Half Marathon two weeks before TOT run.. too much or maybe do able?

[pinkxray]

About 7 or 8 weeks ago I found out that there is a half marathon scheduled in my town two weeks before the TOT run. The course goes right along my running route so I am very familar with it. I even convinced my coworker who did the Couch to 5k with me last year to train too. She convinced another two coworkers to do it too.

At the time it was 12 weeks away and we picked a 12 week training schedule. Hmm, that wasnt the best idea since a few weeks have gone very badly due to heat and way too much working but it is still doable.

If I am able to stay on plan the next 4 weeks I will be able to get to about 11-11.5 miles in training before the half. I plan on taking it easy for the half, going slow which means my pace will be somewhere between 12:30- 13:30 depending on the weather.

Here are my issues-

I looked at the results from the Half last year and about 300 people ran it (it was the first year). About 97% finished in 2:30. The other 3% finished withing 2:30-3. Just knowing that I will be one of the last to finish is kind of a bummer. But since it is the second year maybe more people will show up?

Will I have enough time to recover for the TOT run? I think as long as I take it slow I should be okay to recover. If I do the half how should I train the two weeks in between?

I think if it was only me considering it I might skip it, but since I have two other coworkers doing it I feel like a slacker not doing it since it was my idea (1 coworker dropped out, 1 is fully in to it and 1 is struggling and will probably not do it if I don't)


Thanks for any advice. I just don't know what to do.

 

[JCH]

About 7 or 8 weeks ago I found out that there is a half marathon scheduled in my town two weeks before the TOT run. The course goes right along my running route so I am very familar with it. I even convinced my coworker who did the Couch to 5k with me last year to train too. She convinced another two coworkers to do it too.

At the time it was 12 weeks away and we picked a 12 week training schedule. Hmm, that wasnt the best idea since a few weeks have gone very badly due to heat and way too much working but it is still doable.

If I am able to stay on plan the next 4 weeks I will be able to get to about 11-11.5 miles in training before the half. I plan on taking it easy for the half, going slow which means my pace will be somewhere between 12:30- 13:30 depending on the weather.

Here are my issues-

I looked at the results from the Half last year and about 300 people ran it (it was the first year). About 97% finished in 2:30. The other 3% finished withing 2:30-3. Just knowing that I will be one of the last to finish is kind of a bummer. But since it is the second year maybe more people will show up?

Will I have enough time to recover for the TOT run? I think as long as I take it slow I should be okay to recover. If I do the half how should I train the two weeks in between?

I think if it was only me considering it I might skip it, but since I have two other coworkers doing it I feel like a slacker not doing it since it was my idea (1 coworker dropped out, 1 is fully in to it and 1 is struggling and will probably not do it if I don't)

Thanks for any advice. I just don't know what to do.

I was going to say go ahead and do it as a lot of ToT training go up to 11 or 12 miles two weeks before, and just walk the last few miles as a cool down...but...I know the feeling of these faster races. It.is.miserable. I did one as a training race, and ended up so alone in the back, no one around, water stations packing up as I was coming by....I felt SO defeated....

When I got t the finish line, I saw the clock....I was almost last (there were apparently two people waaaay behind me walking), but I still had a PR. I was 4 full minutes under my goal time. After that, I decided to stick go Disney and other big races to avoid feeling like a complete loser even while doing my best.

 

[Qltrgrl2]

I have another thought.....if your coworkers and friends are running at about the same easy pace as you, go for it. It can be your last long training run before the ToT race which should be a blast. Good luck!

 

[johde]

Assuming it's a well run race, like others have said go ahead and do it as your last training run. Assuming you can control your pace and run it easy. In my one small race, I ran a 13:00 mile and ended up 467th out of 523. That race had a full marathon that also helped with having support around. I know I'm planning on a 15 mile long run 2 weeks before my goal half marathon in October.