TRAINING APPROACHES
by UK Athletics coach for endurance Bud Baldaro (2007)
From May 11th it is just 18 weeks to the 2007 Reebok Bristol Half Marathon, an event that has now become firmly established as one of the country’s must do runs.
18 weeks of potentially great weather to help you get in as good a shape as possible and so maximise the enjoyment of the race and minimise the discomfort.
In your planning to prepare for the run it might be expedient to work backwards from the race date on September 9th, to enhance the quality of your preparation.
You know where you are now i.e. a complete beginner, have some back ground or a quite regular runner.
Your targets should help you decide where you might want to be in 18 weeks time once you have made the decision of whether you want to compete or complete the Bristol half marathon.
In working backwards it might be that you will have wanted to cover the distance at least once or twice before race day, or just cover as far as is realistic in training before the event (that will of course be determined by your starting point). So an example might be that targets are by the end of each month you can:-
• May 31st run 2 miles
• June 30th run 4-5 miles
• July 31st run 7-8 miles
• August 20th run 10-11miles
Ideally the weekend of August 19/20th should be time for your last long run allowing two “recovery“ weekends before the great day.
You could of course adopt a linear approach of progressing the distance ie going 1 mile further each week on your long weekend runs culminating in the event itself. General running wisdom would suggest that you should have at least one week’s taper to allow the body and mind to recover from training and prepare for the 13.1mile distance.
Your planning should obviously accommodate how many times each week you can/are prepared to run. It might be worth taking a blank sheet of paper and writing in your commitments and see how much time/slots you have available to develop your running.
This should also help you manage your time effectively and simultaneously help you determine what are best times of day for you to be running.
It is important to build in at least a couple of runs at race time – 9.30am to enable you to rehearse race morning. It would also make sense to do some running in hot weather to help prepare for the possibility of very hot day (as the London marathon this year). It is very important to try to stay well hydrated all the time to maximise efficiency of your exercise patterns and in very hot weather use isotonic drinks as well as water to replace lost minerals and electrolytes
In terms of training I would aim to run an absolute minimum of 2-3 times each week.
The single most important factor is learning how to spend time on your feet. Almost certainly it is better to run longer runs 2-3 times a week than 4-5 short runs. If you do have time, motivation, and commitment to run 4-5 times a week then it would be good to run reasonably long runs twice a week and use the other runs as recovery runs. Devise interesting routes that are safe and enjoyable and look to do plenty of your running off road to hopefully minimise injury risks.
Talking about running is often riddled with clichés but it is important to progress patiently and hurry slowly.
Build up gradually and in a controlled intelligent manner – you have 18 weeks to get in shape.
A typical week might read
• day 1 long run (a very relative term which might be 2-3 miles for the beginner in the early weeks or it could be 5-7 miles for more experienced runner)
• day 2 rest or recovery exercise
• day 3 intermediate long run
• day 4 rest or alternative exercise
• day 5 shorter run
• day 6 rest
• day 7 long run
If you hope to improve then you need to place an increasing stress on the body, allow the body to rest and adapt to such a stress before moving on to your next level of demands on your system.
So work hard, rest, adapt, recover, then next level of hard work.
And that of course could be as simple as going from 1 mile to 2 miles, or 1 mile walk/jog to 1 mile continuous running.
Apply the logic and relevance to your personal situation. It could be well worth visiting the Trainsmart program (visit the the fit to Run Bristol link) to help you individualise your approach.
It is definitely worth considering joining a running club. Don’t feel intimidated by the thought of doing so. You don’t have to be a superstar to belong to a club and it has lots of advantages e.g.
• Company on long runs
• Knowledge of goods runs
• Ideas about training
• Awareness of races (it would be beneficial to run in at least one 5miler /10k before the Bristol half marathon to experience running in a biggish field)
• Above all making running more fun
The Reebok Bristol half marathon website has details of local clubs (visit the fit to Run Bristol link).
Enjoy your running and have fun, you are preparing for one of the country’s great running events.
