Half marathon in May, body being niggly

[MonkeyPJs]

I have booked in a half in May, and training was going well - I can now do a comfortable 8km run, having started from nothing - but in the last couple of weeks it just feels like my body is falling apart. (hip and knee pain, just feeling old and rickety) I've also really struggled to run for longer than that.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth keeping going. I want to, but am terrified of getting injured as well as have had a running injury in the past and it was nasty (after another half I did 8 years ago).

FWIW I'm doing usually 2, sometimes 3 runs a week, a yoga and a circuit class a week at present. A third run often increases the niggles, hence usually leaving it at two.

It's hard to decide - maybe I should just try and aim for a good 10km instead.

Any advice? I feel quite despondent that it doesn't feel like it's quite working out for me

Are you stretching after each run? I had terrible knee problems and it turned out it was all due to not stretching enough. It's worth a try.

You could try a walk run interval thing, needn't necessarily affect your overall pace but walk for one minute and run for three or four, see if it helps?

Two things worked wonders for me: a foam roller and monthly sports massages. I bought a fairly cheap roller from Amazon and use it on a all my potentially niggly bits after each run. I started seeing a sports masseur just to keep things nice and supple and he really helped.

Strangely I get way more niggles if I ever do a walk/run combo. I find all that stopping and starting quite sore on the legs and find it much easier to run and just keep running, even if my pace is very quite slow.

Which HM are you doing?

Thanks for the advice! I am stretching, but maybe not enough or quite hitting the right spots. I like the sports massage and foam roller idea, I'll look into it.

I am already a walk/runner to an extent cosa although when not feeling the running love it's more walk than run some days ...

My half is in NZ, although did the Royal Parks in London a while ago and loved it.

It's hard, training - it's so hard to know I am doing the right thing, not to mention all of the struggles it takes me to train as it is!

FWIW I'm doing usually 2, sometimes 3 runs a week, a yoga and a circuit class a week at present.

If I were you I would review your training schedule. I'd ditch the circuits, they probably aren't adding value for what you need to achieve which is H / marathon fitness.and may well be causing your body to object, especially if you are putting strain on it due to running

You need to get up to at least 4 runs a week. Can you cycle, if so you could substitute a run for a bike ride, but need to cycle for a bit longer than a run.

Use the yoga as one of your active rest days

If I were you I'd aim to do a 10k before your HM. Ideally around 4 weeks before. It will help your performance and confidence for the HM. You should really be running 3 or 4 times a week ideally, and I agree, ditch the circuit class.