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June 6, 2021 at 2:30 pm
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Taper tactics

Runner on seafront

Mike Bannister, founder of our training partner RunBrighton, explains the taper and why it’s important at the end of a half-marathon training programme.

Tapering your training is typically done over the couple of weeks preceding race day.

It refers to the gradual reduction of your overall weekly mileage (or time on feet), rather than reduction in speed.

Throughout the weeks or months prior to race day, you will hopefully have gradually progressed, in terms of your weekly mileage (or time on feet), and will have been training fairly consistently. With your total volume of training peaking with about a fortnight to go, you should have got used to such a level of training, to the extent that your body is expecting to continue to train at that level.

It is when you have got used to this training that bringing it down will enable aches, pains and tightness to go away. And the additional rest that you factor in will allow your body to properly recover and store the invaluable energy required for optimum race performance.

As long as you have trained properly and consistently, winding down your training on approach to race day won’t cause you to lose any of the endurance that you have developed.

Continue with speedwork

As regards your midweek speed work, this can continue through to race week, as stopping this too soon will reduce some of the speed in your legs. Just don’t overdo it in the last few days and unnecessarily risk injury.

By race day, having reduced your training, as well as having continued to consume a healthy and balanced diet, you should find yourself in tiptop condition on the start line, well rested, with heaps of energy, and fully ready to perform.

Article by
April 27, 2021 at 4:12 pm
Brighton Half Marathon 2021
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Speedwork and half marathon training

 

Mike Bannister, founder of our training partner RunBrighton, explains speedwork and why building in some faster-paced sessions are key to a half-marathon training programme.

While the purpose of the long slow run is predominantly to build endurance, speedwork is done to help you run faster.

Speedwork sessions are typically done during the week.

They are normally done by way of ‘interval’ training. This basically means running hard (faster than your half-marathon pace) for a short period, followed by rest or very easy running for a short period, then repeating this a number of times.

A couple of simple examples include: 12 x 400m (with 1-minute recoveries), or 5 x 1 mile (with 2-minute recoveries).

The shorter the effort (e.g. 400m in the above examples), the faster you should run. The pace of these shorter efforts should be broadly similar to your 5k race pace. (Think of the speed at which you would run parkrun.)

Longer efforts, such as your mile reps, should be at closer to your 10k race pace.

And a further key session is longer, ‘threshold’ efforts. These would still be run faster than half-marathon race pace, but not as fast as your 10k race pace.

This way, we train at different paces and use different energy systems.

The talk test

If you’re relatively new to speedwork, think in terms of a ‘talk test’.

We’ve already mentioned in our previous blog post that the long slow run should be done at a relaxed, conversational pace. When running short efforts of speed (like 400m), you should find it difficult to string more than a few words together, without getting breathless. On the longer efforts, you should just about be able to utter a short sentence, but you shouldn’t be capable of holding a fluid conversation. This is just a rough guide, but will help you if you don’t know what your current 5k / 10k race pace is.

Also, if you’re new to interval training, you wouldn’t begin with the kind of sessions listed above; rather you would gradually build up, over the weeks, to these examples. So, each week, you might increase the number of efforts or the effort duration, for example: 6 x 200m… 8 x 200m… 8 x 300m… 8 x 400m. And you could start with longer recoveries and gradually reduce that recovery time each week.

(Don’t forget, significantly stepping up the volume or intensity of your training will increase the risk of getting injured, so always build up gradually.)

Don’t forget the warm up

As with all training runs, a good warm-up at the start is essential to avoid injury, but this is much more important ahead of speedwork sessions. And be sure to include drills that help activate the big running muscles, such as your glutes.

The sessions listed are a simple overview. However, there are plenty of variations. You could do speedwork sessions that include efforts of varying duration and pace, such as ‘pyramid’ sessions (e.g. 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins, 4 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min).

Above all, make your sessions fun! Whatever speedwork you do, if you don’t currently do any speedwork, this is sure to make you run your half marathon faster.

Article by
March 29, 2021 at 1:42 pm
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All about the Long Slow Run (LSR)

Mike Bannister, founder of our training partner RunBrighton, explains the long slow run (LSR). Find out why this session is crucial in a half-marathon training programme.

Why is the long, slow run important for half-marathon training?

By ‘slow’, we mean slower than half-marathon race pace.

When we run, we use different energy systems. A long-distance race, such as a half marathon, mainly uses our aerobic system (as opposed to, say, sprinting over a short distance like 100m, which is predominantly anaerobic).

In fact, running a half marathon is approximately 97% aerobic. It’s therefore really important that we train our aerobic capacity, and gradually increasing the duration of the long run will help you achieve this. This is typically the Sunday run in most half-marathon training schedules.

A common error, with many runners, is to run too hard on the long, Sunday run – maybe training at half-marathon race pace for most of the run. Don’t forget, this long training run is principally about developing your aerobic capacity, gradually increasing time on feet, and building endurance. It’s not about improving your speed.

From time to time, half-marathon race pace is incorporated into the long run. But certainly not for the whole of every long run.

Sessions to improve speed are done differently, and they typically form part of your midweek training.

One of the problems with running too hard on the long, Sunday run, is that you’re unlikely to recover sufficiently to properly execute your midweek speed-training sessions. There can then become an imbalance, as regards your whole week’s training. The long run is essential for half-marathon training and, if it is done too fast, not only can it be an inefficient way to train, you also increase the risk of developing an injury.

As a rough guide, the long run should normally be done at approximately 10-15% slower than half-marathon race-day pace (circa 1 minute-per-mile slower than race pace).

As an example, if a realistic target time for your half marathon is 2 hours (an average pace of approximately 9 minutes-per-mile), the pace of your long run should be approximately 10 minutes-per-mile. A tip, to ensure your long run is done at the correct pace, is to keep it conversational. You should be capable of holding a fluid conversation throughout your training run. If you find yourself becoming breathless and you struggle to string a sentence together, you’re probably training too hard.

So, keep it easy, have a nice chat, enjoy the scenery, improve your endurance and develop your aerobic capacity!

Membership with RunBrighton

You can now sign up for membership with our training partner, RunBrighton, for their build-up to the Brighton Half Marathon. But be quick as places are limited. Membership revolves around a group run every Sunday, alongside a range of associated benefits. Find out more at RunBrighton.com.