Talk me off the ledge, please.

[bullygirl979]

I signed up for my first distance training group with my LRS. I've done a half marathon before, and I literally think I just googled "half marathon training plan" and followed it. However, I made sure my longest long run was 13 miles because I had to prove to myself I could run that distance.

I just got my half marathon training plan from LRS and I'm scared. Lol. My longest long run is 10 miles, and I only do it once.

The *basic* schedule is this:

Group workout (hills, repeats, stuff of the like)

Easy recovery day (30 minutes)

Race pace run (varies from 20-50 minutes, depending on the week)

Rest

Long run (with some weeks having uptempo intervals)

Easy recovery (20-40 minutes, depending on the week)

Rest

I'm going to be okay, right? I'm panicking thinking there's nooooo way I'll run a good race with only going up to 10 miles one time. I'm trying to tell myself that they *clearly* know what they are doing because there was a lot of repeat distance training group folks there. So it must work if they continue to join the group, right? Slap me, hold me, whatever. Just reassure me I didn't make a mistake, haha.

[campermom]

I've trained many, many, many cycles of half marathons with building up to one 10 mile run. I think your plan looks great! It has a whole lot more running than mine did.

[bullygirl979]

campermom, thank you! The easy run after the group workout can also be a cross training day or just a rest day. Right now I'm leaning towards using it as an additional rest day, as I am not used to running 5 days a week!

[gt7301b]

I've run lots of half marathons only going up to 10 miles, but that being said you could always add a couple miles after the group run if you feel like you need to do more than that in your training.

[al320]

Youll be fine!

[melmel48]

You will be just fine! Most of my half marathon trainings have only gone to 10 miles. You can add on if you want to just to give yourself a sense of " I can do this". Good luck!

[foundmylazybum]

Well, you are placing a lot of weight on the long run "mileage" as the foundation of the plan, and basically discounting every other part of the plan as it is laid out. The long run isnt THE one training item that will get success in a race. It is one of the tools.

Overall the plan looks standard and pretty balanced. As a person who is new to the sport of running, personally I would do the plan and ask a lot of questions as to the purpose and intent of each of the workouts and how they actually affect each body system to get you ready. That way you can learn about how training actually works.

Also, this is your second half and you trained yourself in the first?


What's the real harm in trying and trusting this plan?

What's the worst that will happen? I mean you blow up and learn something? I just dont think that will happen in this plan due to a 10 mile long run...its more likely to happen bc you tinker with the long run AND do all the training volume frankly.

[labbie]

I think it makes sense given the other types of runs that are included in the plan. You got this!

[Wines Not Whines]

I’m going to disagree with everyone else. I’ve run my best half marathons when I ran 14-15 miles in training. My local running club has a half marathon training program, and their long runs go up to 15 miles. Personally, I would add on to the longest training runs so my longest was at least 13 miles. I’d try to get there early and run the extra miles before the group starts, and then do the group run. I’m not saying you should do that (that’s up to you), but that’s what I would do.

[foundmylazybum]

This plan has two workouts per week built into it.

The first one..based off the OP has some power and anaerobic work with hills and then depending on the type of repeats has aerobic work as well. Combine that with the second workout day of at least tempo level running and this is a fleshed out plan that is working multiple systems.

You dont just get fit by hammering miles or by hammering pace. That is a basic rookie mistake. You get ready and "train" for a marathon by working all the systems used during the race.


I would bet that the reason why the mileage of the long run tops out at 10 miles is because its overall a beginner's program, that is accounting for the whole impact of the work, and they know that anything more in the long run category might equal over work.


Questions for the op: have you ever done hill workouts out repeats before? What about 20 min of tempo running regularly, week to week? Do you know the impact of those types of running on your body or how they actually impact the race?


A problem that people get into is they question plans and then tinker with them on their own and when it ends up not working out they blame the system..but they didnt actually use the system.

If you already dont trust the training system to the point where you would mess with the long run distance..personally I wouldnt do the program. It also takes a little bit of trust and buying into the process. If you arent willing to do that then..idk do another program from the internet.

[bullygirl979]

foundmylazybum, yeah I trained myself the first time around and literally I ran allllll the runs at the same pace. I used to do a hill workout once a week, but it was so long ago I honestly can't recall if it did anything in terms of my performance.

I did my group workout on Tuesday, the day after I made this post. We did mile repeats. I was dying and was so sore yesterday, ahahaha. So I guess the workout actually "did" something.

I did also talk to a good friend of mine, who is an amazing triathlete (she routinely places, both overall and in her AG) and she told me to calm the f*ck down, lol. She said she routinely trains at 80% of the distance and that it's totally common practice, given the other workouts you do.

[foundmylazybum]

runnersconnect.net/wrong-long-run-pace/

This article does an excellent job of explaining things like pace, distance etc.

It also mentions that a lot of beginner runners jump into plans where they are doing workouts that are above their depth bc of base.

This is exactly what I was talking about, and this might be one reason why the plan is stopping out at 10 miles, is to account for the whole of the work in the plan, as well as adjusting to the plan ad fitness. Sorry if I keep beating the drum here but your post and question are actually really good and pretty common at every level.