When I trained for my half marathon, I followed a general weekly schedule — two days of lifting, one easy run, one speed run, one sprint session, one long run and one rest day. But I failed to clarify how many miles I would be running each week or which days I would do which workouts. In the first week, my schedule had already gone to shit. I found it difficult to follow something so unspecific and so the slacking commenced.
For the most part, I got away with my lazy training. I didn’t finish the half in my goal time, sub two hours, but I did cross the finish line and only missed my goal by two minutes and 48 seconds. Running a whole marathon, however, one cannot afford to be lazy and get lucky. So this time around, I’ve committed myself to a week-by-week schedule that has specific mileage goals for each training session. Let’s break it down.
My weekly schedule:
Monday AM: Easy run finishing with a mile of hill sprints
Tuesday Afternoon: Glute- and hamstring-biased lift
Wednesday AM: Easy run
Thursday Afternoon: Quad-biased lift
Friday AM: Prehab and 5k speed run
Saturday AM: Long run
Sunday: Rest
A breakdown of the workouts:
Easy runs
The easy run, my most neglected workout in half marathon training, is something I have sworn to be diligent about for the next 19 weeks. An easy run should be half or less than half of your long run mileage and it should be run at a comfortable pace, or for me, an uncomfortably slow pace. Easy runs were on my schedule for half marathon training, but my ego was preventing me from running slow. I was pushing pace, panting and PRing on runs that were supposed to be chill.
The idea of an easy run is to recover from your harder workouts and to build your endurance with zone two training. Zone two is when your heart rate is at 65%-75% of your max heart rate. More simply put, zone two is when you can easily maintain a conversation while running. Training in zone two not only burns fat more efficiently, it’s sustainable for long periods of time. You should finish an easy run feeling like you could run for five more hours.
Side note — I will be doing hill sprints after my shorter long run each week because I am a glutton for punishment. Speed work is also excellent for building a faster pace. Plus, I anticipate there will be hills on the marathon course, so the better I am at running them, the less I will suffer.
Lift sessions
Many runners skip the gym because they’re afraid if they bulk up, they’ll slow down. But lifting is extremely important for injury prevention and, if done right, can help runners build speed. In half marathon training, I made the mistake of lifting too heavy at the gym and paying the price on my runs with fatigued legs and cramped hamstrings. My history of heavy lifting in the gym was making it difficult for me to let go of my ego and lighten up the load. Now, I focus on lightweight, single-leg lifts specifically beneficial for runners. Some of these lifts include single-leg Romanian deadlifts, rear foot elevated lunges, single-leg hip thrusts, box jumps and box step ups. My lifts typically take around 40 minutes and I finish with 10-15 minutes of easy biking or incline walking to flush out the lactic acid.
Prehab
The ultimate goal of marathon training is to not get hurt. Therefore I’ve committed to doing pre-rehabilitation training to avoid actually having to do rehab. My prehab routine is still in the works but essentially it’s 20-30 minutes of mobility and strength moves to improve mobility and build the little muscles around my knees that prevent injury. Isometric holds, box toe taps, banded side steps and wall supported toe lifts are all great moves for prehab. I like to do these before my 5k because it’s the shortest session and therefore the only place I have time to squeeze in prehab.
Speed runs
The speed run began as a little challenge to myself to see how fast I could get my 5k, but I quickly realized weekly speed work was doing wonders for my pace. The concept is simple — run as fast as you can for 3.1 miles. I prefer to do my speed work on treadmills because I find it difficult to manually pace for speed. The rest of my runs I do outside because the treadmill is painfully boring.
I try to keep my weekly training at an 80-20 ratio of zone two to zone four and five training (85%-90% of your max heart rate) because running is not sustainable for me when always done at maximum effort. When I run slow, I’m excited for my runs, but when I feel pressured to speed up, I begin to dread them.
Long runs
During half marathon training, I dreaded and often skipped my long runs. This is likely because I hadn’t designated a good block of time for them. I’m a full-time college student with two jobs, and it’s hard to fit two-hour training blocks into my already busy routine.
Originally, I had designated Saturdays as rest days because they’re the only days of my week I don’t have class or work. But I soon realized the only way I was going to get my long runs done is if I sacrificed my Saturdays. This schedule may seem miserable to anyone who enjoys going out on a Friday night, but I enjoy it immensely. My whole Saturday is now dedicated to my long run. I can take my time in the morning and relax on the run without worrying about whether I will finish in time for whatever is next on my schedule.
I build my weekly workout schedule around my long run. Because the easy runs are half the long run mileage, long runs determine the course of my whole week. My first long run is nine miles and the distance increases by one mile each week or sometimes every other week. The longest run I will do before the race is 24 miles, with my long runs decreasing to 15 and eight miles during my taper weeks before the race. Now that my schedule is built, all that’s left to do is follow it.
