Going from 6 miles to half marathon?

[MandMand]

I'm on such a high from finishing my first 6 mile race in under an hour yesterday, that I'm seriously thinking about signing up for a half marathon in September.

I know this should give me plenty of time to train properly, but I wondered if anyone had found this a big step up, or is a realistic target? I only started running less than a year ago, so I don't want to attempt too much too soon.

Well done! Its a very realistic target to do a HM in September, the training plans are 12 weeks. I used a Womens Running mag one for my first half last year (started running in May last year, 1st HM in Sept) and adapted it for the one I did yesterday.

If you targeted a 10km race in late June, then that would put you in a great place for the mile ramp up for the HM, and give you lots of speedwork time in the interim.

I hope so - that's what I've done! :)

Absolutely realistic! I know it sounds silly, but from 6-10 miles I didn't notice an awful lot of difference. Once you get into your rhythm then the miles just disappear. I did my first HM a few weeks ago and this time last year I was still on C25k. The last mile was tough but up until then it wasn't so bad. I think it's more psychological- 13 miles sounds like a really long way, but it doesn't feel like you're doing more than 6 miles twice. Even though you are

OK, thanks for the encouragement, I've just been online and signed up for the Robin Hood Half Marathon! Apparently it's a smooth fairly flat route, so probably a good one for a first timer

I ran another 6 miles this morning without any problem, so will start to work on increasing the distance. Wish me luck!

I hope so too MandMand, because that's what I'm planning on doing too
I went a bit mad this morning and ended up doing 10 miles so I figure the jump from 10 to 13 shouldn't be too bad???
Good luck! Keep us posted

I am in the middle of training for my first half marathon, from doing 10Ks for years.

Every month I do a long run that is a mile longer than the previous month and do this a few times over the month, mixed in with some short (5K ish), fast runs and some 10ks.

Rigid training schedules don't really work for me, as DH is away a lot, my work load is irregular and I have a 2 yo and 5 yo and no one to babysit.

I am up to 11 miles now, aim is 12 miles by Easter, ready for HM in mid May.

You'll be fine as I did the same two years ago and it wasn't that difficult to build up the distance.

Just one word of warning - don't increase the distance by more than 10% a week until you find out if you are an injury-prone runner. I was fine at 10k's but started to get niggles on longer, more regular runs (achilles, shins, etc). This has just happened to a friend of mine who is a newish runner going from 10k to Half marathon distance. She is now training on niggling injuries.

I would do what BikeRunSki does and mix it up a bit with distances as you have plenty of time until September. Some of the 12 week schedules are a bit steep injury-wise.

Just as an aside, I have a friend who has been running all distances for many years and is a coach. She reckons you should have a couple of years of running in your legs before doing marathons etc if you want to avoid injury, as it takes time to condition your body to a sport. Obviously some people are lucky though and have good running 'form' and can avoid injury.