Hi! I'm training for a half marathon, trying to eat clean, and trying to lose weight whilst combining the two. How many calories should I be eating? Also sometimes I have no time to run! What do I do on those days? I maybe have 20 minutes after school and before work! I'm 5'6 and 135 lbs. thanks!
I won't talk about calories, hoping a female can chime in on that and I don't count calories whatsoever, so I'd be a terrible source.
Regarding training. So I've done 10+ 5k's, Half Marathons, and Triathlons and I will tell you from my experience with running, less is more. The worst time I ever got in a half marathon was when I ran 4-5 days a week. Once I learned my lesson, I ended up going with a long day and a medium day, each of which increased as I got closer to the race (so long was like 5 miles, medium was 3, all the way up to long being 10-11, and medium being 5). I would do one other day of running, which was either hills or intervals. This is a great day for those "no time to run" days. If your street is safe, or you can find a park / field, even 10-20 minutes of 40-100 yard sprints will work wonders for your leg strength. These days are almost more important than the long run days because the long run days are for conditioning which can be adapted fast, whereas the sprinting days build strength, muscle efficiency, and recovery. So, in a week if you can manage 3 days of some kind of running, IMHO that's enough.
If you can't get outside, some p90x/crossfit/bodyweight exercises like jump lunges, bodyweight squats, mountain climbers will work wonders for overall strength and stability.
Hope that helped.
