Half Marathon Personal Best Program
This program is designed for relatively experienced runners who have run the half marathon distance previously and wish to improve their half marathon PR.
In this program you will be expected to regularly run beyond the half marathon distance in training to improve your aerobic endurance to allow you to complete the half marathon race distance at the consistent pace required to meet your pre-race goal.
To complete this program it is expected you will have completed the half marathon distance in training and/or racing during the last 6-9 months and be currently running at least 4-5 times a week.
Maintaining consistency in all facets of this program is essential to the success of this program. There are opportunities to integrate some races into the program; I have suggested appropriate weekends during the program for incorporating races into the program.
A system of two higher intensity weeks followed by an easier recovery week to allows your body to reap the rewards of this program. A four-stage progression is followed where a specific type of training is focused upon during each stage:
- Aerobic conditioning (weeks 1 - 12)
- Aerobic Capacity (weeks 13 - 18)
- Sharpening and Tapering (weeks 19 - 23)
If you wish to increase your mileage more than what is outlined in this program it is suggested that you lengthen the Thursday or Friday run. In addition, a second morning run of 30-40 minutes can be added to any of the days except Sunday.
Download: RVM – Half Marathon Personal Best Program (PDF)
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce Deacon by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
HALF MARATHON GO THE DISTANCE PROGRAM
This program is designed for the first-time half marathoner for whom successfully and comfortably finishing their first half marathon is their personal goal. All the sessions in the program can be completed using either a run-walk-run approach or a continuous running approach. The key objective of the program is for you to successfully complete the half marathon distance at the Royal Victoria Marathon. The program begins with the assumption that you can already complete 8-10km in a training run or race.
Some notes regarding run-walk-run and continuous running approaches:
Both of these types of running have value for the beginning runner. To my mind a mix of both during your preparation would be the ideal. I would suggest doing some of your shorter runs as continuous runs. This will enhance your cardio-vascular system and also develop a little extra stamina that you will be able to then harness in your longer runs. In your long runs, especially the Sunday runs I would use the run-walk-run approach so that you become accustomed to covering long distance using this approach and your body gets used to the stop start nature of this approach. This is particularly so if you are going to use the run-walk-run when you run the half marathon in October. I suggest working toward 9 minutes running followed by 1 minute walking. This is mainly due to the ease of keeping track of this on one's watch. However, the way you split up the time is not too important. The aim should be to use a split between running and walking that you expect to follow when you complete your half marathon.
The Program
This program is 23 weeks in duration and gradually develops your strength and endurance so that you become comfortable with
completing periods of exercise of longer duration. The program requires participants to engage in 4-5 days of running a week.
One of these training days (not the long run) can be replaced with alternative aerobic exercise (cross training) like cycling,
swimming, aerobics, spinning or water running.
A four-stage progression is followed where a specific type of training is focused upon during each stage:
- Aerobic conditioning (weeks 1-12)
- Hill training (weeks 13-16)
- Pace (weeks 17-21)
- Tapering and fine-tuning (weeks 22-23)
Long Runs
This program is designed with the long run sessions on a Sunday. You can move these to suit your schedule. The program gradually
increases the distance of the long runs to prepare you for completing the half marathon distance. Completion of as many of the
longer runs in this program as possible is pivotal to achieving success with the program; completing the long runs will prepare
you for the challenge of completing the half marathon distance successfully.
Other Running Events
There are some opportunities to integrate participation in other running events into the program; I have suggested appropriate
weekends during the program for participating in other running events.
Download: RVM – Half Marathon Go The Distance Program (PDF)
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce Deacon by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
HALF MARATHON "JUST IN TIME" 14-WEEK PROGRAM (JULY 2008 TO OCT. 12)
This program is designed for runners who have only recently decided to participate in the Royal Victoria Half Marathon event and thus can not complete a longer duration program.
This program is based upon the assumption that participants can complete 10km of running comfortably.
Because of the relatively constrained preparation period this program focuses upon two key goals:
- Developing the aerobic conditioning and physical strength required to successfully complete the half marathon distance.
- Developing the participants capability to run at a faster pace through tempo running and pace intervals
The basic premise is for participants to develop a consistent background of weekly running including one “long run”. The long run is placed on Sundays in this program however; this can be modified and placed on another day if Sunday does not ‘fit in’ to the rest of your life’s schedule. The key is that the long runs should be spaced 6-7 days apart. The program outlined here is essentially the ‘bare minimum’ of preparation required to complete the half marathon comfortably and successfully.
Participants may add to the running outlined on the easy days and on the easier long run days if they feel comfortable doing more running.
Download: RVM – Half Marathon “Just In Time” Program (PDF)
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce Deacon by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
FARTLEK
During the 1930's and 40's, Swedish distance runners re-wrote the record books thanks largely to a new training system that they developed. Its cornerstone was fartlek (Swedish for 'speed play'). The Swedes would intersperse their runs with a series of surges. These were mostly random and could range from 15 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes in duration. Run on soft forest trails, the workout used the challenges of the terrain to enhance the session. The runner might sprint to the top of a hill, or increase the pace to a physical landmark. The recoveries between the hard sections were also random.
As other nations employed this technique, structure was added. The workout could resemble a pyramid, with various predetermined hard runs. For instance, the athlete might run 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes hard separated by a fixed recovery. Alternatively, the athlete might continue with the random approach, but keep the surges to a certain duration. This might look like 30 minutes of fartlek containing 10 surges between 2 and 4 minutes.
For our program, fartlek will follow this last approach. Find a pleasant park to run were the surface is soft, but consistent. This might be a grassy field, a woodchip trail or a gravel path. As the name suggests, have a sense of play. This should be a hard workout, but it should leave room for some creativity.
The workout will call for a fixed time and number of surges to be completed during this time. The surge duration will be a range (e.g., 90 seconds to 2 minutes). The recovery is left for you to determine, but generally is not longer than 2 minutes.
An example might be 20 minutes of fartlek with 5 surges of 2-3 minutes. The session might evolve like this:
| 0-2 minutes | First surge |
| 2-3:30 | Easy jogging rest |
| 3:30-6:30 | Second surge |
| 6:30-7:30 | Power walk rest |
| 7:30-9:45 | Third surge |
| 9:45-12:00 | Easy jogging |
| 12:00-14:40 | Fourth surge |
| 14:40-16:30 | Easy jogging |
| 16:30-19:30 | Fifth surge |
In other words, you get to make the decisions as to how long the surges are (within the prescribed range) and how long the rests are (in order to fit the workout within the allotted time).
If working out with a friend, take turns leading a surge and determining its duration. Keep the recoveries reasonable in length and the effort controlled. At no time should you feel as though you are running full out, rather the effort should resemble your 8 km pace.
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
RELAXED STRIDES
Please remember - this is not speed work or sprinting!
I have included relaxed stride outs on a regular basis throughout the training program. This session is designed to allow you to practice and focus upon your running form. The number of strides to be completed will be between 6 and 10 depending on the location in the training continuum.
The strides are always included as part of a run. The aim should be to complete the stride about half way through the run. Thus the progression of the run would look something like this:
Start by running for 15-20 minutes to warm up.
Turn and start the strides back the direction you have come. Run fast and relaxed keeping your head and shoulders up (keep your eyes on a point well ahead of you). Move your arms in a relaxed comfortable fashion in rhythm with your stride pattern. DON'T strain or try to do an 'All Out" sprint. At the end of the 100m turn and jog slowly back to where you started to begin the next stride.
Complete the workout with 20-30 minutes of easy running.
Strides should be a relaxing enjoyable part of your training program. The aim is always to think "Loose and Relaxed".
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
OUT-AND-BACK TEMPOS
As the name suggests this is a tempo run where you run out for half of the prescribed time, turn around, and then run back. The object is to finish the tempo past the point where you started, thus covering more distance in the last half of the run. It forces you to pace yourself during the first half of the run, and to finish strongly. I suggest that the first half is run just slightly faster than marathon goal pace and that the last half is run slightly slower than 10km pace.
You should finish feeling tired, but not feeling like you are falling apart over the last few minutes. Since this is largely a pacing game, you might need to try this session a couple of times before you learn how to hold yourself back. This is an important lesson to learn, as nothing hurts more than reaching the 20 mile mark of a marathon and realizing that you were overly enthusiastic in the early miles.
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
RACES
Running in races provides an opportunity for you to assess the progress of your training and also provides some intermediate goals along the way as you strive for the major long term goal of achieving your marathon objective (be it finishing or running a specific time).
If you wish to integrate races into the program, I suggest that you attempt to schedule to run races that fall at the conclusion of the recovery weeks. This aspect has been integrated into those weeks for those who wish to race. Since races don't always align with the schedule, you might find yourself racing during a training week. Reduce the planned training by 40% two days out from the race and by 60% the day before the race.
The key point here is that these races are secondary and should be considered part of your training. Running the race at the end of a recovery week will provide a little tapering. You must be careful not to reduce your training markedly in a quest to run better at the intermediate races. This will only serve to reduce the benefits of the entire training program for your major goal - the marathon.
If you have questions regarding any of the training programs feel free to contact Bruce by email at CoachBruce@royalvictoriamarathon.com.
