Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

hi my name is graeme and this running forum i find really interesting and i am looking for someones help, ijust turned 17 years old and can run a 79minute half marathon and i am training very hard so i can try to break the 70 minute mark, the training at the moment has helped me a lot,running many personal bests but my 1\2 marathon time seems to stand around that mark of 79 as i don't think i have the speed so i am asking everyone if they have a good training program or some ideas which could help me or some ideas on speed work to help my speed.

thanks
runner!

[Anonymously Posted by: 'graeme stone']

[Dan]

Hi Graeme,

Thanks for stopping by. It would help to know what sort of training you're currently doing.

The half marathon isn't exactly my event, but speed work is somewhat universal across distances.

Dan

[Guest]

thanks for listening, i run no less than 45min a day with once a week running 4-1km intervals about
2min 50 pace and every sunday run at least 20km
as well as a struckured cycling program this is mostly all my training apart from a few races on saturdays (about 1 every month)

i hope thie can help you a bit more about my
training techniques.

thanks graeme

[Anonymously Posted by: 'graeme stone']

[Dan]

I know some people (doing marathon training) like to have around half their mileage fall on one or two weekend runs (sounds similar to your program), but I prefer to spread it more evenly throughout the week, keeping a pattern of hard-easy-hard-easy...

I would think 1km intervals would be sufficient "speed" work for your racing distance. I would recommend doing a higher quantity however. 4x1,000m is more along the lines of a 1500m workout. Personally, I would aim for 8-10 x 1,000m. Again, the 21k isn't exactly my preferred distance!

The other thing that will help any runner is strides. 4-8 x 100m after every workout will do wonders.

Dan

[Guest]

thank you very much for this, i might increase my
1km intervals to 10 and see what happens.

thanks

graeme

[Anonymously Posted by: 'graeme stone']

[Dan]

You're welcome.

Dan

[Guest]

May I ask a dumb question since I'm pretty new to running also? What are "strides"? Speedwork?

[Anonymously Posted by: 'jdav3']

[Dan]

Never a dumb question. Strides are sort of a cross between speed work and pace work. The idea (at least the way I do them) is to develop relaxed speed. Usually, you would do four to eight by 100m strides, increasing through the set and/or doing buildups within each stride. Strides are excellent at the end of an interval workout, when you also get the benefit of running fast through fatigue.

Dan

[Leech Boy]

Here is how a lot of people train for a half marathon.
Day 1
Easy day - about 1 hour easy
Day 2
Warm up - 20 minutes of hard running - 800 repeats, mile repeats whatever - cool down
Day 3
Easy day about an hour
Day 4
Warm up and do a tempo run(not race pace but working at a pretty good pace) do it by feel. You should be uncomfortable for the entire time but feel like you could continue going for another mile or two.
Day 5 off or easy for an hour
Day 6 - run for an hour or so
Day 7 - Long run. Build the long runs to about 16 miles for a half. As you get closer to the race on days you feel good pick up the pace at the end but always start really slowly.