Posts from May 1, 2008

I had so much fun participating in last week's Take It And Run Thursday over at the Runners' Lounge, that I couldn't pass up doing it again this week. This week's theme is "Backwards Take It and Run Thursday," meaning that instead of posting wisdom (or attempting to post wisdom), we should post a question that we have about our running, training, racing, gear, hydration, etc., that we need help answering. As such, I've decided to pose the following questions regarding training for the upcoming San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in November of this year.

For those of you who are new to my site, I have been running since October 2007, and am nearing the end of my fourth training program (started with Couch-to-5K, followed by Hal Higdon's Novice 10K, then Hal Higdon's Intermediate 5K, and now Runner's World's Smart Coach for 5K). I've raced in five 5Ks since December 1st, improving my time from 31:25 to 26:31. My most recent long run was 9 miles (twice), and my next two long runs will be 10 miles. I am currently running between 20-25 miles per week, 4 days a week, with my last two month totals at 93 and 89 miles, respectively. My first half marathon is November 16th.

Given all of this, here are my questions:

1. How should I train for my half marathon?
2. When should I start the training?
3. What program do you consider to be the best to use, given my current level of fitness and experience?
4. In two weeks, my current program will end--what should I do between then and the official start of my half marathon training?

A lot of questions, but I know the answers are out there. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and help me out!