4 hr full & 2 hr half marathon plan: week 21
There are 4 more weeks to New Delhi Marathon, i.e. on 26th Feb 2017. Here is a link to 4:15hr plan. 2hr half marathon plan is at the end of the page. If you'd like customised plans, click here to know more.
As much as 2hr half and 4hr full marathon are not supposed to be easy and I'll push you hard to get to achieve your goals, but remember that you aren't a product of an assembly line and you aren't in a rat race. I don't want you folks to just be clones and be driven by numbers alone. Idea should be to have fun.
“At the end of the day if you aren’t smiling and miling at the same time, you are missing out on something big. Like being alive.”
Monday:
- Focus on strength training. Click here for exercises I want you to focus on.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
“Focus on strength training. As a runner that’s your true mother-in-law.”
Tuesday:
- Warm up with 5 min run at 5min 30sec to 6:30 pace.
- Followed by 1.5km in 7min - 7min 10sec.
- Rest for 1-2min. Catch you breath. Have a sip of water. Keep your landing soft on ground.
- Do 5-6 more repeats of 1.5km in 7min - 7min 10sec with 1-2 min breaks.
- Cool down with a slow jog or walk for 5 min.
Wednesday:
- Focus on strength training.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
“Keep your breathing easy throughout your running. Easy out. Easy in.”
Thursday:
- Warm up with 5 min run at 5min 30sec to 6:30 pace.
- 10km in 51min 30sec to 52min 30sec.
- Remind yourself to stay soft on your feet and to keep your breathing easy.
“Be light on your feet while running, don’t worry too much where do you land, just land softly.”
Friday:
- Focus on strength training.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
“Train hard but don’t race during practice runs. Be smart.”
Saturday:
- Warm up with 5min run at 5min 30sec to 6:30 pace.
- 10km in 53min to 55min.
- Remind yourself to stay soft on your feet and to keep your breathing easy.
“Idea is to do effortless running. Everyone is making too much effort to run. Let go.”
Sunday:
- Today is a very easy run. Focus is primarily on time on feet. Not at all on speed or distance.
- Be on your feet for 210-240 minutes, walk - easy jog or run.
- Take walk breaks every 30 min for a minute. Catch you breath and get back at it again.
- Take water breaks every 4 kms starting from km 2 (2, 6, 10, 14…) with electrolyte break every alternate 2 kms starting from km 4 (i.e. 4, 8, 12…). Have a bite / sip of energy bar / gel break every 4-6 kms.
Monday:
- Focus on strength training. Click here for exercises I want you to focus on.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
“If Running is your love, Strength Training is your mother-in-law. Both to perform better and to stay injury free, you need to be in good books of strength training. ”
Tuesday: Tempo Run
- Run 4 km throughout maintaining a pace between 5min per km and 5min 10sec per km. For this tempo run I want you to push yourself harder than last week. Do remember to keep your breathing easy. At all times, you should be able to converse in 4-5 word sentences at one go.
- Rest for 3-5 min to recover completely and 3km, rest again and then followed by 2km at the suggested pace. During 2nd and 3rd repeats, try to keep the same pace as the first 4kms.
Wednesday:
- Focus on strength training.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
Thursday: Interval training
- Start with an easy jog for 2-3 minutes. Now run 2km in under 9min 40sec. Remember that you’ll need to keep the same pace for all the repeats, so save yourself for the last. The same effort will seem harder as you keep doing intervals.
- Rest for 2-3 min, catch your breath, take a sip or two of water and get on with the next repeat. Do 6-8 repeats.
- Even though it’s a tough run, stay gentle on your feet, not thumping hard on the ground. This is the toughest running day of the week, but the day which will make the biggest difference in your speed during half marathon.
Friday:
- Focus on strength training.
- No running or 30-40 min easy walk-jog.
Saturday:
- Warm up with 5min run at 5min 30sec to 6:30 pace.
- 10km in 54min to 56min.
- Remind yourself to stay soft on your feet and to keep your breathing easy.
Sunday:
- Today is a very easy peasy 90 to 120 min on feet with no focus on speed or distance.
- Keep yourself well hydrated and take energy gels and or bars every 4 kms.
Dr Rajat Chauhan is a student of running & pain and a Sports Medicine doctor who is author of The Pain Handbook: A non-Surgical way of managing Back, Neck and Knee Pain. He has been organising La Ultra - The High, a 333km run in Leh-Ladakh for last 7 years now. Twitter: @drrajatchauhan
Keep miling and smiling, for life.
