Which workouts are most important?

Newbie

Hi, I am new to competitive running (and these forums), and have never been much of a runner in general. I have run exactly one 5k race in the past (don't remember my time). I do play a lot of soccer, bike on-and-off, and do some other non-running activities. My question is regarding training for a half marathon coming up quickly (November 3rd). Due to other comittments, activities, sickness, and injury, I have not been able to train as much as I would like. I have been managing about one short 3-4 mile run a week. My longest run in the last month has been maybe 5-6 miles. Supplementing these runs has been a whole lot of soccer. I play once or twice a week outdoors, and indoor soccer 4-5 times a week. I know that I really need to kick the training up a notch if I expect to do halfway decently in my race. The problem is I am really having trouble working any running into my schedule. If I can do one or maybe two quality runs a week what should I be doing? My thought right now is they should be long runs at or near race pace. Does this sound right? I play a 90 minute game on Sunday, and just had two 22 minute indoor games the last two nights (44 minutes a night) but Thursday, Friday and Saturday are free. I am just coming off an injury and my legs feel pretty beat up today, so I am resting tonight (I was going to try to do another short run). Tomorrow my plan is to try a 7-8 mile run shooting for an 8 min mile pace. This will be a bit of a fitness test as well to see where I stand. Then I will make Saturday a rest day, or a short easy run, and hopefully I will still be able to play at a high level on Saturday. Sorry about the long post, but I am just looking for a little advice/confirmation or whatever. If my November race is a bad idea given my lack of preperation please let me know. I will post again tomorrow evening with how my long run went. I am anxious to find out as well!

Thanks in advance!

Which workouts are most important?

LIFEFORM SOCIAL COMMUNITY NETWORK