Half Marathon training plan

A message from the creator of our training plans: Official Training Plan BART YASSO Running has always been an important part of my life. It is a passion, an outlet, a goal to set and obtain. It also offers incredible health benefits that extend beyond physical fitness, to include other benefits like stress reduction, higher energy levels and even camaraderie. I am so pleased that St. Luke's will be the title sponsor of this year's St. Luke's Half Marathon in the city of Allentown. I can't think of a better, more healthful way to showcase our city and our newly expanded St. Luke's University Health Network. Best of luck as you train in the coming weeks and see you at the race! - Bart Yasso Questions? Send your questions to trainingtips@stlukeshalfmarathon.com. All emails will be answered by Dr. Mike Martinez, St. Luke's Half Marathon Medical Director since 2001. Mike is a multi-marathoner with a personal best of 2:48:44, which he ran as a Masters runner at the Philadelphia Marathon. Mike traveled with Bart Yasso during 2005 as part of a tour with Tylenol to discuss the St. Luke’s Half Marathon medical organization. A COUPLE OF NOTES: CROSS-TRAINING isn't necessarily a bad idea, but should be limited to rest days and easy days. Easy day cross-training should involve sustained aerobic activity like cycling or an elliptical trainer; rest day cross-training should be no-impact activity like stretching, yoga, or swimming. HELPFUL TOOLS: To help determine your training paces you can search for a pace calculator on the internet such as www.mcmillanrunning.com. These training plans begin 14 weeks prior to race day. October 17, 2021 8:10AM Group Runs Lehigh Valley Road Runners offers group runs. Please visit https://lvrr.org for locations and times. BEGINNER TRAINING PLAN WEEK Monday Tuesday Wednesday 1 Rest 4 miles 4 miles 2 Rest 4 miles 4 miles 3 Rest 4 miles 4 miles 4 Rest 4 miles 4 miles Rest 4 miles Rest 6 miles 18 5 Rest 4 miles 4 miles Rest 6 miles Rest 8 miles 22 6 Rest 6 miles 4 miles Rest 5 miles Rest 8 miles LSD 23 7 Rest 5 miles 4 miles Rest 6 miles Rest 9 miles 24 8 Rest 4 miles 4 miles Rest 5 miles Rest 7 miles 20 9 Rest 5 miles 3 miles Rest 5 miles Rest 10 miles LSD 23 10 Rest 6 miles 4 miles Rest 5 miles Rest 9 miles 24 11 Rest 6 miles 4 miles Rest 6 miles Rest 10 miles LSD 26 12 Rest 6 miles 5 miles Rest 6 miles Rest 10K * race 25 13 Rest 5 miles 4 miles Rest 5 miles Rest 6 miles 20 14 Rest 3 miles Rest 3 miles Rest 3 miles RACE DAY 21 Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total Rest 4 miles Rest 6 miles 18 Rest 5 miles Rest 7 miles 20 Rest 6 miles Rest 8 miles 22 TRAINING NOTES: All runs should be done at an easy pace unless otherwise noted. LSD: This means long slow distance. LSD runs are purely for the purpose of endurance. You're going to be on your feet a while to cover 13.1 miles; this is when you get used to it. We schedule them for Sunday because the race is on Sunday; if you can, consider starting your long runs at the race start time of 8 a.m. * You may also run a 5k race. Feel free to switch this workout to Saturday instead. The beginner's program is based entirely on mileage with the goal of simply building your endurance to the point that 13-plus miles is an attainable distance. We concentrate more on time on your feet and less on speed. Next time around you can plan on more miles and either improving your time or comfortably running the distance. BEGINNER TRAINING PLAN WEEK Monday Tuesday Wednesday 1 Rest 6 miles 4 miles 2 Rest 6 miles 4 miles 3 Rest 6 miles 7 miles hills 4 Rest 6 miles 4 miles 7 miles hills Rest 6 miles 7 miles 30 5 Rest 6 miles 7 miles hills 6 miles Rest 6 miles 10 miles 35 6 Rest 7 miles 7 miles 8 miles hill repeats Rest 4 miles 10 miles LSD 36 7 Rest 7 miles 6 miles 8 miles w/3x1mi repeats Rest 5 miles 11 miles 27 8 Rest 6 miles 4 miles 7 miles hills Rest 5 miles 10 miles 32 9 Rest 6 miles 5 miles 8 miles tempo Rest 4 miles 10 miles LSD 33 10 Rest 7 miles 7 miles 8 miles hills Rest 4 miles 10 miles LSD 36 11 Rest 6 miles 6 miles 9 miles w/speed Rest 6 miles 13 miles LSD 40 12 Rest 7 miles 8 miles w/speed 7 miles Rest 6 miles 10k * race 37 13 Rest 6 miles Rest 7 miles w/2x1 mi @ 10K pace Rest 5 miles 8 miles LSD 26 14 Rest 3 miles 3 miles 5 miles w/2x1 mi @ 10k pace, 1/2 mile recovery Rest 3 miles RACE DAY 27 Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total 7 miles hills Rest 6 miles 7 miles 30 7 miles hills Rest 5 miles 10 miles 32 6 miles Rest 6 miles 10 miles 35 INTERMEDIATE TRAINING PLAN INTERMEDIATE TRAINING PLAN TRAINING NOTES: HILLS: Find a hilly route to run. Later in the plan these workouts will become hill repeats. HILLS REPEATS: Find a hill that will take you at least two minutes to climb, and mark off a "short" repeat (about halfway from the bottom) and a "long" repeat (all the way to the top). Then do a set of "short" hills: three or four sprints up the short repeat, then a jog back down; a set of "long" hills: three or four loops of a hard run to the top, a jog back to the top of the "short" segment and a sprint to the bottom; then another three or four "short" hills. Adjust the repeats depending on the miles you need; you should be doing two miles of warm-up and cool-down before and after the hills, so the workout should involve three or four miles of work.  The downhill sprints in the long sets are nearly as important as the uphill parts. Try to run smoothly, without slapping your feet. SPEED WORK: WK 7 – MILE REPEATS: You don't need a track to do speed work, but it helps. Don't get spooked by the number of miles on the "repeats" days; they include warm-up and cool- down, and those should be at least 2 miles each way for intermediates and 3 for advanced, leaving you 3 or 4 miles of actual speed work. You can make those miles easier by starting your run 2 or 3 miles from the track. This week we'll do a classic workout: mile repeats. It's pretty simple: Run a mile at your 10-K pace, followed by a recovery jog and repeat three or four times. The recovery should be a half-mile or equal in length to the time that you are running the hard mile. If you're not running on a track, use a car or bicycle to mark off a mile on a low-traffic road, or run by time. See if you can "feel" the maximum oxygen pace -- it should be at that balance point where you're still comfortable, but even the slightest bit faster would be uncomfortable. WK 11- INTERVALS: You don't need a track to do speed work, but it helps. Don't get spooked by the number of miles on the speed work days; they include warm-up and cool down, and those should be at least 2 miles each way for intermediates and 3 for advanced, leaving you 3 miles of actual speed work. You can make those miles easier by starting your run 2 or 3 miles from the track. This week's speed workout should be: 6x800-meter repeats with a 400-meter recovery in-between. * You may also run a 5k race. Feel free to switch this workout to Saturday instead. ADVANCED TRAINING PLAN WEEK Monday Tuesday Wednesday 1 6 miles 7 miles hills 5 miles 2 6 miles 8 miles hills 5 miles 3 6 miles 8 miles hills 6 miles 4 6 miles 7 miles hills 5 miles 6 miles; 20 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 10 miles 40 5 6 miles 8 miles hills 6 7 miles; 20 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 12 miles LSD 45 6 5 miles 9 miles hill repeats 7 miles 9 miles; 35-40 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 12 miles LSD 48 7 5 miles Rest Speed work: 10 miles w/4x1 mi 6 miles 9 miles; 35 min. tempo 5 miles 14 miles LSD 49 8 6 miles 8 miles hills 5 miles 8 miles; 25 mnin. tempo Rest 6 miles 10 miles LSD 43 9 5 miles 6 miles Speed work: 9 miles w/10x400m 5 miles 8 miles; 35 min. tempo Rest 12 miles LSD 45 10 5 miles 9 miles hill repeats 7 miles 9 miles; 35-40 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 13 miles LSD 49 11 5 miles Rest Speed work: 10 miles w/6x800m 7 miles 10 miles; 35 min. tempo 5 miles 15 miles LSD 52 12 8 miles 8 miles Seed work: 10 miles w/6x800m Rest 8 miles hills 6 miles 10K * race 48 13 6 miles 6 miles 7 miles 6 miles 7 miles; 25 min. tempo at half marathon pace Rest 9 miles LSD 35 14 5 miles 5 miles 3 miles 5 miles w/2x1 mi Rest 3 miles RACE DAY 29 Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total 6 miles; 20 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 10 miles 40 8 miles; 25 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 10 miles LSD 43 7 miles; 25 min. tempo Rest 6 miles 12 miles LSD 45 TRAINING NOTES: REST DAYS AND EASY DAYS are mostly interchangeable. This means, those following the intermediate and advanced who want to take a zero day on Saturday, rather than Friday, should simply switch those days. However, the quality days (hills and Sundays, which will become long runs) should stay where they are. MILEAGE: If you want to add miles, the "easy" days are an easy place to do it. Don't increase any run by more than one or two miles and don't add miles on Saturday (before the long run). If you need to trade rest days for easy days within a week, or trade a 3-mile day for a 5-mile day, that's fine.   HILLS: Pick a run with as many hills as possible. In weeks 6 and 10 these will become hill repeats.   TEMPO: Warm up by running ten to twelve minutes and then pick your pace up to about the pace you hope to run for your half-marathon for the prescribed number of minutes. Jog for the remaining mileage. LSD: That's Long Slow Distance. LSD runs are purely for the purpose of endurance. You're going to be on your feet a while to cover 13.1 miles; this is when you get used to it. We schedule them for Sunday because the race is on Sunday; if you can, consider starting your long runs at the race start time of 8 a.m. SPEED WORK: WK 6 and 10 – HILLS REPEATS: Find a hill that will take you at least two minutes to climb, and mark off a "short" repeat (about halfway from the bottom) and a "long" repeat (all the way to the top). Then do a set of "short" hills: three or four sprints up the short repeat, then a jog back down; a set of "long" hills: three or four loops of a hard run to the top, a jog back to the top of the "short" segment and a sprint to the bottom; then another three or four "short" hills. Adjust the repeats depending on the miles you need; you should be doing two miles of warm-up and cool-down before and after the hills, so the workout should involve three or four miles of work. The downhill sprints in the long sets are nearly as important as the uphill parts. Try to run smoothly, without slapping your feet. WK 7 – MILE REPEATS: You don't need a track to do speed work, but it helps. Don't get spooked by the number of miles on the "repeats" days; they include warm-up and cool- down, and those should be at least 2 miles each way for intermediates and 3 for advanced, leaving you 3 or 4 miles of actual speed work. You can make those miles easier by starting your run 2 or 3 miles from the track. This week we'll do a classic workout: mile repeats. It's pretty simple: Run a mile at your 10-K pace, jog a lap for recovery, and repeat three or four times. If you're not running on a track, use a car or bicycle to mark off a mile on a low-traffic road, or run by time. See if you can "feel" the maximum oxygen pace -- it should be at that balance point where you're still comfortable, but even the slightest bit faster would be uncomfortable. WK 9 – QUARTERS: This week's workout should be 10 quarters. Jog at least 200 meters between repeats to recover. WK 11- INTERVALS: You don't need a track to do speed work, but it helps. Don't get spooked by the number of miles on the speed work days; they include warm-up and cool down, and those should be at least 2 miles each way for intermediates and 3 for advanced, leaving you 3 miles of actual speed work. You can make those miles easier by starting your run 2 or 3 miles from the track. This week's speed workout should be: 6x800-meter repeats with a 400-meter recovery in-between. * You may also run a 5k race. Feel free to switch this workout to Saturday instead. ADVANCED TRAINING PLAN ADVANCED TRAINING PLAN