Back to back half marathons - how should one approach this ?
"Hello
I am following the 100 day Marathon Plan for Paris with a target of less than 3 hours. I plan to run a half marathon in W 10 and another one in W 11 (This one is part of the plan). Should I run both as quick as possible ?
Regards Didier"
Answer: Hi Didier, I will answer this in general - so that others reading this can relate to it as well.
If you run two races above 10k closer than 10-14 days apart you want to be very careful and not race both of these hard. It may be that the races themselves go well (even both) but the problem comes thereafter : I have seen it time after time and it has to do with post-race recovery after race 2 of two half marathons. It takes long, is often un-predictible and in this example may eat into the tapering period leading into your marathon.
In cases like this, a good tip is to race the first half marathon you run (week 10) hard, then the second one split it into three parts. You run each of these three parts harder and harder. To give you an idea, the finishing time should be 10-15 minutes slower in the second race to avoid these post-race problems while going into the marathon tapering period. At the same time, the last 7 km about 5-10 minutes faster than the first 7 km.
Having said all of this, there are exceptions. If you have previously tested this out and you can make it work - it will probably work again. So take this advice as a guide and related to the 100 day marathon plan where I'm trying to make the runners run their absolute best on race day.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's.
Good shoes are crucial if you want to stay injury free during your marathon journey. In general, the best is to find a shoe that fits your feet according to your foot type.
However, these three shoes will do an excellent job with their mild correction - and will work for most runners :
1. Asics Gel Kayano (click for zappos reviews for other runners views)
The legandary shoe from Asics. You cannot go wrong with this one.
The most sold running shoes ever - and by every model seems to get better and better. About the same weight as the Kayano but the fit is a little bit different.
The 2150 is a great alternative for the faster work you'll be doing in the 100 day plan. It is one of the few shoes that "feels" like a lightweight one but at the same time has more than enough stabilty to prevent injuries with the marathon type length of some of the interval sessions.
A tips for international (non-US) runners : check out roadrunnerssports.com :
Example : Asics Kayano (RoadRunnerssports) they ship worldwide and it can really save you some money on your shoes.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's. 
