First event of the year

I haven’t been keeping you up to date with my half marathon training but it’s a bit late now as its on Sunday.
As per usual I haven’t done the amount of training I'd like to but I have managed more than I did when I last ran a half-marathon.

As I play football I've integrated this as my interval training. Footballs stop, start nature is very similar to the sort of interval running I would do to prep myself for a run.

A very basic plan for preparing for a race like this would be based around 3 good runs a week. These would be a long run, interval training and a pace run.

The long run is like your practice and the one that pushes your endurance. I have only managed 2 of these and covered just over 10 miles. Some people like to cover the whole distant maybe more but I was wary of pushing too hard and not allowing yourself the adequate recovery.

The reason you do just the one long run is as I've stated already allowing yourself time to recover plus pounding the streets still takes its toll whoever you are.

I've been experiencing some niggles with my knees recently so I'm listen to my body and therefore I'm taking it just far enough I am getting older you know.

Interval, power training or hill running is all very similar. Interval training such as sprinting for 30 seconds, walking 30 seconds, sprinting 30 and so on for ten minutes can improve your fitness even more than your long run. Along with power training this can improve your explosive power, now this may not be as essential to long distance running but I believe it all helps to making you a faster runner.

Examples of power training are exercises like burpees, jump split squats and even clap press ups.

Hill running is good if you’re in a race that...duh, consists of hills. More importantly it can help to train the muscles in your legs to move faster. When running up hill your foot strikes the ground quicker and coming down encourages you to go faster so therefore your memory muscle is absorbing all of this.

Pace run is the final one and actually the one I haven’t done. This is obviously setting yourself a target pace over a shorter distance. You may do something like 5-6 x 1 mile runs with a break at a set target pace. Again this is another one that’s good for prepping you body (memory muscle) for the race to come.

One thing I have done is a couple of cardio sessions in the gym using either a bike, rower or both.

Two reasons for this one, it takes stress off of the knee's and the other in doing other cardio it just raises your all over level of fitness.

So watch this space and see if I got the training just right or I was under cooked.

I have 3 target times, one I want 1h 30mins, one I'll settle for 1h 35mins and my can’t go over whatever happens time 1h 40mins.

Bye for now

Simon