Question:
I've been following the very technical discussions re: training and wondered
if any of you guys out there had an opinion on the half marathon training
guide that I've just started following:
http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/adv.htm
I've never run a half marathon before, but was (recovered! from knee injury)
a fairly decent 3km-10km runner a couple of years ago. Following injury I've
built up a fairly decent 'aerobic base' and did my first track session this week
(ouch!). Feeling fine now, and looking forward to the 90min run.
So if anyone has any criticisms/comments/etc of Hal's guide (are there too many
rest days?) or has another direction that may be useful, I'm all ears.
Answer:Works in my book. I'm a big fan of having a solid foundation and all those 90 minute
runs you'll be doing imply that you will have gotten up to near that distance in the
preceeding months. I'm really looking at the long runs more than the other runs in
the week. How you fill out the rest of the week is up to you. Since you have
experience running 10k's take that schedule and add a few miles to your longest
short run and you should be fine.
As far as rest days, again how you fill out the rest of the week is up to you. Some
will argue that you need to be running 60 miles and others no more than 35. For what
it is worth I ran my best half marathon doing 40 mile weeks. What you do in the
non-long runs is up to how you recover. If you find yourself getting tired then
evaluate how many miles you are running. Or on the other hand if you find yourself
with pleanty of energy add some more. It won't take long for you to find out what is
right for you.
Another point I like is that you are doing long runs up to the end. But this could
be my own bias that I don't need much of a taper.
Let us know how the progress goes.
