Tues / Thursday Workouts for Half Marathon Program.

I posted a program for the Derby Festival Half Marathon a couple posts ago. You can find that post here:

Derby Festival Half Marathon Program

If you viewed the program (the google spreadsheet) you see that the program is divided up into four three-week phases. The phases allow for different focuses in the training and what we are trying to accomplish with the running that we are doing.

As some of you readers may have noticed (and due to response I know you have) I am a big believer in developing your fitness at a "steady state" level. This has mainly developed out of my experiences as a runner/triathlete and the philosophies of people I respect such as Arthur Lydiard and Gordo Byrn.

When you coach people though, you have to recognize your biases and make sure you are not allowing them to influence what is best for your athletes. Just because you hold a strong belief shouldn't influence the best interest of your athletes.

With that reasoning in mind, I realize that for a half marathon there are runners that will need to run faster, harder or more intense than I normally "allow" my athletes to run. That is the reason that I have structured the half marathon program to include some specific "quality" runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Below is a description of how those workouts are planned. For reference, it may be beneficial to review the complete program shown on the google spreadsheet again.

Tuesday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: fitness test

(phase two)
Week 9: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 8: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 7: fitness test

strides are just 30 seconds of running fast, focus on using perfect form as you do these, think quick feet

(phase three)
Week 6: 10min warm up, Main Set: 4min at 5k pace, 2min walk, 2min jog, repeat main set three times, 6min cool down

Week 5: same as week six
Week 4: fitness test

(phase four)
Week 3: run at 1/2 marathon goal pace
Week 2: fitness test
Week 1: rest (race week)

Thursday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: easy run

(phase two)
Week 9: Tempo Run - 5min warm up, 3 x 12min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, 5min cool down

Week 8: same as week 9

Week 7: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 10min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, cool down

(phase three)
Week 6: same as week 7
Week 5: same as week 7

Week 4: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 12min at 10k pace, 2mn walk between sets, cool down

(phase four)
Week 3: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 2: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 1: rest (race week)

I hope you find the workouts fun and challenging. They should be enough to pick your speed up to run the half marathon well.