Training for half marathon - Not seeing any improvement

Hello Gurus,

I ran my first half marathon (Silverstone) in March 2012 @ 2:09 hrs. I was hoping to crack it under 2 hrs, but as you see I couldn't. I have now another one coming up in October. I would like to do it under 2, if possible.

I have been training 3 dpw (some times 4) clocking around 14 - 18 miles per week, for last 6-7 weeks.I'm not noticing any improvement in my speed or stamina.. on the contrary I'm finding it a bit of struggle even to do above mileage. I don't drink much (10-12 units a week, not every week) and eat healthy, other than work, which involves a bit of travelling (& usual stress), I can't see any reason for me why there should be any improvement. I'm male & 42.

Any suggestion or advise will be greatly received.

thanks,

shashi

Which training programme are you on?  What does it look like?

Not following any particular one. But its loosely based on the one I followed during my last half marathon, which I got from the ASICS site. For the last few weeks all my runs are between average of 08:30 - 09:30 min/miles, all short runs (4 miles) are under 9 min / mile. The 7+ mile runs are over the 09min 30 sec plus mark. The best i have done in the last few weeks is 4 mile in 33m 40 sec,

It looks like you are training too fast most of the time relative to your planned race pace.  Have a look at something like this: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/calcUsage/calculate to give you some ideas about training paces.  McMillan doesn't think any of your runs, including tempo runs, should be faster than 9m/m.

I agree with Joolska.  If you slowed down you would find the training easier and be able to increase mileage and time on your feet.  And that's what you need for a good Half time.  In my opinion the mileage you are doing is nowhere near enough for a good half.  It's barely sufficient for a 5k.  Don't even think about adding any faster pace running until you've got the mileage up to 25-ish miles per week.

How long is your long run?  This is your key session for a half marathon - add on a mile a week until you are up to half marathon distance (or even above).  But you don't want this run to be more than half (or ideally a third) of your weekly training distance.   Which all adds up to increasing mileage.  Do that consistenty and the improvement will come.  

hill work and interval training has got me running faster..i run 3 times a week mon wed fri

monday,easy 10k tues hill /interval fri long run,this seems to be working for me,when i started i just run 3 slow runs a week and didnt get any faster at all..

good luck 

slow things down and up the weekly mileage.

gemgemx wrote (see)

slow things down and up the weekly mileage.

This 100%. One simple line, that will guarantee to improve your times comfortably.

thanks to all for your advise & comment. Just to let you know I did the Pharmalink Maidenhead half-marathon yesterday @ exactly 2 hrs.