Faster marathon and half-marathon sessions
How to train to run a faster marathon or half-marathon.
Marathon training has properly started for me and there’s nothing that brings that home to me more than doing a meaty session of mile repeats on cold Thursday lunchtime. I’ve written about interval training before, but as my marathon training ramps up I thought it might be useful to share some of the sessions I do to train for a marathon, because these are different to sessions that I would do if I were targeting a 5k or 10k.
Longer intervals for more mileage
When runners think of interval training and speed workouts, they generally picture short fast reps on a running track, running as fast as you can for 400m and then collapsing into a heap unsure if you can do any more. But if you are aiming for a longer distance race, say a half marathon or a marathon, short, fast intervals aren’t the most beneficial to your training. Doing some longer and (relatively) slower reps, are where it’s at. They’ll still feel hard, but they’re a different type of hard.
When you’re training for a half marathon or marathon, the main concern is developing your aerobic endurance. Interval training is a ‘nice to have’ rather than an essential component. You’ll be able to make it round a marathon and even run a time you’re happy with without running a single speed session, but without long runs and sufficient runs each week, you’re really going to struggle.
One of the benefits of a doing longer and slightly slower reps is that it allows you to do more volume of training without too much intensity. And for those aiming for a half marathon or marathon, training volume (the total number of miles you run each week) counts.