Half Marathon Thread continues .....

[mammymammyIRL]

Don't want us to lose contact !

[Clarabell100]

Well I finally got out for a run today! Only 5k but I’m just glad to be back after over a year off.

Ashamed to say it took me 35mins. 10 minutes slower than my 5k time before I was pregnant. I just can’t see how I’ll ever get back to where I was.

But it’s made me realise I need to get rid of this two stone of baby weight, lugging this around won’t be helping. So from tomorrow I’m cutting down on eating rubbish. Last hoorah tonight with a salted caramel magnum!

[TriGirl007]

Thanks londonmummy I was super proud of 6yr old mini-Tri and well done on the 10m run.

clarabell your doing brill it’s super tough the first couple years with little ones 5k is 5k not sat on the couch be proud

I did my longest run yet today 14k /9.3miles. Beaut cold sunny morning with frost perfect running weather for me. Legs were weary the last km and speed was dropping off but pleased I did it.

[randomsabreuse]

Well done everyone! Fab running.

Last week went well - managed just over 20 miles including a 5 mile trail race complete with pond and 10k meandering about local woods getting lost because I have a bad sense of direction.

Another trail race this weekend which should be fun!

[londonmummy1966]

Well done random - really jealous of your lovely sounding running scenery - weekdays involve the grim streets of London for me.

clarabell you will be suprised at how quickly it gets better - a month ago I was only just back on the running and also found 5K tough but your body hasn't forgotten what its like to run and it does come back.

[randomsabreuse]

Payback for the scenery is the hills. My town is in a wide gorge, it is impossible to avoid steep hills for any runs - at best we can minimise them on some routes. Also fewer races but the plus side is if anyone from my running club travels out of area the hills generally seem easier than ours!

[LongtimeLurkerNowPokemonHunter]

Made it round the 10k, and finally broke the sub 60 duck! Haven't been able to do it in a 10k! Actually broke 55 too, unsure how (by seconds!)

Went for a recovery hill run today. Another almost 10k (9.7) in 1.11 and metafit this morning. Quads are screaming!

Now that I've managed sub 60 10k I reckon sub 2 half has to be an aim...

[mammymammyIRL]

Well done longtimelurker That's super going!

Like random I also live in a hilly area - every single route I take involves a hill of some type unless I run on the beach, which I don't very often. It's great training though.

I've fallen off the thread, fallen back on my running, and fallen off mumsnet too. So today I went out and did my little 1.75 mile loop in 17:48. I'm making a goal of doing this in 16.5 to give me a sub 30 5k.

[minesapintofwine]

Same here regarding hills.

And same here regarding falling off running. I'm about to head out for 7k it's been a while I need to get back to it.

[minesapintofwine]

random it's exactly the same here. My local 5k has more total elevation than the hm

[londonmummy1966]

I'm still jealous of everyone's lovely scenery even if you do have lots of hills. There are a few big hills around me so I do do them sometimes (my local parkrun has a killer...). The one redeeming feature is that I can get up to the Thames in 7 minutes and there is something uplifting about rounding a bend and seeing the Houses of Parliament in front of you (only the building mind you not the occupants )

[mammymammyIRL]

I think it's because I haven't a race booked minesapint but I signed up for a virtual medal to do 12k in the first 12 days of December and I'm going to run 12k as a race for myself on the second weekend in December to complete it. Aiming for 75-80mins.

Scenery makes my running far more enjoyable I have to agree londonmummy these days it's dark so not seeing the lovely views at all.

[Clarabell100]

Thank you for the encouragement! You're right, a slow 5k is better than no 5k. Spoke to my colleague earlier and we're still on for our lunch time run tomorrow. We've decided not to do a distance but just to run for 30minutes and see where that takes us. We have a long straight route along a river very close to work so should be easy enough.

I'm another one who lives in a very hilly area so all my home runs involve hills. Will be nice to do a flat one tomorrow!

[LongtimeLurkerNowPokemonHunter]

Also a hilly area. In fact there's a local hill running group as there's few flat places to run! No parkrun all hills and trails!

[thisgirlrides]

Hello all,
I’m doing my first hm at the end of march and just starting to up my distance from my usual 5/6km runs. Managed 9km today which is my longest yet albeit on a very flat route. Aiming to be able to comfortably run a hilly 10km route near me before Christmas then start a structured 12 week plan in the NY.

I’m only managing 3 runs a week (plus a swim) at the moment - will I be ok with this do you think? 1 needs to be quite short (30/40 mins max) but I’m going to incorporate some hills & sprints, 1 I have time to up my distance & the 3rd can be a longer one most weeks.

[mammymammyIRL]

I've 77 tracked runs for 2017 on my runkeeper app - going to add the one I did on strava manually if I can find it online, deleted the app, prefer Runkeeper. I'm going to make this 100 at least

@thisgirlrides I trained for my half marathons on three runs a week sometimes four if I got time and achieved 2:28. The swim will help you aerobically too. Do you use any running app? There's lots of ones that you can set your end date for your half and it'll give you a training plan to suit. A friend swears by my asics app, runkeeper is sponsored by asics so it may be similar.

[Clarabell100]

@thisgirlrides I also trained for all of my previous half marathons on 3 runs a week. I’ve never done any more than that as I just can’t fit them in. And my PB is 2 hours 11secs (damn those 11 seconds!) so you can do it no probs!

[londonmummy1966]

thisgirl I did my first HM on 4 runs and nothing else - I think swimming would be better than a 4th run as it really helps with breathing and upper body/core. The plan I used put in a short easy run the day before the long run so you never did the long run on completely rested legs and this was really effective for me so it would be worth thinking about structuring your four sessions around back to back short and long run days. I got round in 2.20.08 (very annoyed about the last 9 seconds..) but I'm an elderly overweight runner so I'm sure you'll be fine - although all the advice I've seen says that the only aim for a first HM should be to cross the finish line.....

[Purplerunner]

I've always trained on 3 runs a week plus a strength session. Any more and I start with niggling injury problems.

Seriously thinking about signing up for the Stirling marathon and using the Jeff Galloway run/walk/run method. Anyone tried it? It seems to be all about not over-working your body and he says he can get anyone round a marathon if they follow his method.

Not been on Mumsnet much this last week or two, been distracted by the RBR Facebook group. Loving all the swearing

[londonmummy1966]

purple I use Jeff Galloway run/walk/run and have found it really helpful. I started it to do my first HM and subsequently got my best time at the Great South run using it. (I can't swear by it as the GSR that year had the wind for me whereas in earlier years it had been against me.) I can say however that I had been niggled by injuries when training for long runs until I started the Galloway method and have been injury free (touch wood) ever since. I would say give it a go as it definitely works. It is weird though getting your head around an hours tempo run (as tempo means longer running intervals rather than a faster pace..)

[Purplerunner]

Thanks London That's what I think, longer distances have the same impact on me.

Did you go the full Jeff using the Magic Mile to calculate your training pace? Or just pick a pace? I'm really going to have to get my head around the walking (when I don't need to!).

[Clarabell100]

Never heard of the Jeff Galloway method - will investigate that later!

Did my first lunch time run with my teammate yesterday. Just under 3 miles. She is very fit (triathlete!) so pushed me to go a bit faster. We don't have showers at work so I could only have a bit of a wash in the ladies after and I felt a bit yuck so I'll have to come up with an alternative for that!

[LoudestRoar]

I'm jeffing! I'll be honest, I've not bothered working out my magic mile, I picked a pace (30/30) to start with. Sometimes I go 1min/30, depending how I feel. My only rule is that I run all the way down hills!

[londonmummy1966]

Good to know there's another Jeffer on the thread Loudest. I didn't do the magic mile I just worked out a time based on my (not very glorious) parkrun pb. "Race pace" is 3:1 which is what I do my long runs at and my tempo runs are currently 4:1 although I will aim to build this up to 6:1. My last HM I did turn the pace down to 2:1 for the final 2 miles though as I was knackered and a bit off on my training.

[HRHPrincessMegan]

Right - jumping back in. I’ve run 5 miles twice this week so no longer feel like a fraud rejoining. I’ve yet to book another HM but thinking about April. Going to focus on “maintenance” until NY and then follow a 12 - 14 training program. Good to see that some of the original tread members are still going - it’s motivating!

[mammymammyIRL]

Very happy to say I ran three times this week - longest run was only 2.1 miles but I got a PB of 9:57 per mile - my aim in March was to get under 12 miles so I'm very pleased with this
Sub 30 parkrun I'll get you yet - I'm a parkrun virgin but hope that will change