Advice, please, regarding my scheduling HMs for next year.

[Steve_L]

I enjoyed my half the other week so much, I need to have more to look forward to! Today, I'm sitting down and listing all the races through to next summer that appeal to me, and thinking of which ones to do. So far, my shortlist is:

13th Dec - Olympic Park 10K (entered already)

24th Jan - Victoria Park 10K (I spent my childhood playing there!)

31st Jan - London Winter Run (entered already)

13th March - Silverstone Half, Bath Half, Surrey Half

20th March - Vitality North London Half (finishing line in Wembley stadium)

3rd April - Reading Half

8th May - Hackney Half

There are and will be various other 10K races popping up (for example the Oxford Town and Gown in May).

Now, although I like the idea of a great schedule of races to look forward to, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I'm not worried about doing 10Ks on a regular basis, but my question is about the halves. How often do you think a relative novice should plan to run a half? I think it would be too much to run one on two consecutive weekends, but how about running one a couple of weeks after another?

How are other people doing with their race planning?

[misswobble Graduate10]

I am hoping to do a 10 k on 13 December. It will be my first race since May

Looking at that list I worry that there's too much. As a new runner that's an awful lot. Four halves so close together is a bad idea I reckon. I would choose one. If you are desperate to do two then do the first and the last one, to give you ample recovery and training time.

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

That's not my planned schedule, just a shortlist of runs that look good. I don't imagine I'd do them all. There are some later in the year (like the 2016 Oxford Half that I might want to do too. I think perhaps I'd like to look at doing three or four halves in the whole of 2016.

[dagshar]

I assume you are planning on picking some of the HM rather than running one every weekend ?

[dagshar in reply to dagshar]

Just saw your reply above - lol...

By the way, meant to ask you - did you take a water belt with you or just take water as and when it was on offer?

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to dagshar]

I realised on my long training runs that the weight of water bottles at my hips was affesting my balance and making my back ache. There were five or more water stations on the course, so I decided to just use them. As it happens, I only used two.

[dagshar in reply to Steve_L]

Hm, I was wondering whether there would be a need to carry anything. I took my two small bottles with me on my 18k on Sunday and am find them ok, but it may be a bonus not to have them at the event. Saying that, I'd need something for car keys and phone anyway, and I find the belt with the bottles stays in place better than any other belts I have, possibly because the velcro works better.

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to dagshar]

I got myself a better belt bag for the day So I could carry phone, fuel and ...... reading glasses!

[Bazza1234 Graduate10 in reply to dagshar]

During my HM training , on long runs I wore a running belt and carried water and my phone in it. But for the race, I abandoned everything and ran "naked"

[poppypug Graduate10]

Oooh what a great list !

I would do ( get me ha ha ) the Vitality North London Half as its the same organisers as the Oxford one you did , plus it will be fabulous finishing in Wembley stadium !

Good Luck in choosing Steve, its like a big box of chocolates with all your favourites in !

xxx

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to poppypug]

I want to hear from people that have done the NLH, as I'd read comments that the course was boring. Does sound good, though!

[Bazza1234 Graduate10]

If you think about racing as "training" -- we need to have a couple of weeks as a taper before a race when training , so therefore it sounds logical that we would need at least the same amount of time between races???

Anyway - why the urge to do so many HM's?? A couple of 10's and a couple of HM's in a year would make a good prelude to a full Marathon in the next year ( the 10's being done as part of HM training)

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to Bazza1234]

Just want to keep my options open, Baz. I'll leave at least 2 weeks between HMs, and only do that once in a year, I think.

The thing is, it's hard to choose which ones are likely to be most enjoyable!

[IannodaTruffe Graduate10]

Organised runs are not my thing, Steve, but I generally find that I can comfortably run a 10+ miler every other weekend, so long as I keep my long run to 10-12k on the intervening weeks. It is all about individual recovery time and I think we have to be aware that as we age, recovery can take longer. But it is all relative and my mate, who decided to give up marathons when he reached sixty, regularly runs HMs on back to back weekends.

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks for that. I know that it wasn't a pleasant experience to do a 10 mile run the weekend after my solitary half, so I'll be very cautious about that in future! I know that most of a week's rest, maintaining running, tapering up and down again and refuelling is perhaps asking a bit much in two weeks, but it would be a pity to miss a good opportunity if the calendar conspires against me.

[Finallyfitat40]

Hi Steve, I ran my first half marathon at the start of February this year and will be running my fifth, the Grand Union half next weekend. I would recommend allowing at least four weeks between half marathons to allow enough time to recover from the first race and then to prepare for the second. I personally don't think I could run two half marathons in two weeks and do them both justice, though it probably would be ok if you treated one of them as a training run.

I ran the NLH and would highly recommend it. Ok it is not the most interesting course and be warned it is quite hilly so that makes it challenging. That said running through Wembley stadium has undoubtedly been the most memorable experience of all of the Half's I have run to date. It really did give me goosebumps and they have changed the course for 2016 so you actually get to finish in the stadium which will make it even more special. I would say go ahead and sign up you won't regret it.

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to Finallyfitat40]

Thanks, that's really helpful to know. Reckon I'll go for it!

[Realfoodieclub Graduate10]

I'm doing the winter run and the Hackney half. Not that makes any difference to you.😀. You must be more confident of your distances than me I was considering a half in May and then maybe another one in October. I was thinking that maybe if finances and work allow a couple of 10km runs during the summer. I imagine though if your comfortable with the distance then you could do more. I have a friend that just keeps his hand In With HM during the year and does a couple of 10km and he's always trained up and ready to go for the distances. I sort aspire to that one day. Good luck with your decision.

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to Realfoodieclub]

Thanks, RFC. Perhaps I'll see you in January! The LWR route looks pretty impressive, doesn't it?

[rmnsuk]

Another option for you. I've just signed up to the white horse half marathon at grove on 3rd april Eeek!

[Steve_L Graduate10 in reply to rmnsuk]

Oooo! But the Reading Half is on the same day!