Will I Be Ok For the Half If I Don’t Do Any More Long Runs?
The short of it is: yes, you’ll likely be OK. I even encourage some of my injured runners to not do any more long runs.
The long of it is: maybe.
When in doubt, be a little undertrained. Notice, I said, a little. Going out and doing a half marathon, marathon or a challenge untrained is not the same as undertrained. Please, don’t go out and run without any training.
But, if you’re injured, or not injured but wondering if you’ll be OK with no more long runs a month before a half marathon or challenge then keep reading.
In this article:
Runners get injured all the time… especially leading up to a race whether it be a week or a month.
But the good news is: if you don’t force it you’ll be able to race no problem.
One caveat: this advice is for someone with a typical running injury. This isn’t for someone who broke a bone, has a stress fracture or has a ruptured tendon. Those things need time to heal so wear the boot for the designated 8-12 weeks.
But, if you’re a runner with an injury that falls into the realm of what 80% of running injuries fall into then keep reading.
Being undertrained is better than overtrained
It’s better to be a little undertrained than force through the problem and make things worse.
When training for a half marathon, marathon or challenge, the last month of training typically includes your last long run and tapering. Your taper schedule depends on you and your injury.
Max long run for a half marathon
If you’re running a half marathon I recommend the longest run be 10 miles max. You could get it done in 8, but most of my clients would rather run a half marathon during training, so I add a few extra weeks and miles in there for them to gain a little more confidence.
But, no matter what your longest run was, listen to your body, not the calendar.
Like I mentioned above, it’s better to be a little undertrained than overtrained.
You can use adrenaline and the race day excitement get you through.
But if you over do it now, you could be down for the count for longer.
Plus, 1 day of over doing it (race day) with the right amount of recovery after won’t break you. The majority of running injuries happen from repeated overtraining, not 1 bad day.
What to do if you can’t do any more long runs
Walk, cross train, strength train, and focus on recovery
Walk
Walking is a great cardio activity to do in place of running, especially for runDisney races because they are so walker friendly. If you can’t run because of pain, but walking’s no problem then keep walking.
Cross train
Concerned with the time constraint of doing the same mileage in walking vs running?
Cross train instead. You can walk just the same time frame it would take you to run the miles, but you can also cross train for the same time it would take to run the miles. So you could ride a bike, roller skate, swim, etc for the same time that you would’ve been running.
Don’t let the time constraint get in your way.
Strength training
Strength training at this time should be the same that you’ve been doing your whole training plan. So if you haven’t been strength training, don’t start now. Strength training is an all the time thing, not a when-I’m-injured-thing.
Recovery
Focus on recovery techniques
If you have a running injury something is out of balance: either too much activity (running, cross training, strength), not enough recovery (stretching, ice, heat, hot epsom salt baths, massage, foam rolling) or a combination of too much activity and not enough recovery.
Recovery, like strength training, should be an all the time thing, but luckily this is something that takes stress and strain OFF your body so you CAN start this now. So you should.
So if you’re about a month out from your race and an injury has crept up and you can’t do any more long runs, don’t worry. Listen to your body and don’t worry about the calendar. Follow the steps in this article to run a successful half, marathon or challenge.
