainly better then sitting on the sidelines waiting to heal.

Another vote for erring on the side of caution... I was in the same boat as you in 2003 when I was 25. I had been running for about a year, doing 5K's. I was running about the same mileage as you are now, a few 3/4 milers during the week, and then a long run on the weekend. I decided to do a 10K in mid-September and a half marathon in mid-November. The 10k felt great, so I began to ramp up my long run miles. I started to get shin splints and knee pain as I ramped up my long run from 5 to 8 miles, but I pushed on (including taking Advil before running wow, it's weird to read my logs from so long ago, I would never do some of this stuff now!). I got up to one 10 mile training run, still only supported by a few 3-4 milers during the week, and then ran the half. I was proud of finishing, but the last three miles were REALLY hard. Then I was so run-down, I got really sick shortly after, and my knees and shins moved over into the area where they forced me to stop. I didn't run again until January, and that was the longest layoff I've ever had, to this day, since I started running. If I could redo it, I would have just built my miles slowly to where they didn't hurt, and then, when I could run a long run comfortably of 10-13 miles, I would find a half to enter. It doesn't seem like a big jump from a 10K to a half marathon, but it really is. Good luck whatever you decide to do!

I'll half-heartedly disagree with some of the above: depending on how you define "ready," sure. You can be ready. You can finish a half marathon. And while you do risk some injury, I don't think it's likely. You'll probably be fine. But the reason I'm only half-hearted in the above is because I see a bigger risk: the risk that you'll just be too undertrained to enjoy the experience, and you'll end up hanging up your running shoes because of it. You'll end up burned out, or too sore, or just plain hate it. Even if you do manage not to get hurt. I've run two marathons on zero training. One of them was great! It's why I run today. It got me going. But the other one, the first one, was miserable. I hated it. And didn't run for years and years and years because of it. Which is something I really regret. If I'd followed good advice and waited until I was ready, I probably would have really benefited. I might not even be so slow today. Anything's possible. (shrug) If you want to run a half, go run it. Good luck. If you want to run for life, and run lots of marathons, and still be running them decades from now ... I'd wait a while.