half marathon

[justhavintheone]

hi, been running for years but not the fittest or the fastest by a long way! have done 10k's in the past (few years ago now). can currently run for about an hour (5 miles) tentatively saying i would like to do a half marathon this year!! any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

No advice - but didn't want your post to go unanswered and I can tell you how I've approached it.

I started C25K at the beginning of September last year and have kept it up. I'm now doing couch to 10K and have my first 10K on the 1st April (eek).

I've entered the ballot for the Great North Run in September. It'll give me enough time to build up to the half marathon gradually and I'll be able to do the training when the weather's nice over the summer. If I don't get in to it then I'll look for another half marathon in September time.

I'll be focussing on increasing my weekly mileage gradually over months and not doing a huge amount of speedwork. I've gone from 9 miles a week to 15 miles a week since Christmas. I've slowed down my pace though and enjoying it so much more.

Runners world has training plans and I think there are others too if you google.

If you sign up for a race - then you have to do it!! That's my approach anyway .

right(resolve), will do, maybe sign up for the half in september in glasgow!! pressure on then. good luck with the 10k i havnt done an organised one in a while but what a sense of satisfaction when you finish, enjoy.

Hi justhavintheine - I would say you could do it without too much problem, if you are running 5 miles now. You are nearly running half the distance already.

I did a half marathon last June and started my training (from scratch having never run before) in January. So 5-6 months was enough for a complete beginner to go from no running at all to the 12.1 miles of a half marathon. I did stick to a training programme and was lucky there were no illnesses in the family, my legs held out, my work was flexible enough and I had a running buddy with the same family commitments/support so we fixed running times each week flexibly. Sometimes we ran after school drop, sometimes after putting kids to bed - but we always ran the 3 times a week that was in the plan - 1 long run a week and 2 shorter runs.

Go for it and enjoy the buzz it gives you!!

thanks, my youngest has just got a playgroup space so i have 2 precious hours twice a week! and my running group once a week so thats 3 times per week sorted, here goes....