Drink up moho's!!
If you are running 10 mile long runs now then that means you will finish the race. Thousands of people finish HMs with just 3 days a week running and a long run of 10 miles.
With 5 weeks left, focus on running for the next 4 weeks and increasing your LR a bit if you can and then do a 1 week taper. You will survive.
Super B****
I really think you'll be fine, especially if you're not planning to race it all-out. I had the longest taper ever before Jerusalem (necessary thanks to a bout of peroneal tendinitis), and I was more than happy with my result there.
Then again, since I am so injury-prone, I very rarely run over 10 miles -- I might do it once or twice before a half, maybe. So to me, it's not disastrous to not have a long run exceeding 8... but YMMV.
chasing the impossible
because i never shut up ... i blog
Skirt Runner
Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me advice. I appreciate everyone's input.
In reference to the anemia issue you guys are not the first people to speculate that I may be anemic. I usually chalk up exhaustion to having a full-time job and 2 part-time jobs with workdays up to 13 hours long and every minute of those 13 hours requiring a TON of mental and physical energy (working with small children with special needs).... so I've kind of always written it off as "well duh I'm fatigued, I wake up at 5:00am, run, and then go run after kids for 13 hours" BUT I just had almost a MONTH off of work, and then a 2 day work week, soooo I don't have that excuse. My mom has had anemia in the past, and while I have never been diagnosed with it, several times that I have tried to give blood my iron count has been too low (though not every time). I should get checked..... but the tests are probably too expensive for me to afford right now and I need to wait until I have health insurance again. Since you guys are not the first to suggest it, this theory probably has merit.
If this helps anyone, down below is what the last few weeks of my plan were SUPPOSED to be. For the purposes of this plan, "Cut Downs" are defined as:
Cut-downs: 2 x 3 x 100m
The second one about 800m race pace
The third one at 400m race pace - in other words progress from running quickly to even quicker and then quickest.
Practice going faster by increasing leg turnover rather then lengthening your stride.
Let your body decelerate naturally at the end of each 100)
Take 2-3 minutes easy recovery jog to regain your breath and return to the start
And "Out and Back" as: High-end aerobic run.
Choose an out and back course of similar difficulty each way or slightly faster on the home journey.
What I was *supposed* to be doing these next 5 weeks:
5 weeks before race
Easy Fartlek
4 mi
(3 - 4.5 mi)
48:00
(40:00 - 52:00)
11:52 / mi
(12:53 - 11:14 / mi)
Rest Day
—
Out & Back
3 mi
(2.5 - 3.5 mi)
32:00
(28:00 - 35:00)
10:06 / mi
(10:59 - 9:36 / mi)
Cut-Downs
(15 minutes warm up, 15 minutes cool down)
2 sets of 3 X 100m at
0:33 / 0:32 / 0:30
Out & Back or Long Race
6.5 mi
(5.5 - 8 mi)
1:10:00
(1:00:00 - 1:17:00)
10:21 / mi
(11:18 - 9:51 / mi)
4 weeks before race
Long Jog
6 mi
(4.5 - 7 mi)
1:16:00
(1:04:00 - 1:23:00)
12:37 / mi
(13:46 - 12:00 / mi)
3.5 mi
(2.5 - 4 mi)
40:00
(34:00 - 44:00)
11:41 / mi
(12:45 - 11:07 / mi)
2.5 mi
(2 - 3 mi)
27:00
(23:00 - 29:00)
9:51 / mi
(10:40 - 9:17 / mi)
(5 - 7 mi)
1:03:00
(54:00 - 1:09:00)
10:14 / mi
(11:10 - 9:43 / mi)
3 weeks before race
5.5 mi
(4.5 - 6.5 mi)
1:11:00
(1:01:00 - 1:19:00)
38:00
(32:00 - 41:00)
24:00
(20:00 - 26:00)
9:43 / mi
(10:36 - 9:13 / mi)
58:00
(49:00 - 1:04:00)
(11:07 - 9:36 / mi)
2 weeks before race
Jog
5 mi
(4 - 5.5 mi)
1:02:00
(52:00 - 1:08:00)
(2 - 3.5 mi)
34:00
(29:00 - 37:00)
2 mi
(1.5 - 2.5 mi)
22:00
(19:00 - 24:00)
10:17 / mi
(11:14 - 9:47 / mi)
(1.5 - 2 mi)
23:00
12:30 / mi
(13:38 - 11:52 / mi)
5k or 10k Race or Time Trial
5k or 10k
27:52 or 58:06
Race week
(3 - 5 mi)
53:00
(45:00 - 58:00)
43:00
(36:00 - 46:00)
12:26 / mi
(13:34 - 11:48 / mi)
Up-Tempo
1 mile
9:13
Run Strongly Evenly
1.5 mi
21:00
(18:00 - 25:00)
12:45 / mi
(13:53 - 12:03 / mi)
THE RACE
Half Marathon
2:06:55
9:41 / mi
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
I will review the plan later (after dinner), but a couple of things about the anemia, exhaustion:
Overtraining and exhaustion can happen after a long period of time, so the fact that you took X weeks off work might not have helped if you were overworked prior to that. You might be going through some anemia or overtraining issue or you might not, but it sounds like you're exhausted. Maybe not from the training per se, but when you are overworked at life, the training puts extra stress on your body. Hope you get back on track!
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
Fundraising Page
Jess runs for bacon
If you don't have $ for the tests, go donate blood. It'll have the added benefit of making you take at least a day off
I require bribery for that. The last time I donated blood the Giants had to bribe me with going to MetLife Stadium, a free Nike Giants Drifit shirt, chances to meet players, being professionally photographed with the 2011 Lombardi trophy for free, meeting alumni players, and tons of raffles and giveaways. Bribery is necessary! hehe
It'sa good thing to do, and they give you cookies.
Yeah but I have a severe phobia of needles and sometimes pass out on the table
I've passed out, it happens. Just pretend you are somewhere else
Don't call me Buttercup!
I'm not an expert (nor do I play one on t.v.!) but I will say that if I were you, I'd scrap the speedwork at this point and just get the miles in. No point in trying to do speedwork and getting frustrated and/or hurt because you're not where you "ought" to be at this point. Maybe go back to the beginning part of the plan again, mileage-wise? Get your last few long runs in, and call it a day.
I did a HM back in May on really crappy mileage and it ended up being a really fabulous day. You never know what will happen - but you have to take care of yourself! Get some sleep, eat good food, and give yourself a break. This is supposed to be fun! =)
Slow and steady wins the.... wait a second! I've been lied to!
You don't need much of a taper heading into a half, assuming you haven't beaten yourself to a pulp in the course of your training! I do my last KILLER workout [most challenging workout of the schedule - 3x5k @ race pace w/1000m recovery] about 21 days out and last hard workout 9-10 days out and then jump into my "speed taper" race week. My "long run" the weekend before is anything from 9-12 miles [nothing longer] at an easy pace. The weekend before that I'll do a 15 miler.
*IF* all those little aches and pains are gone I would attempt to introduce some uptempo running. I personally use a schedule that is the opposite of what you're doing - mine is speed early and then gradually make the quality workouts slower to resemble my [half] race pace in the last 4-5 weeks of training. All the while they get much longer [see above - 9.3 miles]. What you could do is try to add some of the intervals back in or some workouts at [half] race pace.
Looking at your schedule, it has you doing accelerations which like strides are something most runners should do 1-2 times per week. The "out-n-backs" high-end aerobic runs isn't speed work, that's just as it says quality aerobic running, which is the best "bang for the buck" type workout most runners can do. Call them steady state, progression, float or whatever it's running for 2-7 miles at a faster pace than you'd typical run for your easy workouts [which have a w-i-d-e pace range in itself] but not as fast as a tempo run. You should get the sense like you're running fast comfortably, not like your struggling to do so. If you are then slow down or save the workout for a day when you feel good. I don't force these workouts, I just let them happen on my good days. I did one of these yesterday as my 1st mile was sub-9 [uncommon for me] and each mile was slightly faster, finishing with a 7:29 last mile - 10 miles @ 8:19 pace. Felt refreshed, not gassed when I finished.
Speaking of which, other than the 15k what workouts have you been doing around your half marathon race pace?
Here's what my half taper looked like last Fall...
Saturday: 15 miles 2:04:56 - 8:19 avg. pace - 3x5k @ 7:31 avg. pace w/1000m recovery 23:21 / 23:19 / 23:32Sunday: 4 miles 34:47 - 8:39 avg. pace - easy A.M. / 10 miles 1:27:40 - 8:46 avg. pace - easy P.M.Week 40: 64 miles Monday: SRDTuesday: 7 miles 1:03:32 - 9:04 avg. pace - 1x3000m @ 7:23 pace + 3x200m hill sprints @ 5:46 pace. Still not fully recovered from my last quality workout so I broke it off after one repeat. Wednesday: 8 miles 1:11:36 - 8:54 avg. pace - very easy + 3x8 sec. hill sprints @ 5:19 pace A.M / 7 miles 1:01:15 - 8:44 avg. pace - very easy P.M. Thursday: 10 miles 1:28:45 - 8:52 avg. pace - easy Friday: 6 miles 55:43 - 9:16 avg. pace - recovery A.M. / 5 miles 44:48 - 8:57 avg. pace - recovery P.M.Saturday: 15 miles 1:56:38 - 7:46 avg. pace - 3x3000m @ 7:17 avg. pace w/600m recovery @ 7:51 avg. pace. I'm happy :> Sunday: 6 miles 58:27 - 9:44 avg. pace - recoveryWeek 41: 49 miles - 50 projected Monday: SRDTuesday: 12 miles 1:39:20 - 8:16 avg. pace - 7x1000m @ 7:13 pace w/600m recovery @ 8:05 pace - 6.59 continuous miles @ 7:31 avg. pace. Happy : > Wednesday: 9 miles 1:18:50 - 8:45 avg. pace - easy Thursday: 10 miles 1:37:10 - 9:42 avg. pace - easy on hilly trail Friday: USRD [sore shin]Saturday: 9 miles 1:16:58 - 8:32 avg. pace - progression [8:45-7:19] + strides. - Felt flat :< 2x8:45 1x8:15 2x7:50 1x7:19 Sunday: 9 miles 1:18:23 - 8:42 avg. pace - easy + 3x200m hill sprints @ 5:35 pace + strides + form drills. Had a couple more gears available than I did yesterday.Week 42: 42 miles - Taper Monday: SRD - legs feel like pistons - wanna run!!! Tuesday: 6 miles 52:30 - 8:45 avg. pace - recovery + strides. Felt kinda sluggish but everytime I looked at my pace it was faster than expected - encouraging. The more I tried to slow down the quicker the pace. Figured out I'm in A corral. Wednesday: 5 miles 43:01 - 8:36 avg. pace - 2x1000m @ 6:57 pace w/90 sec. recovery + strides. Feelin' good. Thursday: 4 miles 34:44 - 8:41 avg. pace - recovery / easy + 2xstrides. Started blah, finished strong. Friday: 4 miles 33:59 - 8:30 avg. pace - 2x2:00 @ 10k pace [6:55 pace] + stride. Best I've felt overall this week ~ legs were jumpin'! Saturday: 6 miles 52:24 - 8:44 avg. pace - 6x400m @ 1:40-1:50 w/400m jog. Speed taper done. Sunday: 17 miles Columbus Half Marathon 1:36:33 [New Master PB]
Youth Has No Age. ~ Picasso / 1st road race: Charleston Distance Run 15 Miler - 1974 / profile
No more marathons
Hi Kristin - here's my two cents worth (and with inflation only about half that).
I got tired just reading your schedule - not because of the workouts, but because of the detail of the schedule itself. I have difficulty just following a simple schedule and often will trade workout days based on what's going on IRL.
You may want to take a look at Higdon's Novice 1 or even Novice 2 (might need to drop back on the long run miles on this one) and jump in at week 8. It's pretty basic and has you doing one run a week at your half pace, and one long run.
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
Antipodean
Just an idea - even if you can't afford tests for anemia, can you 'self-medicate' with vitamins high in iron? Or is it even possible to buy iron tablets over the counter? Surely can't hurt.
Good luck with the running.
Julie
"It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."
~ Sir Edmund Hillary
I began doing this, taking iron supplements along with vitamin C [helps absorb] this Summer. Just want to be careful you don't take too much as this is one supplement that can be dangerous to overdose. Following the stroke in August my blood work showed my ferritin levels to be only slightly lower than normal.
It is dangerous to take iron supplements without first testing whether you are low because iron is one of the few which excesses are not discarded by the body. So I wouldn't recommend it without a blood test and without discussing the levels needed with the doctor.