I wanted to post this thread to get some opinions, thoughts, and suggestions of this plan. But most importantly, to answer the question in the title. Which half should I race? I'm thinking the middle one. There are some great people here that I have learned so much from, and I just want to say thank you. I posted this in another forum, but felt I should put it here too, because this is where I spend most of my time, and you are the ones that know me. I value all of your input more than you realize.
Here's the plan;
September 21st, Hartselle Half, in Hartselle, Alabama, inaugural race that is part of a local town's Depot Days Festival which normally has a 5k. Proceeds will go to local charity. They are working on a website that hasn't launched yet, but they do have a Facebook site, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hartselle-Half-Marathon/537656499589976?ref=stream. This will be a very small race capped at 300 runners, and will be on some county roads through the country, with the start and finish being in town. It will be hilly, but not sure how hilly, people have been asking about the course, but I don't think it's published yet. There will be a lot of my running friends running this one.
October 26th, Life Without Limits Half, http://www.ucprun.com/ , in Florence, Alabama. This race has been going on for several years with benefits going to the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Northwest Alabama. This is a relatively flat course, but has 2 bridge crossings. Each mile marker has a picture of one of the kids. I had planned to run this one last year, but had some medical reasons that prevented it (mentioned below).
November 9th, Huntsville Half, in Huntsville, Alabama, I couldn't find a website, but here's a link. http://www.halfmarathons.net/usa_half_marathons_alabama_huntsville_half_marathon.html. This was my very first Half back in 2011, very well organized, benefits some different charities for veterans. Flat and fast out and back course with a couple of small hills.
December 14th, Rocket City Marathon, Huntsville, Alabama, http://runrocketcity.com/ , this will be the 37th annual race and my first full. I volunteered at this race in 2011. This race is capped at 1500 and runs through the downtown area and includes neighborhoods and a greenway. I basically want to do at least one full, and I'm not getting any younger.
Now for a little background for those that haven't heard this before; I'm 52, been running for almost 5 years, played baseball through school, run track in junior high, living with Crohn's Disease for over 22 years, colon cancer survivor (colon resection surgery was Aug 2012), hernia surgery in Feb 2011, dealt with shin splints, and a calf tear. I've run 4 halves with my best being 1:51:33, quite a few 5k's with PR of 23:36, couple of 10k's and a 15k. I honestly think the half is the distance that I like the most, and hope to remain healthy so I can continue running them. I have a solid base that averages around 28 mpw, with low in the teens, and peaks in the 40's.
I haven't decided on a FM plan yet, I have a few printed out, and will be doing some more research on them. I'm certain that all 3 of the halves will fall within the FM plan somewhere. I plan to use the Ryan Hall 10wk HM plan for the goal half; it will be mixed, altered, adjusted, and tweaked with whichever FM plan that I decide on. I want to do one of the halves as an all out goal race, use the other 2 as training/LR's, and for the full, just finish upright with a tentative loose goal of 4:20, even though the calculators say I should be able to go sub 4. I am secretly seeking out a Half Fanatic status too, and would love to run another half in January and February. So my questions;
Which half should I race?
Does anyone have a similar experience? Would you mind sharing?
Can you recommend a full marathon plan and why?
Thoughts or opinions?
Feel free to ask questions if you need to.
Thank you,
Mitch
Caretaker/Overlook Hotel
I like the middle one too.
Charity = great
Flat = great
Bridges = great
I just like the sound of it all the way around.
Randy
I vote for October 26 and didn't look at anything other than the dates. That gives you sufficient time to run the HM all out as a fitness test, recover, and adjust your training for the marathon based on any fine tuning you might need to do from your analysis of the results in the HM. September 21 would be OK as well. The HM three weeks out should be crossed off your list unless you have the discipline to run it at marathon pace.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Brad, the half in Nov is actually the one recommended by the LRS that sponsors the full, provide pacers, offers a 16 week program. It's 5 weeks out instead of 3 though.
Yeah, I just don't see the point of a half even five weeks out. An all out half takes two weeks to recover from. That puts you only 3 weeks from the marathon. I suppose it's a good check as to your fitness and lets you adjust your pace accordingly but it's far too late to make any tweaks to your training. Conversely, an early HM allows you to gauge your fitness and still have a few weeks to focus intensely on any weaknesses you may identify in the race. If you identify any weaknesses in the later race, all you can do is say, "yep, it's a weakness" and live with it.
My goal race is a marathon on November 10. My "fitness test" race will be on Labor Day weekend. That gives me a chance to run that race truly all out, recover completely, and still have a month or so to make any adjustments needed based on those race results.
Former Bad Ass
I will depend on your goal for the race. Sounds to me like you would like to race this race and therefore I would vote for the October 26 one. I hope zircadia chimes in, as she has done the last two races and could give you an opinion as to the race and/or courses.
Damaris
YAYpril - B-Plus
I third (fourth? fifth?) the October 26 one.
I've kind of re evaluated my fall goals a bit, and wanted to share. Initially I was going to run 3 halves, with the Oct one being the goal race, and to use the others as training runs. Then try to survive a Dec marathon with a 4:10 goal. Since I've been dealing with PF all summer and my mileage is reduced, speed has gone down the tubes along with my endurance to hold my aim paces, I've decided to drop the Sept half. I'm not going to race the Oct half but I plan to do my best under the given circumstances, who knows, I might surprise myself. I was wanting to cut another 3-4 minutes from my half PR of 1:51:33. The Nov half might be too close for an all out effort so close to the Dec full. And now I just hope to make the full in 4:45. So with all that being said, here are my goals for September. Following that is an update on my colon cancer bout from a year ago, and my most recent checkup.
September Goals;
1. Get my mileage back over 100, with 115-120 being better, finished August with 84.
2. Cover the 13.1 distance in training, and then some.
3. Regain a little of my speed and endurance since dealing with PF.
4. Not to have another surgery(see below).
I have been dealing with Crohn's Disease for over 25 years and taking the same meds. My worst symptoms are having bowel restrictions caused by wall thickening, for which I take a lot of stool softeners and laxatives, "to keep me moving". One year ago on August 14th, a tumor was found near one of the restrictions, which ended up being cancer. I had a complete resection of my colon, and was back running in 3 weeks. I was to have a one year colonoscopy as my first checkup.
So the update goes like this; during the colonoscopy, my colon, or large intestine, was completely clean, cancer free for one year, yea. But a new restriction was found in the small intestine, right where it joins the large intestine. All my previous restrictions have been in the large intestine, so I was immediately sent for a CT scan to see what was beyond the restriction. The CT Scan was inconclusive as to whether or not something significant(cancer) was beyond the restriction. I'm being referred back to the surgeon to see if I'm a candidate to have surgery to open the restriction and see what's beyond it. If it were not for the colon cancer a year ago, I would be treated with meds until complications warranted more evasive action. He changed my meds to something more directed at the small intestine instead of the meds I've been taking for 25 years that were focused on my colon. There is greater than a 50% chance I will have/need surgery within the next 5 years, it's just a matter of when. We are pulling the minds together to come up with a treatment plan on how to approach this. The doctor would like to "see" what's in there, but he doesn't have access to the new scopes that are designed to look all the way through the small intestines. There are a couple of facilities here close to us, but don't know if I can be referred there, or even if my insurance will cover. I hope to see the surgeon within a week, then back to the GI doctor for another consult. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, run......
Skirt Runner
Wishing you the best of luck....with your running goals but ESPECIALLY with your health!!!
PRs: 5K- 28:16 (5/5/13) 10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13) 4M- 41:43 (9/7/13) 15K- 1:34:25 (8/17/13) 10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14) HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14) Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)
I started a blog about running :) Check it out if you care to
Good luck with the obstruction and the races!
+1
Keep on keeping on my man!
No advice, but wishing you the best. It's good that you're modifying your original goals to adapt to your current circumstances. Hope for good news re: the restriction and hope you can soon get back to the level you want to be training at.
Wickedly Average
Mitch, I mentioned it on FB and I'll mention it here - I hate that you're dealing with more intestinal issues. I really hope that you can get into a facility that can do what needs to be done to resolve the issue and to make sure that you are clean.
Keep us updated, and know that many are praying for you and wishing you the best.
Tom (formerly known as PhotogTom)
5K - 25:16, 10K - 55:31, 15K - 1:20:55, HM - 1:54:54
Jess runs for bacon
X3!
I also keep getting drawn to Life without limits. You will be able to fit any of those in a full plan I am sure. Being a half fanatic is fun
I resonate the well wishes already mentioned. (And with any luck, maybe it's nothing). But shining the smaller flashlight........Curious how the PF is going?