[Formerly Helpful_C]

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this thread.

I am contemplating signing up for a half-marathon in September 2012 - the Budapest International Half Marathon. I have altered my diet quite recently but, despite this, I don't think it's the best in the world and, so, I believe it would be wise to ask people who are more informed.

Diet:

Spoiler:

Show

Breakfast: A large bowl of Fruit N Fibre with added nuts and raisins. I don't drink cow's milk any longer so I accompany my cereal with almond milk.

Lunch: This is a sore area for me. I used to have peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and a bowl of nuts and seeds. However, since my dietary change, I have only been eating a bowl of nuts and seeds.

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts/3 turkey steaks or 4 beef burgers with ketchup in wholemeal rolls. I will occasionally eat spinach or kale after meals, too.

Desert: Plain organic yoghurt (150g).

As you can see, I have a good foundation - in that there is very little junk. I will usually achieve 2500 calories in a day, but that is without training for an event like this. I am open-minded enough to consider more vegetables, but I have had to cut back on wholegrain pasta and brown rice recently for possible health reasons.

I welcome suggestions and amendments.

Training plan

I found this plan online and it looks satisfactory, but I would appreciate advice from 'seasoned veterans' and enthusiasts.

Shoes

I live in the vicinity of London (30 minutes by the Central Line) and have read that I should go to a specialist store to receive the best possible advice. Can anyone recommend the type of stores that I should go to and even possible shoes?

Flights

Having researched flights, I've made an early decision to go a couple of days before so that I'm not affected by the flight. The current return price is £66 with Ryanair, but is it likely to fluctuate?

About me

I'm 19 years old, currently on a gap year, and I used to be - for my school - the best runner. However, over the last few years, I haven't done too much in the way of exercise - excluding walking. During my time at school, I represented them at several district championships for 1500m as well as several cross country runs - where I finished 27th, 31st and 33rd. Despite my recent hiatus from running, I'm still in good running shape and I feel that it's just a matter of restarting.

The race

I have until July 15th to sign up if I want to avoid another price increase.

To reiterate what I said at the start, thank you for reading and potentially assisting.

[Formerly Helpful_C]

Anyone?

[Nooshkabob]

Well i guess it depends on how you want to do in the half marathon... my dad did one in March where he did nothing to change his diet, just has average running shoes, bit overweight, and only started running twice a week from about christmas time. He did it in 2hrs 12 mins (not bad for a first half marathon i think!). On the other hand, if you're flying all the way to budapest it sounds like you're quite serious about it... but i'm not a running expert! i think the more you run the better, and diet won't make a huge difference as long as you're healthy (which it sounds like you are). It's not a full marathon, so not so intense, just having the bloody minded determination to keep going once you hit 10 miles and it starts to hurt. There are some good books out there on how to run a half marathon, and often the half marathon which you're entering will have a website with advice.

[Formerly Helpful_C]

(Original post by Nooshkabob)
Well i guess it depends on how you want to do in the half marathon... my dad did one in March where he did nothing to change his diet, just has average running shoes, bit overweight, and only started running twice a week from about christmas time. He did it in 2hrs 12 mins (not bad for a first half marathon i think!). On the other hand, if you're flying all the way to budapest it sounds like you're quite serious about it... but i'm not a running expert! i think the more you run the better, and diet won't make a huge difference as long as you're healthy (which it sounds like you are). It's not a full marathon, so not so intense, just having the bloody minded determination to keep going once you hit 10 miles and it starts to hurt. There are some good books out there on how to run a half marathon, and often the half marathon which you're entering will have a website with advice.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

My diet is good, in the sense that it isn't unhealthy, but I can't afford to be losing weight - rather, the inverse is true. I can only start training when I'm confident of getting 3,400+ calories a day, otherwise I'll waste away.

I will see if there are any kindle books for half-marathon runners before spending unnecessary money.