Forums >General Running>Half Marathon
I am new to running I have run 2 10 km races and one 4.2 km race. I have another 10 km race coming up at the end of October. My question which I hope to get the answer from those who are little more experienced then I am. I've been running for almost 3 months. I run about 20 km a week and I hope to up it to 30 in the coming months. I already have my first half marathon planed for March 21st next year in the Jerusalem Marathon. However I am tempted to run the half marathon in the Tel Aviv Marathon on Febuary 28th Exactly 3 weeks before the Jerusalem race. My original plan was to just run the 10 km in Tel Aviv as part of my training plan. What are you thoughts a Half Marathon wear me out or is it a good idea???
From my experience (just 2 marathons completed, mind you), if your marathon preparation goes well, the half marathon will feel like a breeze, recovery time should be rather short. The hiccup I see is that 3 weeks out you'd probably be looking at doing the highest mileage week / toughest long run of you program. But you can do that one week prior, then have another longish (not as long) run the following week, and leave the last 2 weeks to taper reducing volume significantly. Obviously these are general remarks and it all depends on how marathon-fit you are at the time; the fitter the easier you will fit the HM.
I can give you a perspective based solely on my experience training for and running my first HM earlier this year. I too was a new runner, so my only goal for the race was to complete the distance comfortably and not worry about pushing the pace beyond my fitness level. In preparation I built my weekly mileage from ~ 20 miles per week to 30-35 miles per week (or 35km to 50-60 km per week if I did the math correctly). It took me four months to do that. My longest run in training was just over twelve miles and I was able to complete the HM just a little bit faster than my training runs.
That said, the HM took a lot out of me. I wouldn't have been able to give a similar effort just three weeks later. So if it is important to you to run well in the Jerusalem HM, maybe it would be better to stick to the 10K in the February race.
Whatever you decide, good luck!
Last fall I did a 10K about 3 weeks before my goal half marathon, it was during my peak training week of 40 miles and I nailed the 10K and set a PR by about a minute. I would suggest racing the 10K to see where your fitness is to help better set the pace for your goal half. Good luck!