Half marathon training, starting 1/1/23

[JessicaBrassica]

Hi,
I'm planning to start half marathon training in n Jan 1st. Aiming definitely for an event on May 13 but plan designed around a race on 22/4. Just in case.

Anyone want to join me?
I've done several halfs before but not run a good one for a few years.
I'm using the Garmin beginner 3x a week programme.

Anyone want to join me?

I struggle with fuelling too @shamoola and haven't found my preferred option. I've got on ok with Cliff shot blocks in the past - as they're jelly cubes I usually try and time them before a water station. They do the job fuelling plus they have caffeine but I suspect they might put you off your stride a bit, as you're faster than me. Jelly babies are pretty easy to eat too, or I've stuck to lucozade if that's on offer. I'm not keen on gels.

I am an advocate for focussing on being well hydrated and eating well BEFORE race day.
I am a bit old school as well and talk about eating and drinking rather than fuelling and hydrating - though that latter do sounds more sporty!

Anyway, I believe if you have trained well you shouldn't need gels during a HM, and you absolutely should not get THIRSY unless it's very warm i.e. a few sips to top you up at water stations should be sufficient, you shouldn't be stopping to gulp down a big drink - it just sloshes around in your belly and makes you puke!

All that said, I totally understand that if people are used to using gels then they become part of your race strategy and mentally can help a great deal. Knowing that you're going to have a gel at say 8 miles can really help you in those miles after the first few where you've settled in to your pace, got to the half way mark and start thinking you've still got a long way to go!

I have only used them when I ran the only marathon I've done, and I used TORQ. I like the citrus ones. I also used Clif shot blocks, but made sure I was approaching a water station before I took it otherwise it got stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Some really great tips here, I too was wondering how much to increase my long runs by and about gels etc.

Was feeling very frustrated yesterday as I didn’t get out for my long run. It was really out of my control as I had to help my sister who was really unwell but I’d hoped that despite forgoing the long run I’d be able to whizz out for 5k but it didn’t happen. Next week I’m skiing so I am not sure where I’ll run! Sure I’ll find something and will practice some interval training before coming back and doing a nice long run.

High5 Aqua are the only gels I can stomach. Pain to open mid race though. I only take one at about 8 miles, not sure if I need it or not, but it's as much a mental boost as a physical one.
I was thinking about trying the veloforte chews so disappointed to hear they are hard to open and eat.
I can't stand overly sweet stuff and the gels are so sticky.
Chocolate protein milkshake is fab post run for recovery though, I just get one from Aldi or Lidl nothing fancy.

Forgot to say, totally agree with whoever said you need to start hydrating before race day. I might take an electrolyte drink the day before to make sure I'm "topped up" but that might also be due to the fact I hate the taste of plain water!

When I did my last half marathon 10 years ago, I managed it all on just a bit of water...and a carbo-loaded dinner the night before. 10years on and my metabolism has changed significantly. I'm aiming to run a similar time to 10 years ago, but I'm going to need some form of gel/food to get me through...despite having trained more and feeling generally fitter.
I love a good chocolate milkshake for after a race...it's recovery food!

Ran 8 miles this morning...in practically the same time as the last 2 weeks! It was so cold though that it took me three miles to warm up to normal pace. The last 5 miles were quicker than the previous weeks if I look at mile splits.
2 days rest from running, then an interval session, 2 more days off an then my 10 mile race.

Long shift in work yesterday but managed an upper body session and some plank work at 10pm! I’m now off to do my first session of hill sprints in a long time! Dreading it but know I’ve got to get it done. Procrastinating by doing some housework. I’m planning on doing 5 with a 1km warm up and cool down. Starting small and will aim to build up each week. There’s a fab hill just down the road which doesn’t get much traffic/walkers so I can make grunting noises without fear of embarrassment 😂

Oh my goodness it was cold out there this morning - freezing fog.
I did a 20min slow jog warm up followed by x12 20 sec sprints with 45secs walking recovery in between. Ending with another 20min slow jog cool down.
Pleased with the effort as it was pretty consistent across all 12 reps.
It is quite difficult to find somewhere quiet enough to do these sessions as I really don't want an audience 🤣
@Cantdoitallperfectly hope the hills were ok!

[round of applause]
That sounds like a really good session. I admire you for getting out there and doing it alone. I just don't put the effort in unless I'm at running club.
That you were able to maintain the consistency is really good - for the effectiveness and that you must have good awareness of your body and what it's capable of.

Now stretch!

That’s a great session @shamoola ! I
may replicate that on my next flat sprints. The hill runs were tough. I forgot to set my Apple Watch to km so was judging it. Did 0.6m warm up and cool down and managed 6 runs up the hill each took about 40 seconds I think. It’s a 40 degree incline.. my legs felt like jelly at the end but it was good to feel a different stride and different muscles working. Hope to add an extra one per week and maybe add 10m each rep next time.

I actually like hill sprints, but that's because I live somewhere pretty flat so hills are like a rarity! I'm sure those of you who can't avoid hills don't feel this way.
I did 4.5 miles at lunch but made the mistake of running in the grey zone, neither slow nor fast which is the mistake I made all last year of running all my runs at one mid pace which does little to improve performance.

I actually like hill sprints

You, you, you....bloody deviant!

So I still have a ermm productive cold (bleugh) but I feel OK so went to club where we did a figure of 8 loop with one loop being 500m and the other 400m and the middle being a walk recovery. Did two sets of 4 loops each.
That was a total of just over 3 miles running, plus 3/4 mile warm up and cool down.
Loved being with my mates and feel great now.

This chat is so inspiring!! I managed a tempo run last week which was fun - had to change my route as it's pretty hilly near me so did lots of loops of the much flatter park!

I've got a monster hill near me and when I was fitter there was an ace, building dance track I used to put on at the bottom and aim to get to the top before it finished!! I never quite managed it and not sure I've got it in me anymore but could be my stretch target.

I'm unfortunately injured so physio says should be fine for my half on 5th March but got to stay off running until I see him again (2 weeks unless I get a cancellation)

I have just joined a gym so any advice on the best thing I can do with this off time??

I'm thinking cross trainer on a fairly 'meaty' setting and try to keep HR in the red zone?? I'm supposed to be doing 10+ miles for long runs which would be at least 1.5- 2 hrs but no way I can stomach that on a machine so thought shorter, harder effort would work???

@Cantdoitallperfectly the jelly test sounds like you smashed those hill runs!!

I'm afraid I can't really help on the fuelling chat as for the past 2 years I actually prefer training and running low carb / in ketosis so my body works very differently! I need LOADS of water to fat burn and although the first couple of miles are much tougher than when I'm using glycogen stores, I notice a real afterburners effect kick in around mile 6/7 and then no 'wall' or crash to get through later - which for me works perfectly for the half marathon distance.

@TheOrigRights i hadn’t thought of joining a running club but might see if there is one near me. I like running solo most of the time and occasionally join with a friend. I think for speed work etc it might be good to be part of a group. I take it that you do different things each time?

@FusionChefGeoff that is interesting about running in ketosis. I tried low carb last year but I don’t like the food and I missed bread and fruit, I did have more energy though but not really any weight loss in the time that I did it. I run and used to run fasted because I end up getting a stitch if I’ve eaten up to 3 hours before. I read somewhere that running fasted isn’t good for women as it increases cortisol. Despite all the training I’m doing I’ve not lost any weight (annoying as I’ve got a stone to lose) so maybe I do need to eat before a run. I’m focusing on overall health and not weight loss but it would be good to see a slight drop!

That's interesting about running in ketosis. I get on well with low carb for weight loss but have struggled running any distance with it.

I had intervals today - 6 x 90 seconds in zone 5. It went very well and was pretty consistent apart from the bit up and down a hill. I was pleased, especially as I hadn't really felt like going out at lunchtime. My 255 is such an improvement, seeing the pace at the end of each interval was very motivating. Plus it warns you about the intervals very clearly, that was driving me scatty before.

Do it!
Yes, we do different sessions each week - long intervals, short intervals, hills.
I would never do this on my own - my solo running is my time to listen to my music and knock out the miles, or shake off stress, or just enjoy the quiet.

Club is fun (in an OMG I'm about to die sort of way) and I find it so much easier to push myself when I'm with others.

Our club has different ability groups (roughly based on your 5K time) so there's something for everyone.

In the winter the sessions are at different places in the town and in the summer they're on the track.

The other weekly club session is a group run, again with different paced groups. That's when ALL the chat happens.

I've made such good friends in my club.

What are these zones you're talking about?
I presume it's a level of effort, along the lines of easy, steady, tempo, threshold?

Oh I think I found it (thanks Google).
Zone 1 – 60-70% of threshold heart rate (easy pace, walking)
Zone 2 – 70-80% of threshold heart rate (easy, slow jogging)
Zone 3 – 80-90% of threshold heart rate (tempo pace, getting quicker)
Zone 4 – 90-100% of threshold heart rate (fast pace, hard effort)
Zone 5 – 100-110% of threshold heart rate (race pace, extremely hard)

My watch does measure my HR, but I've never set my maximum, so although I do look at what the rate is, I've never used it for my training. I've had the watch that measures HR less than a year so am used to running on feel.
I think I do most solo runs in 3, club group run in 2 (cos we're chatting), 4 or 5 for interval training.

I'm curious now, it will be easy enough for me to see its rate when I was doing hard hill training, which will be my max I guess.

I know when I was marathon training I needed to slow my natural pace down so I could improve my endurance. I didn't enjoy it.

I sometimes try and run at "I don't want my hair to get sweaty so I need to wash it pace"!

That's pretty much it @TheOrigRights. The plan I'm doing is entirely heart rate zone based, on an 80/20 rule where only 20% of your runs over the week are hard effort.

My zones are a bit higher, there's a formula in the book based on heart rate over the last 10 minutes of a 30 minute run. All my long runs are zone 2, which is 139-151 bpm for me.

I've liked it and am definitely seeing the benefits now. It's helping me tune in much better to perceived effort and keeping an even pace.

I don't usually pay much attention to zones - but seeing as I'm forced off the road and into the gym for a couple of weeks, I did look back at my Garmin stats so I could get a benchmark.

I do my long runs mostly in Zone 4 which is set at 144-166 but I don't know if maybe I should try to adjust that??

My interval runs / short, faster runs (5k ish distance) are in Zone 5. I seem to spend very little time in anything less.

Does this mean I'm really unfit / working too hard / need to change the zones somehow??!

@FusionChefGeoff
I would say your zones aren't quite right. Also they aren't fixed nor the same for everyone. It depends on your maximum heart rate. As you have a Garmin you can change them so that it's is worked out as a percentage of your max.
I only reach my zone 5 very occasionally and it's not something I could sustain for a long amount of time.

@FusionChefGeoff sorry me again! - but it could mean that your long runs are not easy enough - all depends on what your max HR is.
Can you have a chat in your long runs, and are not gasping for breath?