Marathon and Half Marathon Training

Many Stevenage Striders have planned or plan to take part in half marathons and full marathons all over the country and at different times of the year, I have attached a few plans I have used previously to help you with your training whether this is your 1st, 15th or 100th race, in addition I (Chrissie) am here to help you to get the best out of your running. Please see below 3 plans I have attached and below the link of the website I use for you to have a browse round. These plans are based around a countdown to your race start line not a specific time of year, it just needs you to plan your weeks:

(resource - https://www.halhigdon.com – feel free to browse this website – very informative)

In addition to these plans please see the hints and tips below:

- The key is application and, particularly, not taking any shortcuts in your long runs. They are the foundations of your training.

- Long runs should be run at your long run pace. This pace is slower than your usual training pace so that you can focus on building aerobic capacity and avoiding injury. If you are unsure of the correct pace to run at then use the runners world training pace calculator 

When preparing for your races remember that you need to be running at least three times a week. Also, don’t forget to include at least two strength training sessions a week. These can be home based body weight sessions - you don’t have to join a gym! They will make you a better runner and less prone to niggling injuries.

  • Tuesday with the club

  • Thursday with the club

  • Long run on Sunday with the club. These should be run at a slower pace (above).

  • For more experience runners add a fourth tempo based run

This ensures you get a balanced training programme – the correct level of mileage but also quality sessions on Tuesday and Thursday that will get you running faster and more efficiently.

- Simple questions in your head as “My long run schedule says I have to do 15 miles this week and the club only have a 10 mile run on Sunday!!!! Easy! Run from home (or a point a couple of miles from the clubs run), run with the club and then run home. You can use this approach to get all the way to 20-21 miles if you wish.

Remember the two golden rules of marathon training

  1. Avoid doing more than 50% of your  weekly mileage in one run.

  2. Avoid increasing your overall weekly mileage by more than 10% per week, if you use 4-5 week training cycles these give you a drop in weekly mileage at the end of each cycle so that you can recover before going into the next cycle.

And don’t use the marathon as an excuse for not doing certain club training activities, including track. Until you get into the three weeks before your race (the taper period) you should embrace all that the club can offer you.

Stride on!