New member here with a question about getting back to fitness for your 2nd half marathon. So after a failed attempt at completing a half marathon back in 2015 and blowing out my hamstring due to over-training followed by close to 2 years off to recover. I completed my first half marathon in Essex, CT back on Oct 28, 2017. My time was 2 hours 1 minute 40 seconds. My training plan consisted of the following: Monday Rest, Tuesday 4-6 miles at 9-10 minute mile pace, Wednesday 1-Hour High-Intensity Indoor Soccer Game, Thursday Rest, Friday Rest, Saturday Long Run (adding one mile per week) at 9-10 minute mile pace, Sunday 10 miles on the stationary bike at 15 mph average. I also did PT instructed hamstring stretches 2-3 times daily, and PT instructed hamstring strength building exercises 3-4 times a week (on days I don't run or play soccer).

I continued the hamstring stretching and exercises with a Saturday 4 mile run at 8 minute mile pace for the 3 weeks after the race in order to obtain at new PR on the Turkey Day 5K race of 24 minutes 53 seconds. Since then I decided to take a few months off for the winter and only continue the soccer games and Sundays on the stationary bike.

For this year I hoped to shoot for breaking the 2 hour barrier on my 2nd half marathon with a similar training plan, however, due to other commitments the races on my radar aren't going to work out. One that does work for me is on May 20th. The problem is in order to go through the same training plan that was 20 weeks long I would have to start now, and I am really feeling pretty burnt out and had hoped for a longer rest. Essentially my question is what are your thoughts that I could get away with a shorter 12 week training plan for my 2nd half marathon starting at the end of February to give myself a bit more of a break?

Basically I would have to start with 4 mile runs right from the beginning instead of working up slowly. Do you think 3 months out is long enough to have to start from scratch? I still continue with soccer and the stationary bike. I feel in pretty good shape and I hope to get in at least a couple of 2-4 mile Saturday runs before the end of February if the weather cooperates, or am I just setting myself up to get injured again without starting the training plan from the beginning? I can provide more information if anyone is interested or if I am unclear. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Sorry for the duplicate post. It seems it wouldn't let me post until I verified my email, but once I did all the attempts went through! I tried to delete them but that isn't working either.

No worries.  Since you can't delete threads here, I locked the duplicate ones.

I think the extra rest might help. I personally like training plans of 12-15 weeks, so taking a few weeks off and then doing a shortened plan might be better.  When was the last time you ran?  If you took several months during Winter, going to 4 miles straight from the get go might cause injury.  Having said that, you could also start with less than 4 and see how it goes.  You can always go up in miles a week or two later instead of following the plan to the letter.

Have you thought about adding another running day?  Maybe Friday?  2-3 miles or so?

Thanks for the response. I last ran on Thanksgiving in a Turkey Trot 5K race. Weather permitting I will try to get a few basic 2-4 mile runs in before starting the 12 week plan at the end of February instead of starting out at 4 miles after 3 months off.

I would love to add an additional day of running to get more miles in but my work schedule and life gets in the way. I have tried doing a few miles on Sunday but after the long run on Saturday it is tough on my hamstring so I stick to the low impact biking to prevent injury which seemed to work well the last time through.

The best way to get better at running is by running. The more total weekly mileage volume you can get in, the better. Even (or especially) if spread out over more days, so each run is shorter on average. When life gets in the way, look to replace one of your non-running activities with a run. Of course if you have to adjust due to injury, do so. But often a greater number of shorter runs are less aggravating to injuries, compared to a smaller number of longer runs.

I don't think there's any magic number of weeks to a training plan. Have you looked at Higdon plans? All free online.  http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51130/Half-Marathon-Training-Guide  There are a number of options. You can check them out and see which one looks like something you can manage. I think they're all 12 weeks. I honestly would not recommend starting from zero with any of them. Ideally you will want to take a few months to get into a regular running routine of at least 3x/week. Then pick a plan where week 1 is similar to what you have already been doing.

Good luck!

Can't really answer, as I'm a fan of highest volume possible training, and you're injury prone so you can't take that road. Wish you the best of luck, though.

Yea the first time through I was happy just to finish and didn't want to push it after learning my lesson on the initial attempt. The 2nd time through I would be ecstatic to get back to where I was minus 2 minutes.

 

Steam Train!!  That race was a blast!      Congrats on your first HM.

 

Three months is plenty of time to train for a HM.  And you won't starting from scratch since you already ran one and have some running under your belt.  The cross training helps, but there is no substitute for running.  You can count indoor soccer as running.  You're probably doing anywhere from one to three miles depending on the length of the game.

It was a good time and a well organized race but I can't help feeling a little hoodwinked. The mile 10 hill was brutal so I lost a solid minute there and by my watch (and the map my run site) it was 13.2 miles, so that additional 0.1 mile likely cost me another 45-60 seconds. Given I was one minute 40 seconds short I can't help being left with the feeling of what might have been which makes me all the more determined on the next one. I am shooting for the Mystic Half on May 20. Do you know if that is any less hilly and the official 13.1 to give me a better shot?

Also thanks for the vote of confidence that 3 months is enough. I certainly keep a decent level of fitness through soccer and the biking so hopefully I can pull it off. My soccer games are an hour and I clock almost 3 miles worth of pretty much constant HIIT sprints which for whatever reason doesn't bother my hamstring injury.

 

It was a good time and a well organized race but I can't help feeling a little hoodwinked. The mile 10 hill was brutal so I lost a solid minute there and by my watch (and the map my run site) it was 13.2 miles, so that additional 0.1 mile likely cost me another 45-60 seconds. Given I was one minute 40 seconds short I can't help being left with the feeling of what might have been which makes me all the more determined on the next one. I am shooting for the Mystic Half on May 20. Do you know if that is any less hilly and the official 13.1 to give me a better shot?

 

Also thanks for the vote of confidence that 3 months is enough. I certainly keep a decent level of fitness through soccer and the biking so hopefully I can pull it off. My soccer games are an hour and I clock almost 3 miles worth of pretty much constant HIIT sprints which for whatever reason doesn't bother my hamstring injury.

I got 13.22 when I ran Steam Train.  Definitely a tad long, but I'd rather have it be long instead of short, otherwise I'd feel like I didn't run the full distance for the sake of PR's.  No doubt that mile 10 hill was a killer.  I have not done Mystic but I hear it is a tough, hilly course.  If you're looking for something flat and fast in Connecticut, the Cheshire HM (April 29) and Gulf Beach HM in Milford (Sept 15) are both very flat.  The Iron Horse HM on June 3 is also pretty flat, but it's got some rolling inclines...certainly a lot easier than Steam Train.  I live in Simsbury and run on the Iron Horse route all the time.

A few things:  there's not much improvement you'll gain by only running 2 days a week (other activities aren't strenuous enough to really help), I imagine you could find time in your day to put in 30-45min of running if you tried either before work or after dinner, and finally, it sounds like biking and hamstring injuries don't really mesh well so you might want to reconsider your cross training.