My first Half Marathon training journey begins.

[damienair]

Hello Everyone,

I normally hang out in the Bridge to 10K Forum as my running is normally in or around 5K-10k. Last year I entered a Half Marathon, but due to getting ill a few weeks before the run I gave my race number to someone else. Anyway I would not have been properly prepared by a long stretch. I'm entering that same run again this year which will be on the 26th of August. I'm running with a running club now and doing long slow runs on Sunday mornings as well as track training and parkrun. I just ran a 10K on Sunday in 1:01:16, pity i did not break the hour but next time I will. A couple of weeks ago I ran 15K without any breaks. I still have a lot of work to put into training and plan to get comfortable up to about 18K.

So as far as I am concerned my first ever attempt at a Half Marathon training properly starts now. 17 weeks to go. Wish me luck. It's my 2023 goal.

[AlMorr Half Marathon]

👍 Of course I will wish you luck Damien on your training to run your first Half Marathon on 26th August, one thing you must not do is to drink coffee just before the race😂, I am sure your running club will help and advise you regarding your training for that run.

[damienair in reply to AlMorr]

Ha Ha. Yeah no more pre-race Americanos. I learnt that lesson.

[Hedgehogs123 Metric Marathon in reply to damienair]

Sounds an interesting story!!!🤣

[Teresa1632 Marathon]

No bother to you. I'm currently trying out the Maffetone method for slow runs. Boy, is it frustrating! philmaffetone.com/method/

But it is improving my endurance over a HM. philmaffetone.com/method/

Enjoy your HM, and don't forget that it will be a PB! 😊🏃‍♂️

[damienair in reply to Teresa1632]

Thank you.

[Hedgehogs123 Metric Marathon in reply to Teresa1632]

Ooh not seen that, I might pop on and have a look too, thank you!

[Katnap Marathon]

You'll smash it! 💪💪

🐱 Katnap 🐱

[damienair in reply to Katnap]

Cheers 😀

[limberlou Half Marathon]

good Luck!!! I ran one HM once and decided it’s not for me. Didn’t do enough training - got too excited cos it was a lovely summer and I enjoyed every run and I just kept going further and further each time instead of doing it properly and then one day I just went out ran the whole distance.

I’m not a fast runner and it took me 3hr 18 mins but I ran all the way and since then I have suffered with bursitis/ GTPS. That was 4 years ago and I’ve not managed further than 10k since nor do I really want to.

I’m sure you will be much more sensible than me - I’d only done 2 x 12k, 1 x 14k, a 16k, and 18k then “ Bu**er it let’s do the lot!!” On a really hot August day at midday. What a fool!!!! And all that in the space of about 4 weeks. I could kick myself ( If my hip didn’t hurt so much 😂😂)

Good luck for your HM and I’m sure you will train sensibly over the next 4 months.

[damienair in reply to limberlou]

Thanks. Yes I’ll build it up gradually and mix up my running. I’m not sure I’ll do much more. Definitely would not attempt anything further than a Half Marathon. I think one HM per year and 5K and 10K runs after that.

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles]

Wishing you very good luck Damienair and strong legs to carry you safely round

[damienair in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thank you.

[Irishprincess Administrator Half Marathon]

Welcome Damien! How exciting 🤗 You have a great base on which to build and I’m sure you will enjoy the training.

This post might be useful as it contains loads of information about running a HM but obviously if you have any questions or just want to share news about your runs then you know where to come 🙂

Good luck and have a great time 🍀

healthunlocked.com/marathon...

[damienair in reply to Irishprincess]

Thank you and thanks for the link.

[Sandie1961 Half Marathon]

Congratulations on getting back on the road towards HM. 17 weeks is loads of time especially when you have already done 15k. You’ll smash it I’m sure!

[damienair in reply to Sandie1961]

I’ll be happy to get around. Not going to put myself under pressure for a time.

[misswobble Marathon in reply to damienair]

Good idea. Enjoy yourself! 🙂👍

[backintime 10 Miles]

you've got this! I know we'll be reading a great run report come August !

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Exciting journey Damien and it sounds like you are already well on the way! 👍😃 Good luck with your training plan and I look forward to following your posts on here too!🙂

[damienair in reply to Sandraj39]

Thank you.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon]

Welcome Damien. Great to see you here. Good to have so much time in hand; if the niggles don’t get us covid might!! Looking forward to your run reports.🙂

[damienair in reply to Beachcomber66]

Thank you.

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

That’s exciting Damien. Watching your incredible progress on Strava, I have no doubt at all that you’ll not only achieve your HM goal, but you’ll smash it! Have fun, and of course tell us how you’re getting on. 😀

[damienair in reply to cheekychipmunks]

Ah thank you Cheeky. Just relaxing now after doing an interval session at the running track with the club. I’ll be sore tomorrow 😀

[ForbiddenPlanet Half Marathon]

Good luck Damien - I hope the training goes well. 👍

[RunWillie Marathon]

Enjoy the training damienair 👍🏻

[Week7 Half Marathon]

Wishing you best of luck with the training - sounds like you are going to be really well prepared for your half marathon . Looking forward to reading your training updates AND your race report in August!!!Good luck 🏃‍♂️

[damienair in reply to Week7]

Thank you. Looking forward to it.

[OldManRunning Half Marathon]

Nice one damienair, good time too. I'll be following you progress as I'm hoping to do one in November/December to coincide with my 68th birthday 😁Which training plan are you following?

[damienair in reply to OldManRunning]

Hi, I am not doing any training plan. I joined my local running club in February and they do interval training on Tuesday nights, Tempo runs on the track on Thursday nights and I will be doing parkrun on Saturday mornings. On Sunday mornings they meet up at 7:55 to do a long slow run. Some will go on to do Half Marathons and Marathon training. So I stick with a little group to run the long run. That should hopefully help with my training.

[OldManRunning Half Marathon in reply to damienair]

I've started with a club too, it's been very good and very similar to your set up. Because I'm still in my first year of running I'm still on rest days in between run so because I do parkrun don't do the long Sunday run. My planned half marathon won't be until November/December so I intend sticking to the 3 runs a week with a recovery run, 5k parkrun and a longer run, adding an extra 1k on every 2 or 3 weeks. I'm not sure if it'll work but seems feasible with the 10% rule.Good luck with your training and HM 😁

[GTFC Marathon]

So lovely to read my man. You're heading forwards and it's lovely to see. Steady away and keep building mate. The club you attend and the mix of runs will be great preparation for you. Go well and enjoy every little bit of all of it on your way to HM 👏👏👏

[damienair in reply to GTFC]

Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Bit by bit. I am getting a little fitter ever few weeks.

[nowster Metric Marathon]

Anyone who can do 15km can do 21.1km.

You'll burn about 1500-1800 Calories doing it, depending on your weight. That's almost a full day's food intake.

This means unless you're used to doing it you'll need to take some snacks with you, and you'll need some fluids too, especially in warmer weather. (A litre minimum.)

Common problems include getting rubber legs immediately after stopping. This is most likely from depleting the glycogen stores in those muscles. Snacks will help. I usually start taking in something sugary about the 9km mark. You'll need the snacks less once your metabolism gets used to burning fats.

For longer distances it's important that you're able to use the gluteus group of muscles. If they're not helping out, the hamstring muscles will get overused, leading to problems like pain behind the knees. One simple trick is to lower the height of your pelvis by very slightly "sitting down" whilst running. It only takes a tiny amount, but it changes the mechanics a lot. If you have a sore bum after a run, you'll know you've used your glutes.

All that said, I set out on Friday with the intention of doing 10km, felt really good about things and continued on to do a HM, finishing right in front of the local chip shop just in time to pick up my booked order. No fluids and no snacks. However, I've done that distance something like fifteen times before!

As soon as I got home I wolfed down the cod and chips before even changing out of my sopping wet kit, and washed it down with a couple of pints of water with rehydration tablets in it.

[damienair in reply to nowster]

That's a great way to enjoy guilt free Cod and Chips. What would you recommend as sugary snacks whilst running? I am very nervous about taking energy gels.

[nowster Metric Marathon in reply to damienair]

I tend to use jelly babies. Cheap "souvenir of…" fudge works well, too, but it's usually full of palm oil.

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to damienair]

I don’t like the texture of jelly babies so use fruit pastilles and dried apricots damienair . Also misswobble has a recipe for power bars which are full of energy. UTS mixes up tailwind as he doesn’t like solids when running. Keep trying different things and see what works for you. .

[misswobble Marathon]

well done 👍😀

As long as you take the time to prepare properly you should do well on the day Eat well, sleep much, and stay hydrated.

Have fun! 🏃‍♂️

[damienair in reply to misswobble]

Thank you.

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to damienair]

This lady got me through my HM... first time... she knows her stuff ! xxx

[Dexy5 10 Miles]

I am sure you will smash it damienair! 💥

[Oldfloss Administrator]

Go you... you are going absolutely love that first HM...and the team here and all the runners will support you every step of the way.

Plenty of time to make sure you are really prepared for it... my only advice would be , do not be afraid to tweak any training to suit you... the plans are not written in stone and you have to find out what works. There are really experienced folk on here who are so good at helping with that.

I will be running on Sunday 27th August... luckily only 10 K ...phew !🤣

[Cmoi Marathon]

Lovely to see you here damienair , have fun preparing for your first HM!

[Cowladyrunning Marathon]

Good luck! Sounds like you are doing great for training.

[Hedgehogs123 Metric Marathon]

Hey well done for making the commitment to do one. I'm sure you'll love your first one, I certainly did! Having only just my very first one a few weeks ago, I'd say you will be absolutely fine with the time you have to train. I intended to follow a strict training plan but actually in the end I didn't, I just made sure I was mixing up my runs . Still doing ParkRun , long runs, intervals, strength training and yoga.Look forward to hearing how you get on with training and then the race itself! 🎖️🎖️

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Welcome to this forum Damien! We have a shiny 10 mile badge ready and waiting for you - you're almost there! You have loads of time to get to 21.1k. Enjoy it and do let us know how it's going 😊

[womblejogger Half Marathon]

good luck on the training and on the race later this year

[TailChaser Marathon]

All the best Damien, I really can’t see you having any problems, your running is going so well. Long may it continue 😀👌🤞

[Instructor57]

Fantastic to hear this damienair .Enjoy the training and the run 👍