Attempting my first ever Half Marathon!

Solomon76 said:
Melancholy/HuskyMarathoner, I'm not disagreeing with either one of you because I don't consider myself to be a runner. However, according to the Half Marathon Training schedule on about.com () it is suggesting to do an easy run on the day after the long run. Even the Basic Beginner training schedule suggests to do an easy run on the day following the long run ().

Once again, I'm not disagreeing with anyone. I was just using the about.com training schedules as a basis for my training.
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Feel free to disagree. There is no right or wrong, more like "conventional wisdom" or "best practices". I trained with a large group of experienced marathoners and ultra marathoners and they taught me to rest after long run days so that's how I roll.

One best practice the I totally trash is that I do light runs on the day before races even though they say to rest. I feel like my legs are primed that way.
 
I did end up running the day following the 11 mile run. It worked out really well because ended up running with my neighbor from down the street. My neighbor is a bit older than I am and he doesn’t run as fast as I would if I was to run by myself, but he is pretty consistent. I see him running every Saturday and Sunday, so now I have someone to run with on the weekends even when I don’t really feel like running. I ended up running 2 miles with my neighbor and then another mile on my own.

I rested on Monday. Then I ran 3 miles this morning before getting ready for work. I think that I may run 1 mile when I get home as an experiment. I want to see if all of this running has improved my short run time or if it will be about the same.
 
Solomon76 said:
I did end up running the day following the 11 mile run. It worked out really well because ended up running with my neighbor from down the street. My neighbor is a bit older than I am and he doesn’t run as fast as I would if I was to run by myself, but he is pretty consistent. I see him running every Saturday and Sunday, so now I have someone to run with on the weekends even when I don’t really feel like running. I ended up running 2 miles with my neighbor and then another mile on my own.
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Finding a workout buddy is HUGE. Just like you said, they'll pick you up on days you don't feel like exercising.
 
alright, I have a question for you marathoners!

I have been training the last few weeks for the upcoming half-marathon, and have been increasing my running distance slowly (up to about 7 to 8 miles now on long-run days).

My question is: does running long distance make you folks famished?? I have been freakin' STARVING the last couple of weeks, and don't know why. I don't know if I am losing/ gaining right now because I am traveling for work, but I really would like to know the source of this ravenous hunger! could it be running these long distances?

Thanks in advance,

-Mellon
 
Melancholy said:
alright, I have a question for you marathoners!

I have been training the last few weeks for the upcoming half-marathon, and have been increasing my running distance slowly (up to about 7 to 8 miles now on long-run days).

My question is: does running long distance make you folks famished?? I have been freakin' STARVING the last couple of weeks, and don't know why. I don't know if I am losing/ gaining right now because I am traveling for work, but I really would like to know the source of this ravenous hunger! could it be running these long distances?

Thanks in advance,

-Mellon
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For me personally, the idea of starving is so subjective. I ran three half marathons before my one full, and for me it's more the running 5 days a week that makes me hungry. It speeds up metabolism in general, and the miles themselves will burn your calories.

The things that would make me REALLY hungry were seriously long runs, like over 13 miles. They would take me a couple days to recover from, and you have to eat after them. And that was more because they kept bumping up 2 miles every two weeks. the week I ran 21, when we were passing the 15 mile mark, we felt like we were just starting. You really get used to it. It depends on your progression.

If you're just starting longer distances, it could really be a physiological thing, where you're body is just in shock from what you're mind is demanding of itself. I've already said it before, the whole of your body is used to eating a certain way, breathing a certain way, not making new muscles. Your body is saying "But I can't do this", and your mind is saying "Oh but you must". It's like the Rudyard Kipling Poem If:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
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Your body is making the concession, but it's freaking out and demands food.

If you've been running long distance like this for a year or so, then no, your running isn't making you hungry. Your legs know by now that the world isn't going to end if you just do an extra mile. If I'm starving right now while training for anything other than a marathon, it's probably because I'm eating a lot of sugar and it's creating cravings, or I'm starving myself [half on purpose] and I'm experiencing a bounce, or I'm comfort eating because of stress.

If you're new to this, you could easily chalk it up to the adjustment your body is making because you're asking it to do something new. But it's not an excuse, you still have to do the math. If you run 8 miles at 9 minute/miles, that's 1000 calories if you're a 5'10" 185 pound man. If that's your first time, treat yourself that day and take in 1500 for your troubles, an extra 500 the next day for even more recovery. If you go off and eat a 3000 calorie meal, then something's out of whack and it's not because of the running.

It could be psychological, it just seems like you should be starving because of your long runs. That's understandable, I've done that. But over a few weeks that really should come back down to reality and your eating should return to normal.

When I travel, I carry a scale, I'm neurotic like that. Knowing if you're really losing weight while training can tell you a whole lot. I watched my weight creep up while doing my marathon training, it wasn't a mystery to me why either. I was pigging out.
 
looks like ur all doing exellent, i joined back at the gym today for the treadmills, only managed half an hour but it was good to get back on it. hopeing to do more training at the gym before i go for another outdoor run.

keep up the good work:cheers2:
 
Hey HuskyMarathoner...

Thanks! That is pretty sound advice.

I am relatively "new" to having this kind of milage. Actually, I have never consistently done more than a few miles/ run, and now I am doing about 6 on average, and pushing to 7/8 on the days that I push it.

I do run 5 days/ week, sometimes 6. I am going to be transitioning to a wed-sun workout routine, taking mon & tusday off. The marathon is not until May of 2011, so I have some time to get ready for it ha....

I agree with you about it maybe being in my head, I think about that a lot, but how does it get out of one's head! It's tough to convince yourself of something different... ah well.

Thanks again, I really do appreciate the time you took. That offered me some good insight about thing.

-Mellon
 
For the past couple of weekends, I've been running with my neighbor from down the street. He's a bit older than I am, but he consistantly runs 2 miles everyday Saturday and Sunday at an average 6ish mph. I usually run 2 miles at an average 7.5 mph, but I don't mind running slower with my neighbor because I know that there are times that I wouldn't run at all if I didn't have someone to run with.

The last time my neighbor and I ran together (Sunday), I pushed the pace a little to about 6.5 mph. My neighbor kept up nicely although I did slow down a couple of times to make sure that I didn't leave him behind. After we finished the 2 miles together, I ran another mile by myself at 7.4 mph. I finished the 3 miles about 30 seconds slower than my average 3 mile run time.

So this morning, I was determined to stay above 7 mph over my 3 mile run. I finished my run this morning in 23m 59s, which was an average 7.5 mph. I'm finally starting to get back to the speeds that I was running earlier this year when I was in Germany and constantly riding my bicycle everywhere.

I'm going to continue to run but I think that I'm pretty much physically ready for the Half Marathon at the end of the month. I'm going to try to concentrate on eating better over the next couple of weeks leading up to the Half Marathon. Hopefully that'll give me an extra boost of energy to let me finish with a decent time.
 
The Half Marathon is next weekend. Today I ran 13.1 Miles (the distance of the Half Marathon) in 2h 07m 35s at an average speed of 6.2mph. I was fine for the first 12 miles but ended up pushing through the final mile. My legs felt like they were about to fall off after I finally got home and stopped moving. If I can run next week's HM in the same time as I ran today, I'd be happy. Next week's HM is a trail run and the runs I've been doing as training are paved road runs.
 
hey man... sweeet!!!!

man! I did 9.5 miles today, the longest I have ever gone in my WHOLE LIFE and I was dying in the last mile... my legs were jello.. congrats on getting 13.1, that time is killer too... looking forward to hearing how it goes once adrenaline, and all those other factors are mixed in.. kill it!
 
I just finished the Half Marathon. The course was pretty extreme. It was a trail run through one of the state parks with a lot of short, very steep hills. On top of the hills, there were tree roots EVERYWHERE throughout the course. I almost fell at least once every half mile and I actually fell at least once every other mile. I was beginning to get frustrated toward the end because the hills got to the point where they had to be walked or you'd risk seriously hurting yourself.

I finished the race in just under 2h 30m and I was okay with that because of the condition of the course. I'm just glad that I finished without hurting myself. If I run another Half Marathon, it will definitely be a road run and not a trail run.
 
Solomon76 said:
I just finished the Half Marathon. The course was pretty extreme. It was a trail run through one of the state parks with a lot of short, very steep hills. On top of the hills, there were tree roots EVERYWHERE throughout the course. I almost fell at least once every half mile and I actually fell at least once every other mile. I was beginning to get frustrated toward the end because the hills got to the point where they had to be walked or you'd risk seriously hurting yourself.

I finished the race in just under 2h 30m and I was okay with that because of the condition of the course. I'm just glad that I finished without hurting myself. If I run another Half Marathon, it will definitely be a road run and not a trail run.
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A trail run is a totally different animal. My wife is into them, but I don't dare do it because I've broken my ankle twice already. A 2:30 time is definitely respectable. On a flat course you would have shaved off 30 minutes. That's well done.
 
HuskyMarathoner said:
A trail run is a totally different animal. My wife is into them, but I don't dare do it because I've broken my ankle twice already. A 2:30 time is definitely respectable. On a flat course you would have shaved off 30 minutes. That's well done.
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That's why I'm glad that I ran 13.1 the previous weekend. Now I'm not left wondering what my time would have been had it been a road race. I may do another half soon, but it will definitely be a road race and not a trail race.

I've signed up to run a 10K on Saturday. I just found out about it Tuesday morning. It's a road race and should be a lot of fun.
 
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