Question:I am running a half marathon on the 19 September. My training has been a
little bit thin due to circumstances beyond my control. Clearly I have very
little training time left but I would like to optimise that time with the
most constructive training regime and cut my tapering down to the minimum.
The race is a very flat one, so hill work is not essential. I don't intent
to kill myself but I would like to run my best time possible. Any training
ideas or tips would be greatly appreciated. At this late stage any help will
do.
Answer:
let's see, 11 days to go. Awefully short notice.
Since you say nothing about your training completed so far, I'll take
the extreme view that you managed very little. BUT if you've been
running 10k races at all, and at least some training runs over 6miles,
then you should be able to complete the race. This last week is not a
time to go out for a big training push. Just continue the basics that
you managed to do so far.
In the race, be careful of your pace near the start. I'll just say what
someone told me in my first half: If you can run a 10k you can finish a
half marathon.
Since this is your first, whatever time you get is a personal record
(PR). So go out and enjoy it. Run smart and you'll be back to run it
again.
At this point there's not a whole lot you can do that will effect you
positively on race day. If you go out and try to rack up miles you
probably won't recover enough.
If I was in your situation, I'd probably key on a couple of hard
medium distance runs (5-6 miles at 10K pace) separated by a few days.
