Half Marathon Training: Speed vs. Distance?

[gnomad]

So I was going about my business when my local running club's weekly email popped into my mailbox and announced that it was starting to take registrations for its 2011 half and full marathon training programs. I am curious about the half distance (it no longer feels so far!) but I am also still a slow runner and would like to work on getting my speed up.

I was wondering if you folks have experience with half-marathon programs and what I could expect out of one. Specifically, would training for a half be beneficial for increasing speed or would I just be working on plodding along for 13.1 miles without much focus on how long it was taking me to get there?

Comments

[ell]

I used Ryan Hall's 1/2 marathon plan for my first 1/2 and there was a really good combination of long slow runs and speedwork in it. I ran that 1/2 faster than i've run anything since after spending a lot of the winter on the treadmill with that plan.

Also - if you can do an olympic tri, there's really nothing to worry about with the 1/2 :-)

I say go for it!

[gnomad]

That's good to know! Thanks! I do see myself getting slowly faster, but it's just so. damn. slow. I'm starting to think that this would be good for me from a pure training perspective, even if I don't do the half at the end. I would have an excellent running endurance base to apply to triathlons, I'd be working on speeding up (my big winter goal), and I'd have a better sense of my capabilities at various levels of running exhaustion (I still have the hardest time knowing when I'm going to bonk or push on through). Hm...