I am starting the Hall HM plan next week. I have a base of about 40 mpw over the past 3 months. During that time I have done some tempo runs, strides and fast finshes to the end of long runs (ranging from 12-14 miles). Here is my question if you are familiar with the plan. There is a short and long form for speed workouts. The short has less reps at a faster pace. The long has more reps at a slower pace. I am not sure which to utilzie. In the long-run I am not sure it makes much difference. Any suggestions,? Can you share what you liked and did not like about this plan if you used it.
Thanks.
Is it the 10 week plan, or 12 week plan you are looking at? I've used the 10 wk plan twice, this is week 10, my race is Sunday.
10 week.
I have used the program twice. I liked the variety of paces to keep things interesting, and I was able to PR with the plan. It's really tough to say what was a result of the plan vs. more mileage over time, though.
i chose the long program because I felt my endurance was better than my speed. Both programs basically end up with the same final fitness, it's just choosing how to approach it. If you feel your strength lies more with speed, choose the short program.
PRs:
5k: 25:05 (Sep 2011) 10k: 51:57 (Aug 2012) half: 1:56:46 (May 2013) full: 4:09:46 (Jan 2016)
This is my opinion based on my experience, so it might not be too valid. The first time I used it, I was running about 25-30 mpw, and had some shin/calf isuues mid way through the plan. I peaked at 33 miles with only a few runs of 10 miles. I was following the short plan. Shaved about 7 minutes from my previous half.
For this second cycle, I'm using the long plan and had a 35-37 mpw base when I started it. I've had 9 LR's over 10 miles with one of 15, and peaked at 45 miles in week 7 of the plan. I feel as though both plans are very good and are designed to push yourself with all the speed work. Another thing I like is the flexibility of moving the days around when life gets in the way.
Week 1, 4, 6, 8, 9 are faster paced, and 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 are the same pace. The recovery period is different for each also, with the long plan having shorter recoveries.
I chose the long plan the second time because I wanted a bit higher mileage with a little longer LR. I also chose to run more of the XT days with the second time, thus giving me more weekly miles. This is a very solid plan that I really like, but it has a bunch of speed work that can take a toll. On the first cycle, I struggled with the speed work, so just tried to do the mileage instead of the paces on some of the runs. Hope this helps.
Mitch