The Waltons aka Advanced Half Marathon Training Thread - 2022 edition (Read 443 times)

 

 

They're a little obscenely cheery (even more so if you listen at 125% speed like I do) but episode 126 of Some Work All Play has a nice summary of the Norweigan model where they make some interesting claims about long term sustainable improvement only being possible if you don't overcook your workouts. I'm going to listen to it again and try and summarize their suggestions but for non-gifted amatuers like us it's basically run a bunch, run a long run, do a little bit of neuromuscular work, short doubles are good (even 10 min  crosstraining will have a hormonal response that's benefical) do some light workouts but don't overcook them.

 

 

Very interesting, and I think it may be applicable to what's worked for me.  I've been careful (some might say overly cautious) about not setting goals that I see as too ambitious.  I've been willing to accept small improvement each training cycle (spring and fall) rather than going for bigger improvements.  There are people who wanted me to shoot for sub-1:50 three or four years ago, but I approached that target more slowly and eventually I got there and perhaps not overcooking my workouts played a role in that.

Yes, Hansons has worked for me for halves.  Two workouts per week (one at race pace, one faster), a long run every other week, and the rest at easy effort, building up the mileage.  Some find it boring.  I find the simple workouts easy to execute.

Ok I just re-listened to much of the podcast. I think everyone could benefit from listening from  1h10m in until ~1h 15m as it's a great little summary which I've transcribed here.

Summary of Norweigan Training

• Keep easy days easy
• develop speed but don't overly train anaerobic processes
• controlled intervals are often more effective for aerobic development and you shouldn't be racing workouts

Their Suggestions For non-pros:

• Aerobic volume 80+% of the time
  • half of that in zone 1 (in a 5 zone model)
  • half of that you can work up to steady (i.e. z2) or push a little on hills
•  make sure you're layering that VO2 power stimulus thinking about running economy and running development ... don't forget your shorter intensity days, your strides that fun neuromuscular output.
  • get close to max output 2x / week
•  emphasis on critical velocity or lactate threshold but for most of us... just dial it back and make it sustainable.
•  before big events do one or two big workouts.
•  FUEL yourself for performance!

I personally am a little confused by their inclusion of the words vo2 with power stimulus as those are different in my book (I'm heavily JD influenced) but this is a fairly concise set of training suggestions, the most notable one being how much Z1 running they suggest. It's worth knowing that while they do coach road runners, their primary clients are ultra, trail and obstacle runners though I'm not convinced that changes the training at all.

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Keen I didn't know you did a bunch of CV work. I've really enjoyed those when I've done them. Any big takeaways? Did you always finish with strides or 200s as he suggests?

Keen that's an awesome graph. Is that Runalyze? TrainingPeaks? Something else?

Ok I just re-listened to much of the podcast. I think everyone could benefit from listening from  1h10m in until ~1h 15m as it's a great little summary which I've transcribed here. 

 

 Zeb - Legend work on the transcribing! I tried listening (from the start), but lasted about 30secs before vomiting. I think you severly understated how cheery they actually are...

James - Yeah, that's the one. I find them hilarious, and the 'Half Perish' one hard out made me laugh when I first read it. "That was only a half perish" 

Fred - Enjoyably detailed RR, as usual! I also enjoy watching the YouTube clips you post of your races.

MJ - You've started an interesting discussion on training plans! I'm a +1 for this wisdom by Zeb - "I'm a big fan of doing the basics: long run, miles, strides, tempo runs and letting the chips fall where they will".

CK - Love that HR zone graph

Caitlin - Tough call on the deferral, but sounds like it was the right choice.

Mark - The Nelson HM website tells me that your race is 2d 23hrs away. Good luck!

Good luck for Sunday Mark.  I have a feeling this will be a really good race for you.

yeah I skip the first 20 minutes of every episode where they just talk about random stuff. Then I set it to 125% speed

 

 

Mark how's the weather looking? All the NY Marathon runners are freaking out around here

Mark - good luck.

Zebano - Yes, I'll be tracking at least three people and none are happy about the forecast, starting at 65º and going up to 72º (18C - 22C).  The only saving grace may be a good chance of cloud cover to keep the sun from making it feel even warmer (though I'm sure they're not happy about the 20% chance of rain all day).  Thanks for the summary of the podcast.

Hash, Keen - Thanks on the RR.

 

Pretty good. 12C / low to mid 50’s at the start with clear skies and no wind. But, it will feel warmer than that as sunrise is just after 6am at the moment. Still, as good as you could probably get at this time of year.

Good luck Mark!

Mark - good luck for Nelson.  Looking at the forecast, that's really good for November.

Darkwave - at least it didn't happen during race week!  Hopefully you're vaccinated too, as that will help, so hopefully it's mild and short.