I am planning on running my first half marathon in mid December. In the middle of a 21 week training program now and although I have normal aches and pains that a fat guy gets when he runs, so far no injuries. I have increased my weekly mileage from 8 miles in week 1 to 17 in week 12. The plan I am using gets to 23 miles the last week. Down over 25 lbs so far and not injured so something is working right so far.
Oh, goal for the race is to finish without dying. I am a big, aka fat, slow runner, aka jogger. When I started 12 weeks ago, I was at a 13 minute pace for a 2 mile run. This week I finished a 2 mile short run at under a 10 minute pace. Normal long run (currently in the 6 mile area) pace is more like 12 minutes though. Although I am trying to not set a time goal for the race, deep inside I would like to be able to maintain a 12 minute or better pace.
So the question I have is what kind of taper, if any, should I be looking at. Right now my longest run is scheduled one week prior to the race. Is that too close? What kind of mileage should I be running the last week or so. It has been a struggle to get the running fitness I have so far and I am scared to death of losing some of it if I cut back on the miles. On the other hand, I don’t want to go into the race trashed.
Running minimum 4 days a week. Many weeks its 5 and occassionally I add in a 6th.
I know the vast majority of you are way way faster and fitter. But any advice you might have would be appreciated.
I have found that two weeks out from the race I scale back the miles a little bit and will run 4 days a week mostly running 5-6miles those sessions. I do my last long run (usually 8-9miles) a week before the race, and the week of the race my taper usually looks like Monday & Tuesday off, 3-4 miles on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday off, Saturday- light jog for 15-20 minutes (just to get the legs moving and blood pumping) and Sunday is race day.
You won’t lose time, the most important thing is to remember to pace yourself in the beginning miles because that atmosphere is really electric with all the other runners and it’s real easy to start off too fast.
As long as you stick to the training plan and get those long runs in you will be fine, don’t doubt yourself. Cutting back miles won’t slow you down but over training will. You need fresh legs for the race.
I hope this helps.
If you’re on a training plan you should probably follow it, including taper.
I personally think the weekly mileage you’re describing is extremely low. If I were to advise changes to your plan I’d suggest that you build to a minimum of one hour for every single training run, and do them as slowly as you like. The only exception would be the long run which I would grow by 10 minutes/wk with a cutback week every 3-4 wks.
The key for avoiding injury if you take my advice is to run easy, as in 12 min/mile based on what you’ve submitted.
Ok- so im not a “fast” runner either, but i am bigger than most (205lbs) and I have given myself a stress fracture in my foot from just too much mileage- which turned out to be high 40’s mpw…
Your weekly mileage- while being low for this forum- is probably pretty solid for a “couch-to-half-marathon” plan.
You dont want to increase your mileage too quickly- esp if you have lots of weight pounding on your feet.
Go with whatever the plan says. Its probably pretty standard- highest mileage comes about 2 weeks prior, coast down in -2 weeks, and the last week is a few easy runs…
Take it easy. Dont go overboard. Dont do too much more than the plan says.
running mileage is supposed to increase at something tiny- like no more than 5% per week. so dont over-do it! or your body will catch on, and start hating you
congrats on shedding the weight- and keep it coming off!
Tapering is really more art than science - finding what works best for you for the particular distance you’re racing can take time. That said, in my experience - and I think there is some consensus around this - the higher your training mileage/hours, the more you can cut without risking feeling stale or sacrificing fitness. The lower your volume, the smaller your taper. Even with your inexperience and modest training volume, you really aren’t jeopardizing a meaningful loss of fitness over a one week taper - so your main concern should be maintaining your confidence and staying sharp. Given that, I would recommend maintaining the frequency of your runs, but cutting their length by 20-25%. This isn’t the time to experiment with anything terribly different from what you’ve been doing. Also, watch your calories. Running less means eating less.
The first thing you have to worry about is not hurting yourself so if anything I’d err on the easier side. Listen to what your body is telling you regardless of the plan. If you are injured you will do worse.
I normally have a really hard week two weeks before the race and do a long run the weekend before the race. During the week leading up I take the 3rd and 4th day before the race off. The second and first day before I do some shorter race pace runs to get the legs going. Like someone else says it depends on the person. I used to take the 1st and 2nd day off before races but now I find I respond better taking somewhere between the 3rd and 5th days off and doing some race pace and other running in the days leading up to the race.
well done on the weightloss!
are you enjoying the lighter you?
i don’t have much to add to most comments here… namely… you seem to being doing well on the current training plan (speed increase and weightloss) so why not trust it all the way? although the last week should defintely not be the highest mileage week
some things do strike me though… 6 times a week is a lot for a heavier runner. everyone is different of course, but i would say that you should be doing no more than 5 (even if cross training for some)
one poster mentioned to watch the calories in the taper week… that is a good point. don’t stress it too much, but as a previously heavier runner i found that in taper week i would actually have a tendancy to eat more! (boredom from not running?!!)
Assuming you want to carry on, and keep running after the half. I wouldn’t think much at all about a taper. Whilst a taper would likely get a few minutes in this race, that’s probably pretty irrelevant given that in a years time you’ll likely be tens of minutes faster.
Train through the race, don’t waste fitness tapering and be more ready for your next challenge. You have huge gains to come as you move on from being “fat jogger” to “skinny whippet” - or wherever your training takes you.