training for a half marathon

This topic contains 5 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Sarcina1991 7 years, 3 months ago.

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stephanieefany

12:24 am
14 Feb 15
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In what can only be called the opposite of HIT, I am training for a half marathon in July. I used to run a lot. I was averaging about 18 km for my long runs on the weekend before I got an office job and well, hello 12 kg extra, goodbye running habit. So over the last year I have been half-heartedly getting back into my running and have competed, half heartedly in a couple of 10km fun runs. But I feel like it’s time for me to get back into running properly.

Has/is anyone doing distance running whilst also doing 5:2? Any advice? I will be applying my old 3 shorter runs during the week, 1 long on the weekend and then some strength training a couple of days a week to make sure my hips and back are up to the task. I was thinking strength training would be easier on fast days?

Thanks fellow fasters!

LittleWing

8:26 pm
14 Feb 15
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I trained for a half in summer 2013 whilst doing 5:2 and the results were pretty awesome… https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nzlbwi67lxkupo/before%20and%20after.png?dl=0
Not to mention my time which was 1.43 🙂 Can you tell I am just a little bit proud?! First pic is of me completing a half the year before at 1.56 (not on 5:2)

So clearly I’d say go for it! Running on a fast day was never a problem. It felt really good actually. Now, a year and a half on and a baby (plus baby weight!) later I struggle to find time to fit running in with 2 kids but am walking loads and am still losing at a good rate on 5:2 (15 lb in 4 weeks) so I don’t think exercise is necessary for weight loss although it clearly has other health benefits and nothing compares to the exhilaration of beating a PB during a half marathon!

Go girl!

stephanieefany

8:57 am
16 Feb 15
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@littlewing woah those times are freaking amazing! I’ve always run fasted anyway – I’m a wake up early and go runner, rather than an afternoon or evening runner – so I didn’t think it would be too big a deal. Did you have to modify your calorie intake on non-fast days?

LittleWing

10:04 am
16 Feb 15
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yeah I’m the same with running, up and out without breakfast before I give myself a chance to change my mind!

No, I didn’t adjust calories in any way, just eat normally on non-fast days!

JC

1:18 pm
18 Feb 15
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Thanks so much for your post, Stephanie! Running is a really hot topic at the moment with recent studies debating the benefits of excessive, long term exercise. Peta actually tweeted something recently that debunks a bunch of the hearsay, and it’s a great read for any distance runners on the forum:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/upshot/no-more-running-probably-isnt-bad-for-you.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

We heartily recommend combining diet and exercise for optimal health. There are a few reasons that there are so many posts on this forum and others stating that “exercise is bad for your diet.” The most common is that people grossly over-estimate the calories burned in exercise and under-estimate the calories in food. Consequentially, one might indulge in that muffin and a latte (~620 calories) after a half hour run (~350 calories). Just a friendly reminder to those considering integrating greater levels of exercise into your daily life. 🙂

As Mimi says, there’s no reason not to exercise on a fast day. Just remember to listen to your body and ease into it at first.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2624502/Mimi-Spencers-fabulous-5-2-fast-beach-diet-Maximise-fitness-fat-loss-adding-exercise.html

Sarcina1991

11:34 am
28 Jul 17
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Hey there!

I started with IF in beginning of April this year and ran two half marathons and one 10km race since I have started. All in all, I did not see any negative effects, in fact, I decreased my half marathon time from 1:41:17 just before starting IF to 1:40:03 about one month after starting to 1:38:55 (finally! 😀 ) two weeks ago. Also my 10km time improved from 45:20 last year to 44:30 this year in May.

My personal experiences:
*) Easy runs are totally possible on fast days. However, if I run on fast days, I do so in the evening and eat a small meal afterwards, roughly balancing the calories I have burned.
*) I once tried to join a running group for a 10km run in my race pace on a fast day with only a banana before. Didn’t end well, I ended up with stomach cramps after 6km and had to continue really slowly.
*) I would not recommend doing intervall training on fast days. I tried it for the first time this week and felt that I couldn’t push myself to the limit in the last of five 2km intervals. I sometimes to intervall trainings after a fast day with a small breakfast before, this works quite well.
*) I am still worried about doing tough intervall trainings or competitive races before a fast day. I usually fast Mondays and Fridays, but when I have a race on Sunday or a tough training on Thursday, I try to re-arrange fast days. This is something I would love to hear your opinions about, I am a bit afraid that my body cannot fully recover on fast days – any experience with this?
*) In race week, I skip the second fast day. The last two times I fasted on Tuesday, kept carbohydrates kind of low (around 150 g) on Wednesday and then really tried to carb load (500 g per day) the days afterwards. I always thought this will be easy because anyways my fruit consumption is so high that I end up with around 100 g carbohydrates on a normal day, but turned out those additional 100 g are not so easy to fit in without overdoing the overall calories…
*) I do not want to lose weight, I just want to keep my weight, so I am not so strict with myself and allow myself up to 600 kcal on fast days – mainly from fruits
*) I counted calories in the first weeks after starting IF to check that I am not over- or undereating. I would recommend that to anyone, especially when the main goal is not losing weight but maintaining performance

I am happy to hear that I am not the only runner on IF 🙂