for an ad-free Fetcheveryone experience!

Do I have to go so slow?

4 watchers

jamesbriggs Jul 2015 4:34pm, 14 Jul 2015 First-time poster!!	Quote Pin jamesbriggs Hello All. Over the course of the last year I've built up to routinely running 15-20 miles a week. My shorter runs will generally be about 5 miles at 9:20-ish pace and the longer ones 8-10 miles at 10:00+. And according to iSmoothRun, I can do a 26 min 5K. All this running is done alone, on & off country lanes for the joy of it. So maybe I'd be a bit faster in a race. Anyway... I have signed up for the Royal Parks half in October and thought I should try a proper training schedule. I put my 5K time and the event date into the Runners World Smart Coach thing and it generated something that includes a bit of interval training and some sensible looking long runs. It does mean that my mileage will drop quite a bit – which I get. But it also means that my first outing today was supposed to be 2m at 10:49! I tried to go that slow. But knowing I only had two miles to do meant that after two minutes of shuffling I gave up and turned in two 8:30 miles. So, my question is this. I know that I'm meant to make my hard days really hard and my easy days really easy. But do I HAVE to go this slow?
jamesbriggs Jul 2015 4:39pm, 14 Jul 2015 2 posts	Quote Pin jamesbriggs Actually, while I'm asking questions, do you think that a sub 2:00 half is possible given that I have run 10 in 1:38?
mblnFERCr Jul 2015 4:40pm, 14 Jul 2015 722 posts	Quote Pin mblnFERCr Welcome to fetch jamesbriggs No. It's a sh1t plan -probably for beginners. Find a better one for intermediates which you probably are after a year - there are even plans on here under the training tabs, or search for Hal Higdon on that there google
fetcheveryone Jul 2015 4:40pm, 14 Jul 2015 16,192 posts	Quote Pin fetcheveryone Welcome to Fetch As per your second para, you don't have to run that slowly - if you're enjoying what you're doing, there's no law that says you have to follow the plan. Have you ever tackled a half marathon before?
mblnFERCr Jul 2015 4:41pm, 14 Jul 2015 723 posts	Quote Pin mblnFERCr Only time will tell on your second question, you've a few months to train so it's possible
Fleece and Dust Jul 2015 4:43pm, 14 Jul 2015 22,337 posts	Quote Pin Fleece and Dust Why is a plan for a half marathon asking you to run 2 miles? It's a shit plan, you should be doing your long runs slow but not tiny short slow runs!
Fleece and Dust Jul 2015 4:45pm, 14 Jul 2015 22,338 posts	Quote Pin Fleece and Dust Oh and welcome to fetch, btw. You might be able to do a sub 2 HM, it's amazing what you can pull off on race day as long as you don't go out too hard, though it's the last 2 miles in a HM which are the hardest!
LindsD Jul 2015 4:55pm, 14 Jul 2015 5,982 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Welcome to the boards. There's a sub-2 half thread here: http://www.fetcheveryone.com/viewtopic.php?id=47233 My times are similar to yours and I think I could do a sub 2 half if I followed a decent training plan. I haven't done that to date, though
jamesbriggs Jul 2015 5:45pm, 14 Jul 2015 3 posts	Quote Pin jamesbriggs Thanks everyone. I did look at Hal Higdon but went for RW 'cos it creates something to fit the dates and, supposedly, your personal capacity. Anyway, not feeling much love for the 2 mile (too) easy on here so I will investigate other options. Not done a half before but pretty sure I could get round one tonight if pushed! I just figured I might as well aim for something good if I'm going to do it seriously and 2:00 is a nice round number!
Ceratonia Jul 2015 5:53pm, 14 Jul 2015 2,373 posts	Quote Pin Ceratonia I think you could probably go out and do a sub-2 hr HM next week, based on your current training and the times you're quoting for 5k and 10M outside of an actual race. I think if you carry on doing exactly what you're doing in terms of mileage and speed for the months leading up to the Royal Parks and avoid getting injured, you'll certainly be under 2 hours. Have you thought about doing parkrun and getting a "proper" 5k time?