?? good training schedule for half marathon

Hello everyone...
I have a half marathon in 11 weeks and I have been exercising at my local gym for the past 2 weeks.   I have been doing anywhere from 3 to 5 miles either with elliptical/walking or treadmill/walking in gym and then I also throw in some resistance ball crunches and doing lifting weights for my arms/triceps... I go to the gym 5 days a week for a hour... what has worked for everyone else?  I have heard t slowly increase my mileage every week.    Thanks! 

hi!

just did first half yesterday! so fun!

I could not find a training plan that was right for me. So I combined three to suit me

Here is basically what I did.

I had just run a 10K so I could do 6 miles at that point. You are pretty close to that so you could follow this easily.

Every week consisted of this:
Tuesday: run 30-45 min (usually I did a 5k on the treadmill at about 31-33 mins with a 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down walk)
Thursday: same as Tuesday
Sunday: long run (always did on the streets to mimic race day atmosphere and it gets boring to go longer on the treadmill

I did cross training on the other days...that is up to you on intensitiy and which activity. Saturday was always my rest day. MOnday I took light b/c of the long run the day before.

HEre is the schedule roughly for the long run day:
started at 6 miles and increased it 1 mile every week. Every 3 week I tapered by about 4 miles then the next week picked up where I left off before taper. Two weeks before event I tapered by running 6 miles both Sundays before race day. The week of I only did one 30 min run and made it on Wednesday to fully recover.

I also iced my knees for 10 min after every work out because as I upped my mileage (about at the 10 mi mark) they started hurting. I also religiously rolled out my muscles before and aftger with a foam roller (highly suggest this).

So here is the rough uppage of mileage for sundays (all at your race pace which is slower than your 5k or 10k pace)
week 1 6 mi
week 2 7 mi
week3 8 mi
w4 4 mi
w5 9 mi
w6 10 mi
w7 11 mi
w8 7 mi
w9 12 mi
w10 6 mi at race pace
w11 race...rest after sundays run sunday run 6 miles

I used Hal Higdon's Intermediate for my last half, and was successful. 

Here's a link to his Beginner Half Marathon training.

The resistance and lifting is GREAT - keep up the cross-training!

Are you planning on walking or running?  One of the most important things to do is get the 'feet time' you need to be able to make it.  Increase your mileage by no more than 10% a week and be sure you can go at least 9-10 miles three or four weeks before the half.

I found my first training plan online and it worked well for me.  There are lots of them out there, but most of them have you train on your feet 4 days a week.  One longer distance, one slower pace and shorter distance, one faster pace shorter distance, and one normal pace normal distance.

Hope this helps you a little, but I'd really look for an actual training plan.

Linn

Sounds like you are getting into great shape for your Half....having a strong core will certainly help you

For my first Half Marathon I used John "The Penguin" Bingham's training plan.  I found it to be very reasonable and focused on "getting it done" instead of time focus.  I did my first Half at my top weight  - 318lbs, so now that I have lost much of that weight these distances seem so much easier to handle.

His book Marathoning for Mortals has plans for running a half, run/walk or walk/run or walk....lots of options.  I highly recommend the book, it has good information and I like his attitude of running for the fun of it and stopping to smell the roses along the way. 

I am currently using his Marathon Training Plan as I prepare for my very first marathon ever ....

Thank you everyone for your input and helpful info... I do plan on jogging/walking the half marathon.   I am still building up my endurance.   I have noticed that my knees do hurt some while jogging in the gym.   It has been very cold and wet/snowy outside to go out and jog but I so want to.  I absolutely love the cross trainers/ellipticals at the gym... I usually do a 10k on them.  I am still walk/jogging to help.  I was still expecting to lose some weight while doing this... but have actually gained some weight, I understand that I am gaining because of the muscle gain but that is very frustrating.   I have been keeping up my protein and have been eating every 2 to 3 hours with always protein first.  Good luck to everyone else doing the half maraton... it does feel so good to be able to move and actually even think of jogging in a marathon is a huge task!!  I can do this and I will love it also!!