Crossfit and Half Marathon?

Hi All!

Ok, here's the deal. Found the site a short while ago and think a lot of the training ideas are great. This is my question.

How would you apply the Crossfit principles to training for a half marathon? I have ten weeks to prepare and at present can hold a decent jogging pace for about 25mins.

Any advice on training, nutrition would be more than appreciated.

[Thomas Whitehead]

I'd do the workout of the day. And, I'd supplement it with some running. I'd pick up a half-marathon training program, probably off of runnersworld.com. There, you should be able to find a program that fits your ability level. Specifically, you need to find one day a week, on which, you can do long runs. Start at maybe 30 minutes this sunday. Then, every sunday, increase the length of your run by 5-10 minutes. This is the key to finishing the half-marathon, the weekly long-run. CrossFit should prepare you rather well in terms of the speed you will need. The key is teaching yourself to stay on your feet that long and being able to run for that length of time. Just be careful, it is very easy to overtrain. Make sure you take enough rest days and don't try to do too much all at once.

Thanks for the feedback. The program I'm following just now has me running about 5 times a week.

Basically this is composed of 2 long runs(60-90mins), a medium length easy pace run(45mins) and a couple of interval sessions each week. Obviously the times change as i get closer to the race but that's the basic format.

Would this be too much? I'm lifting 2 a week as well but it's more a basic weights routine.

[Thomas Whitehead]

I would be very careful with your program. Two long runs a week could be a bit ambitious. One pretty good rule to keep in mind is that every time you do a hard workout, the next day, at a maximum, should be an easy run. After a long run or a truly grueling speed workout, I would recommend taking the day off. My running week looks something like this:
Monday - easy run;
Tuesday - intervals;
Wednesday - easy run;
Thursday - tempo;
Friday - REST;
Saturday - easy run;
Sunday - long run.
Often, I'll wake up and go for my run before breakfast. Then, I'll do my workout or the workout of the day in the late afternoon. I lift weights or do the workout of the day 5-6 times a week. Remember though, different programs work better for different people. A lot of it is making sure you don't jump into it too quickly. You need to learn how your body responds, and gradually work your way into it. At some point, you'll know your pushing too hard. And, at other points, you'll know that you can push harder. Just remember to listen to your body.

[Dale S. Jansen]

when i was running, did pretty well on 4 runs a week;1 long, 1 tempo, 1 interval, 1 recovery. leaves plenty of time to wod and bike.

Thanks guys!

This is good stuff.

Stupid question now. What's a tempo run?

[Mike Minium]

martyn,

This thread might help....

http://www.crossfit.com/cgi-bin/disc...=9465#POST9465

Mike