Half Marathon Training Spring 2024

Thank you @Jumbojem, I will pop over there in a bit. I overslept and missed parkrun this morning but have just taken myself out for 5K.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/exercise/5242157-running-goals-motivation-and-chat-2025

Happy new year! I'm still lying in bed, weather is awful but feel I need to start the year with at least a short run at some point!
I created a 2025 running chat thread, link above if you want to join in and carry on the chat.
Sounds like quite a few of us had a bit of a running break over the Autumn, I am very much trying to get back into it but it's taking a while, and my pace has reduced immensely. Thinking about deleting my personal bests on my watch and starting afresh to motivate me. 2025 me cannot compare to 2018 me when I set most of those PBs.

Hello @OhOneOhTwoOhThree - I'm with you on a few fraught months. I'm trying to get back to running still - making some progress but it's slow. I have got Robin Hood booked but only because I deferred from last year!

Good to see you too @Jumbojem and @BogRollBOGOF! I'd be in favour of a general running thread for 2025

And long run for the week done- 6mi.
Second half was better than the first half.

I've had December "off". Not not running, but no real agenda and bimbling along with up to 10k but mainly short runs and parkrun.

I've got a HM booked for Feb so have 6 weeks coming to train up from 6mi to 10+ mi. I'm ready for some purpose now, the same as having been ready for a mental break after my last race in November.

Hello @OhOneOhTwoOhThree hope 2025 is less frazzled for you and you get back into it.
I was thinking about starting a 2025 thread soon, but maybe more of a general running goals/group motivation/run chat one. Selfishly as I don't have any halves planned yet! I have entered what I thought was a half but it is actually 15 miles, hilly trail miles so I will have to up my game. I also didn't run much this autumn but have got back into it in the last couple of months, but so slow and mostly 3-4 milers.

Hello lovely HM running chums! Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and have nice plans for the New Year. DH and I have signed up for a HM in March so am just starting to train for it.

Life has been a bit fraught/busy over recent months so I have not been running or posting as often, but I'm hoping to get back into the groove while I'm off work for the next couple of weeks. I've been parkrunning, yoga-ing and a bit of swimming but nothing longer than 5 miles for what seems like months.

I see that the thread fizzled out a few weeks ago - have you all regrouped somewhere else?

The consolation of this calm gloomy weather has been the lack of mud. Last year was dreadful for it from halfway through October!

Woo hoo @BogRollBOGOF ! Garmin is a hard taskmaster so well done on the balance.
I did my XC today, chuffed I made it round within sight of two of my team mates a few runners in front and faster than last year by a few seconds. Although OH pointed out conditions were a lot better this year than last, damn him 🤣

Quick! Get the bunting out! Garmin is happy!!! 😁😂

Well despite being super unfit still I've decided to throw myself in the deep end and do cross country this weekend. It's 4.5 miles, not even sure I've run that far in weeks, so just finishing without a walk break will be a challenge. Thankfully it's not a particularly hilly course at least, got another few weeks before the hilly events start.

My pelvis has never fully forgiven me for my two DCs- 13+ years later!
The adductor machine at the gym was uncomfortable the other night on the usual weight. It's quite intermittent- sometimes I'm fine and sometimes I twinge, but if I don't work it (with caution) then I can't strengthen that zone.

I've decided that I'm not in the mood for 10k training at present and am in a little and often mode. Garmin's happy though 😂

that's fascinating, I think I'm wonky! All my injuries/niggles are on my left side

Honestly, I think pretty much everyone is a bit uneven. In my experience, if you go to a podiatrist they'll diagnose an issue with your feet; if you go to an osteopath they'll find an imbalance that needs "fixing"... etc. If you look for a problem, you'll find one.

I've come to the conclusion that pretty much all my issues are down to wonky hips, exacerbated by childbirth. I can't realign my hips (despite what the osteopath claims!) but I can strengthen my glutes and do lots of yoga to stay strong, so I make sure I do plenty of that. It doesn't stave off injury altogether, but it's helped.

@Trickedbyadoughnut that's fascinating, I think I'm wonky! All my injuries/niggles are on my left side. Did it help? I have been thinking about something like this but I know I'll probably be a bit rubbish at sticking to any suggested exercises.
After my slow build back after the calf niggle I then got a cold and spent time away at half term so feel like running is going more and more backwards. I need a little recovery break every mile or so and pace is slow. Now it's also the dark and cold time of year when I really have to force myself to go out. Think I may restart one of the Garmin 5k plans just to push me a bit up until Christmas. There is a boxing day race locally which I'd love to do and run well but waiting on firming up Xmas plans before entering.

I'm abroad now so a recommendation won't help you much, but if you give a rough idea of which area you're in someone might be able to recommend someone. Or if you've got a physio already you could call them and try asking?

It's this kind of thing: https://www.fixmyrun.co.uk/running-coach/bma/

Basically they watch you running to see what could be potentially causing injury and give you areas to work on: I was given a set of hip exercises as that was causing me to injure my knee, some ankle strengthening exercises and some upper back stretches. I was basically pretty wonky!

@sweetlittleshiba22 two possible ideas - do you eat enough? I've seen a good few of runners solve some persistent injury cycles by fuelling more.

Second, could you try a biomechnical analysis for runners? Various physio clinics do them. I had one a few years ago. Not just looking at the shoes like in a running shop, but everywhere. I got some great exercises from the physio I did mine with. Really helpful.

My running has dropped off a cliff since my half. I was running about 30-32 km/week but I took two weeks off after my half-marathon (managing 5km/week). Managed 16km last week and hoping to hit about 20km this week. Various things going on at the moment mean I haven’t got the time to do a weekend long run at the moment but would like to do 10km tomorrow. Hoping to do a 5, 10, 5, 15km pattern at the weekend until I begin my next plan at the end of the year.

I’m training for a 26-mile Macmillan Mighty Hike next but I am intending to run, or run-walk, a lot of the plan , as I don’t really have the time to go out walking on top of running (and I need to keep running for the GNR in September). I am also hoping to use it as a bit of an experiment to see whether doing a marathon might be on the cards for 2026… I feel like that’s the only way to really sort out my fitness and make the shorter distances I want to run/race easier…

It's a good point in the year for a shift of focus. I love the early autumn long run season building to a HM, but then as we reach the late end of autumn it's nice to have that time pressure released and be free to play with frequency and pace.

I had a recovery phase after my race, and then picked up a cold so I haven't regained my mojo yet. I'm just doing short easy runs this week. I've set up a 10k plan on my phone, but am still not fully convinced that's what I want to do right now, but I'm not stressing that this week anyway.

Good news about the calf @Jumbojem and I expect the fitness will come back quicker than it's feels right now.

It's going to sounds a bit silly, but I have gradually come to the realisation that if I don't at least try to train towards a sub-2 hour, then I won't ever get it ...

I think I'll set up a plan for it and give myself a few weeks of training to those paces and see how it goes.

Hello all! Lovely to hear all your plans for spring Half's. I really should enter something to give me focus over the winter.
The good news for me is the calf niggle seems to have gone. The bad news is the huge nose dive my fitness has had. The graph on Strava is a steep downhill from July onwards. So I am back running but it's a struggle, mainly run a mile, walk a bit, run a bit, walk a bit... Slowly getting there but conscious the next XC event is soon. I would love to do it but 4.5 miles continuous running, let alone in a race, is going to be a challenge. Trying to be sensible and take it steady but my head goes into panic mode and wants to do every run at a full clip, which I know is unsustainable.
@Trickedbyadoughnut I think with a focused programme sub 2 might be achievable? When I was targeting that goal I used the Garmin plan on my watch but there are others online where you set the goal and it will work out a plan to get you there. I didn't always manage to hit the paces it asked for but just tried to get as close as I could. Now I am less fit I'm a bit stunned by the paces I could run back in 2023, but it was built up by many weeks of slow build.
Loosing weight is something I could do with focusing on! Just feels so hard, especially over the winter.

My first half was 2.21 and I managed to get to 2.16 later that year. Then as always I stalled for a few years. I did our local half one April and hadn't done a single run over 5km for the whole year,maybe 2-3 runs per week. I thought I'd toddle round and see how it went and knocked 4 minutes off my PB. Baffling. I felt great.

I'm aiming to get to 35 minutes at parkrun now, but I'm still nearer 40. I'm not feeling much improvement in pace although I'm enjoying the runs more. My daughter genuinely floated round Royal Parks and she really hadn't done as much training as she'd have liked because of her weekend job. Got her best 5 and 10km time in years and only felt it on the last mile. She does do a lot of weight training though so inspired by that I'm ramping up that front. Squat challenge and a dedicated couple of sessions at the gym.

I’ve just got a trial at the moment. I’m thinking about subscribing for a 2 or 3 months and just setting it up to do 3 runs a week for 8 weeks. I’ll just work through each run sequentially until I get to the end - which might take a bit longer than 8 weeks, as I usually run twice a week with my running club and I don’t want to replace those sessions (although I know you can set Runna up in such a way as to link them - I don’t want to do that though). The only thing is I might do Coopah instead - there’s an offer on with the Women’s Running magazine and it seems better value overall. I’m no elite athlete - I just need a bit of structure and guidance when I’m running by myself.

I did my fastest 5K this week (just under 36 minutes - good for me!) and feel like that’s a good starting point. And an encouraging step for me on my journey to get my half marathon time down to 2:30 too (mostly by strength training, a structured training plan and probably losing a few kilograms). Hopefully I’ll be able to track down to 35 minutes next month and 34 by the end of the year… but we will see - that might be a bit ambitious! But I need to get my 5k pace down before I can get my 10k and half marathon paces down, I think.

@gm2023 thanks, my only previous road HM was 2:37 and I was 7 or 8 years younger, so I'd definitely say you have a lot of room for improvement. I also lost 4kg between my two halfs this year, which helped with speed too.

Interesting that you're using Runna - I can get money off the sub with my next HM. IAnd sounds like we have the same plan for the end of the year with strength and speed!

@FeelinTwentySixPointTwo wow, you are super fast! I hope you get your sub-1:30 - being slow to start with like me at least gives a lot more room for improvement ha. Thanks for the encouragement, it always helps to hear someone who's been there and done it (especially as I am also in my 40s) although I suspect you have more natural ability than I have.

I have a physio strength programme that I do a little intermittently, so really want to do that. I do short yoga videos most days, but am going to do a lunchtime class at work to get in a bit more. I've been doing three runs (that's pretty much what I've always done) but I was thinking of adding an extra easy run so I guess I should give it a try.