10K to Half-Marathon : How long ?

Given your stated requirements then working on the rule of thumb of a 10%
increase in long run mileage per week - 8 weeks.

"PB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

How much training and how long did it take any intermediate runners out
there to jump from one to the next ?

I can do 5K in an 35 minutes or so, 10K in 1:15 to 1:30. I don't care
about speed and competition, only fitness and weight loss. I jog and
walk if needed at a comfortable pace for my body.

You need to build up both a "base" and "long runs".
The latter helps you with sugar-fatigue (the wall) after three
hours of running.
Some training programs try to do this in as little as four months
while others suggest a year or two of build up.

Take for example you are aiming for an April 2006 race.
That would allow you 12 long runs, one every other weekend,
with the final one 2-3 weeks before the race.
If you longest run now is ten miles, increasing each run one
mile would allow you to get the last two in at 20 and 21 miles.
That would be ok for a first marathon.

PB said:

How much training and how long did it take any intermediate runners out
there to jump from one to the next ?

I can do 5K in an 35 minutes or so, 10K in 1:15 to 1:30. I don't care
about speed and competition, only fitness and weight loss. I jog and
walk if needed at a comfortable pace for my body.

First, I'd recommend avoiding events longer than 2 hours until you have a
substantial amount of training under your belt. When your 10k times indicate
you can break 2 in the half marathon, I'd suggest giving it a shot. You should
look for about 54 minutes or so in the 10k.

I am guessing by your times and interest in weight loss that you are carrying
some extra weight. Your times will drop rapidly as you lose weight. Until you
get very thin, a 10% drop in weight will produce approximately a 10% drop in
your time, and that's without taking into account the effects of aerobic
conditioning which in itself brings about substantial improvements. So, 54
minutes for 10k may not be as far off as it seems. But for now, work on those
5k and 10k times.

The second point others have already raised is that you need to build the length
of your long runs. I'd suggest steadily increasing the length of your weekly
long run until it's of about 2 hours duration. Since you are presumably not
racing on your long runs, a 2 hour long run will not cover the full
half-marathon distance, it may only cover about 10 miles or so. That's OK, you
don't need to run the full race distance in training.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

"rick++" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1131028816.338930.12380
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

You need to build up both a "base" and "long runs".
The latter helps you with sugar-fatigue (the wall) after three
hours of running.
Some training programs try to do this in as little as four months
while others suggest a year or two of build up.

Take for example you are aiming for an April 2006 race.
That would allow you 12 long runs, one every other weekend,
with the final one 2-3 weeks before the race.
If you longest run now is ten miles, increasing each run one
mile would allow you to get the last two in at 20 and 21 miles.
That would be ok for a first marathon.

Uh. The guy didn't ask about a marathon. He asked about going from a 10K to
a HALF marathon -- something completely different that can probably be
accomplished in four to six weeks if he conservatively adds a mile or two a
week to a long run (assuming he's already comfortable at 10K) and gets to
at least a couple of runs at 10 or 11 miles before he runs the half.

PB said:

How much training and how long did it take any intermediate runners out
there to jump from one to the next ?

I can do 5K in an 35 minutes or so, 10K in 1:15 to 1:30. I don't care
about speed and competition, only fitness and weight loss. I jog and
walk if needed at a comfortable pace for my body.

A general guideline is to increase long run OR total volume by NO MORE
than 5% (10% every 2 wks; based on either duration or distance). That
would make it a minimum of 4-5 months to go from long run of 10k to 21k
safely. Many people find they need to adapt to a particular distance /
duration before moving onward or risk injury. Also if you run someplace
where you need to transition to snow and subzero F temps, you might find
it a little more challenging to increase at that rate. IOW, 6 months or
more might be a more realistic estimate, depending upon where you are.

It's also not clear whether the distances and times you gave are long
runs, and you want to know how long to increase your long run to
half-marathon distance (my interpretation) or whether they are your race
times and your long runs are longer. I'm also guessing you may be either
a fairly new runner with low volume (<15 mpw) based on your times
(assuming these are road races) - and you'll likely hit some stumbling
blocks between 10k and 21k.

If you want to "do" a half-marathon race, you could pick a race, say 6
or more months in the future, and follow a plan to get there. If you
have problems with the training, then back off and maybe pick a later
half. If you're mostly interested in fitness and weight loss, there's no
need to jump the race distance, but you can focus on increasing volume
and general conditioning.

Note: I'm basing my comments on the similarity of your times to some of
mine (either original road training times or more recent trail "race"
times, loosely adjusted from trail to road) and what's worked for me and
where I hit stumbling blocks. I "did" my 1st 10k race in March this year
and hope to do a 13-miler in early June next year (assuming it's
offered), but part of that time is an artifact of lack of available
races, slower building time in Alaska winter, and liking hills. Most
people will build faster than myself, but I'm just giving you my experience.

Good luck.

Dot

--
"If we reach all our goals, we are not setting them high enough."
- Matt Carpenter

Newsdude said:

"rick++" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1131028816.338930.12380
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

You need to build up both a "base" and "long runs".
The latter helps you with sugar-fatigue (the wall) after three
hours of running.
Some training programs try to do this in as little as four months
while others suggest a year or two of build up.

Take for example you are aiming for an April 2006 race.
That would allow you 12 long runs, one every other weekend,
with the final one 2-3 weeks before the race.
If you longest run now is ten miles, increasing each run one
mile would allow you to get the last two in at 20 and 21 miles.
That would be ok for a first marathon.

Uh. The guy didn't ask about a marathon. He asked about going from a 10K to
a HALF marathon -- something completely different that can probably be
accomplished in four to six weeks if he conservatively adds a mile or two a
week to a long run (assuming he's already comfortable at 10K) and gets to
at least a couple of runs at 10 or 11 miles before he runs the half.

I don't think six weeks is a safe bet given the times you are running
5k and 10K races.

IMO, the half marathon is the distance where it really becomes an
endurance run. It is really a different experience than a 10K or even a
10miler.

If you prefer to just move up in distance, you should be able to do it.
My concern would be the cut-off time of the half marathon. With current
10K time over an hour, you will likely be over 2:30 and maybe close to
3hours in the half marathon. That's why I would suggest building up
some more experience in shorter races with a goal of getting the 10K
below 60minutes. that would be a good stepping stone to the Half. To
get there, follow many of the suggestions in other posts about building
weekly run mileage. Your long run might be okay for now (ten miles)
while you work on improving your pace.

Let us know how it goes.
Ed

You can do it, but you will have to give yourself about 8 to 10 weeks
to train. Your biggest challenge will be training yourself mentally to
complete a longer distance. It sounds like you have a comfort zone of 6
miles. Gradually build on that base of 6 miles and increase it by 1
mile every week or every other week. There are some basic half marathon
schedules you can find by Runner's World, Hal Higdon or Jeff Galloway.

For your first half, train your body and mind to handle the distance.
Don't worry about speed. That comes with time and experience. Once you
get the confidence to complete it, you can do more advanced training to
increase your speed.