LogYourRun

jahampton says:

I do like the idea of maintaining my distance. I am planning on a marathon, but that is not until Nov.

There is only 3 reasons I am even thinking about the 2nd half. The first being price. You don't see that many 5k's for that price, let alone a half. It is the inagural distance for that event. And third, it keeps my motivation up until mid May when the marathon training will be starting.

Thanks for the input. Now I just have to get through the first event!

rcblu2 says:

I love eyeing that next race when I haven't even made it to the one I am training for. I assume your goals for your first half will be to finish. You probably have some sense of your time. My thinking is that you will get a little faster for the second IF you continue maintaining the base. Slack off on training then the second half will be harder than the first. I personally would move into a maintenance-mode after the first half. One easy week to recover from the race, then just get consistent with weeks that look like Tues=3 miles, Wed=5, Thurs or Fri=3, Sun=8. Eventually I would move the long run up to 9 then 10 miles and have a couple weeks of taper. If you stay consistent during that in-between time you will find yourself strong for that second half.

adigerati says:

I had this same question myself at one time and the answer is.. well it depends.

First off, running a second half is good.

The real question is about your training. As far as I'm concerned you have three options and they are all dependent on how well you do in the first half and what you want to accomplish with the second half.

Option 1 is to restart the current program your on at week 4. I would use this option if you struggled during the half and were in bad shape afterwards. This is assuming that you trust the training plan that you were using.

Option 2 is to start a higher level of training at week 4. If you sailed through the first half and now you want to work on meeting a goal time below the first half's time. Look for the next higher up training program than what you were using. Again I'm assuming that your current training program is a beginner program so it shouldn't have any speed work. A higher level half training program should include speed work. Intervals, fartleks, 8x800's, runs like this. Speed work can be just as challenging (more so even) as building distance.

Option 3 and probably the recommendation that I would rank the highest. Look at Marathon training programs. Most of them generally have a half-marathon race as part of the training. Continue the training from that point. You may have to adjust the training a little bit to make it end on the same date as your second half (you can always repeat weeks). If you have to drop weeks then drop the longer mileage weeks first. The reason I prefer this idea is because you will already be in the endurance (distance) building mode from training for you first half. This option extends your training rather than start over, allowing you to capitalize on your current momentum.