I'll go ahead and say it. Start losing weight.

I can say it because: I've raced Marathons, half marathons at 170-180 lbs. And I've tried to race marathons and half marathons at 200+ pounds. I weighed 205 last fall. I weighed 178 this summer. I ran a 1:37 like it was a jog.

Statement of the obvious: It is A LOT easier to run them when you weigh 20-30 pounds less.

And if you really want to get faster, lose some of your S&B and run more. Run more frequently.

Think you'll be surprised how quickly you can get quicker.

Not a whole lot to go on in terms of current run fitness. That race you did two years ago could be on a big A race with alot of training, or with very little structure at all. On how much mileage was that 1:46? What is your current fitness, and what have your results been this year, be it open running races or tri's. Doesn't have to be HM distance. AG Nats as you say doesn't really say so much I guess. 3-4x a week is not really much of a run focus (it's all relative I guess), but it's a start ;) Easy way to get faster is to follow a BarryP style running plan: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=2545826


I suggest you read at least the whole opening post of the first thread, and if it peaks your interest read the other threads as well. This is a simple but effective schedule, but it will require more than 3-4 runs a week. But I don't see why you couldn't go from a 1:46 to a sub 1:40 if you put in the work. When you get to the realisation that you want to run 6 days a week you plan your easy short runs on the days you swim, and do the longer runs or the workouts on the days you don't. Especially if you're gonna stop cycling, that should be doable.

Edit to add after reading previous post: I also thought about addressing the weight but for me that would be a natural result of training consistently I guess, but yes doesn't hurt to emphasize it. But I've ran a 1:27 at probably 205-210 pounds so it's possible (I should add that I'm quite tall so I might not be carrying as much extra weight as you are) You're most likely a bit shorter and can hopefully lose a bit quite quickly. Already losing 15lbs to get to 200 would be an easy pickup in speed.

I should have posted Im 6'4" but realistically I think 200 is achievable but I'd really have to ratchet down my diet I can get to 210 pretty easily but my body starts fighting me at that point.

When I was training for the 1/2 marathon I ran a 1:46 is was pretty much unstructured run 4-5 times per week with a progressively longer run on the weekend. Usually at 9:00-9:30 pace and one day a week Id run 4 miles at 8:00 pace.

I could probably run 5-6x per week (the 3 - 4/week in my earlier post was my swim over lunch).

I am not an expert but am almost same age as you and have gotten way faster over the past couple seasons. Have not done a recent stand alone half but managed 1:40 earlier this year in 70.3 and recently 41:04 in a hilly 10k. Not fast by ST standards but much improved from last year. My last year's best HIM run was 1:45, so I think you can definitely knock off 6 minutes over the off season. I am currently running 5-6x per week, 35-40 miles. Almost all running at zone 2 to avoid injury. Do a few miles mixed in at tempo pace and some strides. This was a strategy to keep me healthy as we upped the mileage. Also, I dropped 25 lbs, from 175 to 150 over 2 years so that definitely helped me get faster and avoid injury.

ok I will throw my 2 cents in, I am 6'2'' weigh 173 Used to weigh 217 5 years ago My daughter started running so I did as well (we knew nothing) long story short she is running with the #1 running D1 college program on schlorship. I highly recommend Jack Daniels ( not the drink ) Thats what probable got your weight up LOL but serious I did his marathon program went from a 4:09 full to a 3:12 I can run a half in 1:24 I think his half training program is like 65 bucks! I went to a bunch of his free seminars the guy is a legend give it a go!!! Also you do most of your runs slow I think you will do great with it and will drop weight with out trying I know I did!! Good luck oh I am also 49

+1 for losing weight and following the BarryP programme or something similar. I.e. build run volume gradually by running frequently at an easy pace.

Even at 6'4", 215 pounds puts you into the overweight category on BMI. You can take BMI with a pinch of salt since it doesn't cater very well for unusual body shapes, but at your height unless you're very muscular and lean it's probably an indicator that you could shift quite a few pounds.

Everybody is different in terms of how quickly they can build, but with your goals and training times I'd have thought a decent initial aim would be to build up to running an hour a day Monday-Friday in your morning or lunch slot, with a longer run at the weekends. That's going to give you a weekly volume of ~40 miles. Assuming you could build up to that sort of volume by the end of the year, then just doing all those miles consistently at a fairly easy pace from January until May could well get you to your goal, if combined with some weight loss. If your body is coping OK with that volume and you want to do more then you can decide whether to start increasing the volume further by running in the evening as well, or maintaining the same volume but adding in some intensity.

I am a heavier runner as well (190-195 lbs) and have a HM time around the same as yours. I had success last Fall building my mileage using the MAF HR method and somewhat of the BarryP plan going by the number and types of runs each week - just rather than going by pace I went by HR and ran at whatever pace kept me at the HR I wanted to be at. After some time training that way (I think it was Sept and Oct) I ran a 5 mile trail run that I had run several years in a row at the end of Oct. I went in with low expectations as I had only been running slowly (sometimes you have to run really, really slow to keep your HR down) and ended up running it over 4 mins faster than I had ever run it. I then continued to run that way through a Thanksgiving 5K that I run every year (same course) and ran it faster than I have ever run it - except the year I did a Fall HIM and my weight was at it's lowest point since grade school.