Half Marathon Training

[larmbruster]

Okay, my dilema is this:

I am doing a half marathon in May, 2010, which gives me about 4 full months to prepare. I'm not much of a runner, but feel this is something that I want to accomplish.

I also bought STS recently, but have been struggling to stay with the program. I worked all the way through mesocycle 1, but then took about 3 weeks off (opps!), and then started mesocycle 1 again, and haven't touched it in about 2 months now.......

I want to complete the 3 1/2 month rotation of STS, so that by May (and bikini weather) I will have the body I want (which is more toned)

However, I know that for strength training as far as running goes, I should be focusing more on high repetions to prepare for the race (and increase my muscle endurance).

Has anyone done a half marathon that could give me some advice? Maybe I should do high reps until the race and then start STS?
Has anyone worked with high reps and gotten "toned" results?

I'm just afraid that I won't see much change in definition from high reps, but then again, i've never done such a routine before

......advice anyone?
(and thanks in advance!)

 

[mspina]

I think you can accomplish both goals - train for the 1/2 mary, and complete an STS rotation. STS is 3x/week of strength training, yes? Alternate your running and strength training, with one day of rest, and there you go.

Make sure that you get your long runs in as scheduled every week and feel fresh for them - don't do an STS leg day before your long run, for example. Other than that, as long as you get your weekly runs in (if you have to punt a workout, punt the strength), you should be fine. If you find that you are too tired/sore from STS to really run well, then back off on the strength work to something that you find more manageable (maybe keep doing STS, but back off on the weights a bit, or keep repeating Meso1, etc.).