Monday, June 27, 2011

Training Plan and more on Time Goals

More on my next time goal.

AND the training plan I'll be using to prepare for my 5th half marathon.

1. In my previous training plan research, I came across some stuff by Jeff Galloway, including running a "magic mile" and then calculating realistic race time goals off of this mile time.  Under the heading of "Improvement Possibilities," he writes:
It is fine to choose a time goal for the goal race which is faster than predicted by the Magic Mile. As they do the speed training, the long runs and the Magic Miles, they should improve. For prediction purposes, as they take this  "leap " to a goal, we suggest no more than a 3-5% improvement in a 3 month training program.
Using this math, and my 5/22 half marathon time of 2:15:32, a 3-5% improvement would mean:
~135.5 minutes x .03 = 4.07  --- > 135.5 - 4.1 = 131.4 minutes = 2:11:24
~135.5 minutes x .05 = 6.77  --- > 135.5 - 6.8 = 128.7 minutes = 2:08:42

Note: After typing this whole thing up, I understand that I did not calculate the 3-5% improvement on the predicted half marathon time based on a Magic Mile -- but instead on my most recent half time.  I'm just rollin' with that.

2.  At Runner's World Smart Coach (used for my first 2 half marathons), you enter a recent time and plug in a bunch of details for your training plan and they tell you a time goal.  Here's what Smart Coach said:
Recent Half Marathon Time: 2:15:32
Initial Weekly Distance: 16-21 miles
Training Intensity: Moderate
Training Program Length: 13 weeks
Goal Time: 2:10:08
(Involves 2 easy runs, an alternating speedwork/tempo run, and long run each week)

Changing the above plan to Hard Training Intensity, that Goal race time becomes 2:07:55.
(Involves 2-3 easy runs, an alternating speedwork/tempo run, and a long run each week)

Anyway, I think I decided to shoot for a time goal of 2:08-2:09.  That will be 6-7 minutes off my May half marathon time of 2:15:32, and 10-11 minutes off my April half marathon time of 2:18:55.


Here's the plan I decided on for a September Half:


Monday 
Tuesday 
Wednes. 
Thursday 
Friday 
Saturday 
Sunday 
miles ran 
6/20-26 
2mi   
+arms 
2mi 

1E/2F/1E 
+core 
bike 
8 mi 
Rest 
5.5mi hike 
17 
6/27-7/3 
1E/2T/1E 
+arms 
5 mi PRO 
bike  
+core 
10 mi   
mid  2P 
away 
away 
core 
20 
7/4-10 
10k?  or  
11 mi 
bike 
+arms 
1E/4T/1E 
+core 
1E/3H/1E 
away 
away 
core 
17 or 22 
7/11-17 
12 mi 
mid 4P 
arms 
1E/4F/1E 
bike 
+core 
1E/3T/1E 
away 
away 
23 
7/18-24 
3-5E 
bike 
+arms 
core 
1E/2F/1E 

10 mi 

17-19 
7/25-31 
1E/3T/1E 
+arms 
away 
away 
6 PRO 
bike  
+core 
13 mi 

24 
8/1-7 
1E/5T/1E 
bike 
+arms 
core 
1E/5H/1E 

14  mi 
mid 4P 

28 
8/8-14 
1E/4T/1E 
bike 
+arms 
core 
1E/3F/1E 

13 mi 

24 
8/15-21 
3-5E 
bike 
+arms 
core 
5mi PRO 

10 mi 

17-20 
8/22-28 
bike 
+arms 
1E/4T/1E 
core 
1E/5H/1E 

15 mi 
mid 5P 

23 
8/29-9/4 
bike 
+arms 
1E/5T/1E 
core 
1E/4F/1E 

12 mi 

25 
9/5-9/11 
1E/5T/1E 
1E/3H/1E 
core 
10 mi 
mid 4P 
away 
away 
away 
22 
9/12-9/17 
8 mi 
arms 
1E/3F/1E 
core 
1E/2P/1E 
--REST-- 
! HALF ! 
17


The plan is based off of a 3 day/week running plan from Women's Running (January/February 2011) shared with me by Heather.

(I would like to add that I just realized Heather was spot on in her suggestion of how much I should try to improve my time by in the 6ish weeks between my April and May half marathons....she said shave :15 seconds off my April pace, which would have meant a 2:15:35 half marathon in May...I ran a 2:15:32 half).

The full plan was too long to type out in full detail, but here's what the letters stand for:
E = Easy
F = Fartlek
H = Hills
P = Pace
PRO = Progression
T = Tempo

I'll elaborate on the details of each week's runs when I recap that week of training.


Here are some pace ranges of interest. To me, anyway.


2:07 
2:08 
2:09 
2:10 
Race Pace 
9:42 
9:47 
9:51 
9:56 
Tempo 
9:18-9:42 
9:22-9:47 
9:27-9:51 
9:31-9:56 
Easy  Run 
10:44-11:14 
10:49-11:19 
10:54-11:24 
10:58-11:28 
Long Run 
10:44-11:44 
10:49-11:49 
10:54-11:54 
10:58-11:58 

In addition to the 3 target runs a week, I will be aiming to:
  • bike once a week 
    • or spinning if/when I renew my gym membership
  • do at least one day of arm work (including arms/shoulders/chest)
  • do at least one day of core work (crunches/planks/lower back stuff/etc) - 
    • if/when I renew my gym membership, thinking about  trying pilates
I should have no problem getting in one day of core work a week though, as I am signing up for the #FitBlog 3000 in 35 Ab Challenge which runs from July 1 - August 5.

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a solid plan! I am just fine-tuning my training plan for my 4th marathon. It's a little sooner than I would like it to be (because of our move to Germany) but I really want to do one last marathon here in the States before leaving for 3 yrs

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