I just wanted to say that on December 14th I finished my third half marathon and broke the two hour mark. Not by much though 1:58:07, which is my best time of the three. I kept an average pace of 8:30/mile. Overall I was pleased, however, my next half is on Jan. 18th and I hope to lose 20lbs. before that and shave another 6-8 minutes off my finish. My cardio was perfect, however I broke a cardinal rule of running and wore new sneakers, my previous pair had over 600 miles on them and were in shambles. Should never run long distances on new sneakers. Oh well. I will let you know how my next one goes. Back to training, 90 miles per month.

Fantastic! What an awesome time. I've broken the hour for a 10k but I slow down remarkably over the second ten, lol.

What was your training schedule? Do you do long slow runs, interval runs, strength training, a combination?

Honestly i run four miles 6 days a week, and I try to increase my time. Run on average 85-90 miles a month. If you can do a 10K in less than an hour, than you can run a half. Just go out one day and run 8 miles, than 9 so on and so on. It just becomes repetition at that point and yeah you will slow down on your first one, but then you'll know what to expect. Until you run one, you really don't know what its like. The first one I ran was a shocker. 13.16 miles is far, and two hours of constant cardio is hard, but it feels so good to get the medal around your neck. Just keep going you'll get it. I say the best motivator is spending the $50 and sign up for one. Then you'll be sure to run it.

Honestly i run four miles 6 days a week, and I try to increase my time. Run on average 85-90 miles a month. If you can do a 10K in less than an hour, than you can run a half. Just go out one day and run 8 miles, than 9 so on and so on. It just becomes repetition at that point and yeah you will slow down on your first one, but then you'll know what to expect. Until you run one, you really don't know what its like. The first one I ran was a shocker. 13.16 miles is far, and two hours of constant cardio is hard, but it feels so good to get the medal around your neck. Just keep going you'll get it. I say the best motivator is spending the $50 and sign up for one. Then you'll be sure to run it.

AZPete...do you do sub-threshold runs for most of your training, or are you out to set a new PR on every run? Did you run longer than HM distance in training leading up to the race? I have a HM scheduled for May, so just looking for general ideas. Right now I am running 6 days a week at a 4,2,4,2,4,4 mileage rate. In a couple of weeks, I am looking to bump those up to 6 and 3.

While I don't try to set a new personal best every run, I do strive for consistency, and slight improvement. I run 4 miles 6-7 days a week, sometimes 30 miles a week. I would highly recommend a run of at least 12 miles once before your half, just so you and your body knows what to expect with 13.1. My farthest run before my first half was only 8 miles, and I thought that the other 5 would be a breeze, it was a rude awakening. But having three under my belt, I am acustomed to the distance. I am running another in Jan. and may try a full marathon in Feb. After that, there are no races due to the extreme heat out here in AZ. I won't persue the full marathon unless I get down 20lbs. running at 240 at my pace is hard, and I know 26.2 miles will tax my body. Train hard up to the race, and take off about four days before your run, you will feel like a slacker, but you'll benefit from it.

I tend to get to about 8 miles before my left knee starts to hurt - I dont in general suffer ANY knee problems until I start to try to run this far.

I've tried to train for a half by doing one long run per week, and four shorter of mixed distance gradually increasing it, but have been unable to get past this distance.

I believe ITB issues such as what I'm getting have to do with having weak hip muscles, strengthing the glutes of course affects the biomechanics right down the leg, so I'm currently working over our summer on running specific strength training and a lot of interval running to strengthen my hip musculature and give me more speed and then come February or so I will again try for the longer distance - at the moment I do about 5-6 miles for each of my runs.

I want to do a 14.2km race in march (have done this one before so am looking to improve my time) and a half marathon next July.

Like you say, I could go out and "just do it". I have the cardiovascular fitness to run 21.2km and I'm sure I could stagger through the last part, but I want to do well!

Then thats your goal. Sign up for the run now, and work towards that race. Thats what I did for my first. I would also suggest that during your training, take four solid days off before you run a 13-15 mile run, then be sure to take 2-3 days off following that run. Lately I have been averaging 30 miles a week, however before I run halfs I take off 4 days, I feel lazy, but when I run the race I feel strong. I can agree with you on the pain issue, feet, hips, knees all tend to hurt during and after two continuous hours of running, but like you said, with the proper training, you will be better off. The pain will still be there, its the injury that you do not want. Proper training on my part has kept me 100% injury free for all of my race events. I am hoping that by next fall's race schedule, I will no longer be in the Clydesdale class, runners over 180. I also know that my time will be greatly improved, however I am pleased that for my age group I have placed rather high. My last race I was 322 out of 100, 2nd race was 217 out of 890, and my first was 2122 out of 22,000 finishers.