5-Week Half Marathon Training — Week 5
Follow the journey from 10k runner to marathoner. — Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and now Week 5 are live.
It’s the fifth week of the journey towards half marathon shape. This week, I timed my half-marathon! I was planning on participating in an official one, but those didn’t fit my tight schedule, so I did it on my own. I hope Google maps distance detection is accurate enough to qualify my time for the readers. Before we talk more about that, let’s go to the Week 5 runs.
Also, see Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 if you haven’t already.
Week 5 Runs
Monday: 5 miles ≈ 8 kilometers (easy) + Walk 500 meters
Tuesday: 6 miles ≈ 10 kilometers (easy) + Walk 500 meters
Thursday: 3.7 miles ≈ 6 kilometers (easy) + Walk 2 kilometers
Sunday: Half Marathon
Total ≈ 28 miles ≈ 45 kilometers
Listen to your body while you train. Remember, I have been running 10k and even some 12k runs before I started this half marathon training. Running has been my hobby since I was 13 years old, I just haven’t practiced seriously before. I have only gone for small runs now and then. So if you are not a 10k distance runner, consider starting a bit easier.
As one trainer once told me: “you might be able to train the physics in a short period but one thing which takes time, your connective tissue.”
In short, connective tissue supports your body and muscles. They get stronger over time when you train. So a short training program means you don’t have time to build up the connective tissue. Your muscles can have the power to finish the marathon but get injured at the same time.
Why did I discuss listening to your body?
For the first time during my training, I had painful challenges. I started feeling pain in my Achilles tendon on Thursday. I had to listen to my body to avoid getting an infection or worsen the injury. I took Friday and Saturday off to heal. I was doing stretching, foam rolling, movement training, and resting.
The half marathon
I achieved my goal! I finished in under 2 hours. I had an average speed of 10.55 km/h and finished in 1h 59min 35sec. I felt pain on my left Achilles tendon, so that didn’t go away with resting. I will try to use cold gel and see if it works into it. If I can find a way to heal my Achilles tendon by the next half marathon, I might score under 1 hour 45 mins. What do you think? Have you had challenges with your Achilles tendon? If yes, what did you do?
Oh yes, I will never forget how I was forced to run half marathon a couple of weeks back. Be aware of the cold weather, and don’t get lost.
I hope someone can use this 5-week half marathon series as an insipiration to do the same. I will continue running. I will do a little cool down for the next weeks to restore my body and avoid injury.
I decided to wrote about the cool down weeks trainings as well. Check out the stories from the first week and second week after the half marathon.
Remember to read the Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 as well.
