Race Scheduling Question

[DrMomof3]

I'm trying to plan my race schedule for the next year. I've been running for 2 years and have finished 3 half marathons and 1 full marathon. I'm pretty slow but I'm trying to commit a bit more time to training this year. I don't really have time goals but I wouldn't mind increasing my speed a little. (For example: my fastest half marathon is 2:36 and I'd really like to get below 2:30 - I'm not trying to set crazy goals!). I am having that internal debate over whether or not I should care about being slow. Part of me feels that just finishing is an accomplishment (which it is!) and part of me feels like I could improve my speed if I work on it a little.
I can't run too many races because we have 3 kids with lots of weekend activities and I can't dump on my husband too much. I'm also a physician who is "on call" 50% of the time and it's stressful to run races when I'm on call.

April 15 half marathon
Oct. 7 half marathon
Jan, 2013 Disney Full

I'd like to do the new ToT 10 mile race but it's the weekend before my 1/2 marathon. Am I better off going for the W&D half marathon? That seems like 2 half marathons pretty close together, too. If I take it easy on one of the races will I be ok?
I'd love opinions, advice, etc.

Amanda

 

[cloudnut220]

I think you should be okay doing both. A 10 miler is a pretty normal distance to run the weekend before a HM. I would be more concerned not with the race itself, but rather, is being at WDW for the 10 miler going to throw you off in other ways? I always eat junk at WDW so for me, if I had to come back and race right away, I would probably feel slow and heavy. But I would survive.

As for getting faster, you'll be surprised how just more of a focus on training can speed you up. Also try pushing yourself on one of your short runs a week. Even if you just go a little faster in training, it can translate into big gains when you race

 

[chimera]

Physically, it's totally doable and you have plenty of time to tailor your training. Since you've trained for a full, you know some weeks you may do 10, then 13 the following. Lots of folks did back to back halfs over this past marathon weeekend and many do races only one week apart. That's the easy part.

Sounds like your challenge is more mental and scheduling. I don't like running when on call because I constantly worry about missing a message and all the what ifs. family guilt is also hard to get around. trying to schedule training around family activities is hard.

If you decide to do it, I wouldn't plan for either race to be a PR. Just take it easy on both. If you want to PR, do it for your earlier half or during or shortly after your marathon training. The longer runs during the full will make you faster for a half.

 

[cloudnut220]

I should caveat all of this by saying, I race a lot. But I still think you should be okay!

 

[jmasgat]

Amanda Trying to increase your speed does not require running a lot of extra miles or scheduling a lot of races. I have managed--in the first 2-3 years of running--to increase my speed in the half marathon by almost a minute/mile and in shorter races by a little more than that. And I only run 3x/week and do, at most, 4-6 races a year (of all distances). SO if you want to get a little speedier, you can do it.

The key is the kind of training you do. I'm sure Coach can chime in with spot on advice. I will just give you my experience. I follow a plan that has you do one speedwork run, one tempo run and one long run. Together they contribute towards building endurance (for the longer distances) and improved aerobic fitness (my term) for the shorter.

As for races, I opt for quality over quantity. If I have a time goal, I want to use my training time to try and achieve that. I may run a shorter race if it fits into training, but I save the mental energy for the goal race. Plus, at 53 (and only running for 4 years), I have always been conservative in my race approach to try and keep myself healthy.

This is just what works for me. But it has served me well (my PR for half is 1:48:23 and for full is 3:52:37)

That said, ToT could be fit in as an easy run--not race. (My plan has me do 8 miles as a LR on the week before a 1/2) As for the W&D...I would only run it if it fits into your training for the Full. And I would run it at training pace. If that works for you, great. I know I have a tendency to want to race a race (that's why they call it "race",right?)

Finally, it's okay to be any speed you want. If you want to improve, that's great. It's a nice challenge, and can help make training more interesting. But if speed isn't important to you, then don't pressure yourself to achieve it.

Maura

 

[DrMomof3]

I think you should be okay doing both. A 10 miler is a pretty normal distance to run the weekend before a HM. I would be more concerned not with the race itself, but rather, is being at WDW for the 10 miler going to throw you off in other ways? I always eat junk at WDW so for me, if I had to come back and race right away, I would probably feel slow and heavy. But I would survive.

As for getting faster, you'll be surprised how just more of a focus on training can speed you up. Also try pushing yourself on one of your short runs a week. Even if you just go a little faster in training, it can translate into big gains when you race

Thank you for your input! It would be a weekend trip to Disney so not too much bad eating (we have APs so it's not so bad to go for a weekend).

I should caveat all of this by saying, I race a lot. But I still think you should be okay!

Fair enough!

Physically, it's totally doable and you have plenty of time to tailor your training. Since you've trained for a full, you know some weeks you may do 10, then 13 the following. Lots of folks did back to back halfs over this past marathon weeekend and many do races only one week apart. That's the easy part.

Sounds like your challenge is more mental and scheduling. I don't like running when on call because I constantly worry about missing a message and all the what ifs. family guilt is also hard to get around. trying to schedule training around family activities is hard.

If you decide to do it, I wouldn't plan for either race to be a PR. Just take it easy on both. If you want to PR, do it for your earlier half or during or shortly after your marathon training. The longer runs during the full will make you faster for a half.

I would probably treat both races as training runs since I consider the full marathon much more important than either of these races. The April half is where I got my current PR and that's much more important to me. I also find summer training difficult (I don't do well with heat!) and the start of the school year for my kids is always a bit challenging! Maybe have 2 races will help keep me on track for my full....
I'm really struggling with the scheduling. I do ok with mommy guilt for the most part but my job demands are enormous. I'm more likely to miss a mid-week run due to a 14 hour day than because my kids don't want me to run. I can always run on the treadmill in the playroom and let them pick the tv show. Even last night I did my run on the treadmill but was exhausted from being on my feet in the OR all day. I just felt sluggish and slow but at least I did it...

Amanda Trying to increase your speed does not require running a lot of extra miles or scheduling a lot of races. I have managed--in the first 2-3 years of running--to increase my speed in the half marathon by almost a minute/mile and in shorter races by a little more than that. And I only run 3x/week and do, at most, 4-6 races a year (of all distances). SO if you want to get a little speedier, you can do it.

The key is the kind of training you do. I'm sure Coach can chime in with spot on advice. I will just give you my experience. I follow a plan that has you do one speedwork run, one tempo run and one long run. Together they contribute towards building endurance (for the longer distances) and improved aerobic fitness (my term) for the shorter.

As for races, I opt for quality over quantity. If I have a time goal, I want to use my training time to try and achieve that. I may run a shorter race if it fits into training, but I save the mental energy for the goal race. Plus, at 53 (and only running for 4 years), I have always been conservative in my race approach to try and keep myself healthy.

This is just what works for me. But it has served me well (my PR for half is 1:48:23 and for full is 3:52:37)

That said, ToT could be fit in as an easy run--not race. (My plan has me do 8 miles as a LR on the week before a 1/2) As for the W&D...I would only run it if it fits into your training for the Full. And I would run it at training pace. If that works for you, great. I know I have a tendency to want to race a race (that's why they call it "race",right?)

Finally, it's okay to be any speed you want. If you want to improve, that's great. It's a nice challenge, and can help make training more interesting. But if speed isn't important to you, then don't pressure yourself to achieve it.

Maura

Thank you so much Maura. Really a lot to think about! The fall of 2011 was a really challenging time for me and my training took a bit of a back seat to all the stuff going on at home (my oldest child was hospitalized and diagnosed with a chronic illness, our dog had cancer surgery, etc.). I missed a lot of training runs - both mid-week and long runs. I can totally see that just doing most/all of my training runs for a particular race would be enough to help me go faster. And that's without adding any extra days. Just doing the 3 days a week.
I think that doing a fall Disney race would be more of a weekend get-away, fun trip than a RACE for me. I don't get a lot of time away from everything and this would be a solo trip or possibly a girl friend get-away (trying to convince some friends to come, too!). That way it would be more about having fun than achieving a goal.
I thought the marathon was an incredible experience but I really overheated and overhydrated (I misinterpreted overheating for dehydration) and felt a bit confused and disoriented at the finish. Once I recovered my fluid/electrolyte status I felt pretty good. My legs were sore but really not so bad. I care more about finishing stronger than finishing faster for 2013 (does that make sense?). I sometimes get time-envy when I hear how much faster some of my friends are but I also know that we each face our own challenges in our training and I can only do what I can do.

Thank you for so much helpful input! I'm going to see how much the races cost and whether or not I can get time off for a 3-day weekend and then decide what to do. I'm still leaning towards ToT because it just sounds fun to me!
I'm totally open to advice. I've already gotten a lot of good advice here and I'm so grateful for this community!

Amanda