Half marathon after baby

[CaptainWarbeck]

Clickbaity title... I mean 9 months after having a baby I was a keen runner in-between DC, parkruns most weeks, PB of 23 mins so I was quite fit (and proud of that!).

Haven't done any running since having last DC 4 months ago and couldn't run during the pregnancy as I was too busy throwing up.

Is it unachievable to run a half marathon in March? Longest race I've done is a 12K so far. I'd be planning to go out roughly three times a week.

Are there any good training plans I could follow? Ideally with apps for ease.

You’ll be fine! My daughter was born January and I ran a half marathon in June with not much training. A few 10ks, and one 10 miler. I wasn’t fast but made it round comfortably in 2 hours. I did the same half marathon after my son was born, he was a Christmas baby, by Feb I was doing 4 x 10k (on the treadmill which I hated but it was an easy way to fit runs in whilst he slept) plus a 10-12 mile run on a weekend. With more consistent training I did 1:45 at the half in June. I ran til about 5 months pregnant with both of them, then just walked a lot. I think you’ll be surprised how much fitness you retain. You might not be running but growing and carrying around a baby is a workout in itself. Without being too graphic my biggest problems weren’t fitness, but leaking, sore boobs as I was breast feeding which felt uncomfortable when running, and to begin with my pelvic floor wasn’t great...so I wore a pad and dark coloured leggings!

Thank you, that was all really helpful!

I used the 5k runner app when I started to run after dc (They also do 10K, 21k versions etc) It basically starts you at x minutes walk then y minutes run and so on, and just gradually increase the run time and decrease the walk time. I started at
a complete non runner and I’m currently working towards 10K after doing a 5k back in September.

Going out x3 a week should be doable.

Yes, I think it is doable.

I would however do a good Pilates/yoga class for strength/flexibility (and pelvic floor) for a while - even if it takes up one of your running slots.

There are oodles of training plans out there, so it really is a case of finding the one you like, that can be done on 3 runs a week. I'm doing my first HM next spring (having started running about 14 months ago).

I probably need to refine my training (align it with a reputable plan, perhaps) but it's based on running 3 or 4 times as week, one week having a 'challenge' run (speed or hills) and the other a distance run (gradually elongating - it's just under 11 miles at the moment) and the remaining runs being a mixture of easy and fartlek, of varying durations.

I'm not a runner. I still can't type 'fartlek' without sniggering.