4th week easy week ~ now what distance do I go back to?

[shelleymcb]

am training for a half marathon in march & have been adding half a mile a week to my long run. last week I ran 7.5miles just cause I was feeling great (on papar should have been 5ish) & this weeks long run was 4miles, as Id read that every 4th week of training you should have an easy week & drop back down to your distance 4 weeks ago.

question is, what distance do I now aim for next week? 4miles today was lovely & I definately had more in me so next week do you think I should match my 7.5miles or take it back to about 6miles & build back up half a mile a week?

I am also running 2 30min runs a week, one as a 30min whatever run & the other either as speed/tempo or hill training.

my sunday run next week will still leave me with 16 weeks training. I dont want to overtrain but I do want to be feeling confident that I can manage the half marathon.

any advice greatly appreciated. thankyou. ~X~

[swanscot Graduate]

> ,do you think I should match my 7.5miles or take it back to about 6miles & build back up

> half a mile a week?

From what I've read from studying several Half-marathon training plans, you should step up the long. slow run stretching the distance to - or beyond - your previous run. For you that is 7.5 miles.

Eg walkjogrun.net/training/hal...

[shelleymcb Graduate in reply to swanscot]

thanks for the link swanscot. I think I will see how I feel next weekend. my route can be shortened down if I dont think I have it in me, or body is complaining, so I can choose whether to do about 5-6miles or 7.5miles again.

hope its rains again ~ my runs are much more enjoyable in the rain

[sfb350 Graduate]

I think you should do the 7.5miles if you feel able. If you don't, then going back to 6 miles won't do any harm - you've plenty of time to build up. You shouldn't increase by more than 10% each week, I believe. (I ignored that advice and got injured so I've had to drop back a lot !)

[shelleymcb Graduate in reply to sfb350]

I also made the mistake of overdoing it shortly after finishing c25k which cost me a month off running so am very away of getting another injury.

thanks for the reply. shelley x

[shelleymcb Graduate in reply to shelleymcb]

ha. very aware. late night typing.....