As for myself, I am looking long term as in spring or fall of  2014 to have a serious race plan. After my last 5k this May I am going to be all about base building. I have thought about Running Wizard which is based on Arthur Lydiards principles . I need to research it more but it sounds positive.

 

Anyway that's just what's on my mind - hope you find something that works for you!

This is me too. I plan on running on some longer stuff this fall and early spring ('14) then figure out how to get faster. I know taht I kinda so stuff backwards. I ran a marathon befreo a 5k or a 10k, but long term the way to get faster in my opinion is for me to have a 2 year base with decent mileage and then focus on getting better at the HM before attemtpting another full. I know that 1:45 might not be fast compared to some folks for a half, but that is my current goal. My current PR is 2:19.

I might look at a real plan later. Right now I do some homemade stuff.

Honestly I think most of us need a training plan - at least to start. The more us newer runners run the more we will improve, but without a plan or coach progress will be either slower than it could be because of an overly conservative approach or risk an overuse injury through excess enthusiasm and a rush to get where we want to be too quickly.

I think the best thing to do is find a group or club or coach to mentor you and if that's not feasible, read and study some of the books recommended here and on other running forums. You want to develop good habits early and learn what your body's signals mean. Eventually you would hope to gain an almost intuitive sense of what you need to do for training because of the solid basis you bagan with and be able to apply training principles and make the types of day to day adjustments that Hudson writes about.

Most plans also require that you have an adequate base. Look at the Higdon plans and right in the beginning of each plan and it says that you should have been running "x" miles for "w" weeks or "m" months. They are also generic, not personalized, and far from optimal for many of the runners using them. The knowledge you glean from books and a mentor will help you determine how to modify those plans to make them personalized and more closely optimal for you.

 

Same here.

Kinda like in college, some kids had homegrown that was better than what could be bought

Dave- I need to get faster to catch the middle of the pack

I know this is kind of weird.... But I am a simple girl.  I trained for my first marathon, at 40, by simply upping my running distance every week until I was fairly close to 26.2 miles.  And when I ran in Boston, I did the same thing - simply ran (and it was a nightmare of a winter), increasing my distance each week until I was fairly close to the race distance.

Of course, take it with a grain of sand.  I have never been on a track team, coached, or trained - nothing like that.   Just a runner.  And my advise has always been just to lace up and step out the door.   love.

People on the main forum of RA seem to rave about Running Wizard. I don't post much on the main forums, but I do lurk, and whenever someone asks about plans I always see Running Wizard being touted. I am trying to pick a plan myself for my first half.... even though it is 6 months away.... haha... and am considering doing that when the time comes.

i could be wrong, but I think that RW is about 28 weeks for a goal race. If you are thinking about it, There is a RW group here at RA.

I will probably do a RW plan next year.