Hi, Hawk. Is this your first half? How long have you been running? I'm sure other half marathoners will come along to offer their advice. Just looking at your plan, I wonder if you might want to move some of your runs around. As your long runs get longer, I'm told (by my orthopedist) it's best to schedule rest days the day before and after your long run. It's not a hard-and-fast rule by any means, but since you're alternating biking and running, you might as well bike on the day after the long run instead of running again after a 10 or 12-miler. I'm not sure why you'd want to do a long run twice in one week. I would suggest you choose one of those and extend the mileage and keep the other at a comfortable distance for you. Making your log public helps us help you. On that note, you can check my log to see how I trained for my first half on Feb 17. I'm starting to train now for my next set of halfs, starting October 11. We're glad you're here!

Hawk, Yes, there are thousands of ways to run/train and you'll see here, that not many of us do the same things. There are some basic training programs available like the Hal Higdon etc. I have a few stashed away some place that I can find for you if you don't find anything. I think one of the most important things is that you find what works for you and what you feel comfortable with. I do have some advice for you. First, what are your runs like. Alot of hills, no hills, some hills? You don't want to run hills every night, but you do have to incorporate some hill work into your schedule. I also don't see any strength training. I don't do a lot of it myself, but some strength training will help you. For now, two long runs a week is okay, but as you progress you will have to revamp that. I also think that as soon as you can, that you want to try to get your short runs up to at least 3 miles. I'm not an expert, and have only been running for 5 years, but for three years, my avg run was only 3.1 miles. Last year I stepped that up now and my avg run is more like 5 miles and I've improved dramatically. At the shorter distances, you haven't really worked the body out. However as you increase your long run, I'm not encouraging you to keep doing your short runs at half the distance. Look at Vix's log, she varies her short runs slightly but they are all in the range of about 6-7 mile range at the moment, yet her long run is 15 miles. My only other piece of advice at the moment, is that your long run (and not having a log history it's hard to judge) you might want to consider doing it at the end of your week only. Of course for now, it's probably not a really bad thing for you, but as you increase your runs and your base mileage I believe it's better to do your base work all week, then the truly long run. Again, if you look at Vixi's log she runs it at the end of the week with rest the day before and the day after. Currently my log is blank for the past couple of weeks due to an injury, but even if you go back and look, you'll should see my true long runs while training for my HM were on Sunday. with rest on Monday, then typically start Tuesday with easy runs. And lastly, Welcome to the group, good luck, be determined and be diligent in your training and commitment. Larry

You brought up strength training For my upper body I do 4 exercises approx. 35min. 2-3x per week Seated incline bench press with dumbbells 15 reps each at 35, 45, 50, 35 lbs. Push ups with feet on 64cm. ball 15 reps x 3 Assisted Pull Ups 15 reps x 3 at 85 lbs. assisted Cable pull (shoulder/back) 15 reps x 3 per arm at 32.5lb. My strength training workouts change every 4-5 weeks Currently that is all I do. Haven't done any ab work or lower body. I figured that running/biking would be sufficient for my lower body. Should I consider working out my lower body? If so, when?

Thanks for the advice LPH, we shall have to see about the lower body workouts after my run tomorrow. I looked at your logs and saw that you spent between 25min. - 1 hour stretching? Is this correct? and is it really that important?

Stretching can be a controversial discussion on these boards. Many don't stretch at all, but then again many of us are religous about it. You're young and probably more flexible, but your body weight and you weight lifting may tend to tighten your muscles more. So at least for now as you are beginning to run, "I" personally would recommend stretching. However, be smart about it. Don't overstretch, don't bounce, don't stretch fast and don't stretch cold muscles. My log probably doesn't come close to registering all my stretching. I think I said earlier, that every run starts and ends with a half mile warm up walk/cool down walk, then 10 minutes of stretching. It's then not uncommon for me to stretch 20-40 minutes at home as well. I particulalrly spend a lot of time on my hamstrings as I've got tight hammys and suffered a tough ham string pull a few years ago. I also incorporate sit-ups and push-ups as part of my stretching as well Here is a link to some good information on stretching. If you're going to stretch, then don't try to do them all, but pick out ones that you like or ones that look like they'll help for certain target areas or areas of concern. http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_toc.html