Half Marathon Training

[NMG]

Hi everyone,

I'll be running my first half at the Ottawa Race Weekend this year and I'd like to start a 3 month training program fairly quickly as a way to put some structure into my preparation. I found some training plans on the Ottawa Running Club website that I'm fairly sure I could follow, but in the early stages of those plans the long runs are actually shorter than what I'm currently doing for my weekly long run.

Do you see any issue with bumping up the long run mileage in those early weeks to match what I'm currently doing, which is typically 12-15K? I would follow the rest of the plan and then increase my long run from what it is now to what the training plan shows when that point occurs in the training plan. That looks to be around week 5-6 for the intermediate plan.

For what it's worth, I've been doing my current long slow runs for the last few months and I'm comfortable with my current distance and pace. My total weekly mileage is currently about 25K and I know it will be getting bumped once I start into a more formal plan and commit to 4 runs per week (I currently do at least 3 and often 4).

Thanks a bunch for any advice or suggestions you can throw my way!

[Jwolf]

That sounds like a fine way to do it. You can use the first 5-6 weeks to make sure you gradually adapt to the total distance and intensity of the plan on four runs per week, not just the distance of the longest run.

[NMG]

Thanks for the feedback Jwolf. I hadn't actually thought about that adjustment period, but it makes complete sense. I think I now have a plan!