A half marathon requires both speed and endurance. Most people will run a half marathon a bit below their lactate threshold. Therefore longer reps at tempo effort will deliver a great training benefit. This is a perfect session for runners and triathletes running half marathon events.
Each week I will be posting the Friday Fartlek Run Sessions that you can do to enhance your running. Fartlek is a Swedish term that is often used by runners and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard to work.
The inspiration for this post came from an article on Runner’s World that describes this as a great workout to predict your half marathon time (more about that after the workout). Read the original article here.
5k Repeat Tempos
- 10min WU Level II;
- 3x 5km Level III, 5min Level II RI;
- 10min CD Level II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) of ten minutes of easy jogging at Level II.
The Main Set involves running three, five-kilometre reps at Level III, with a five minute jog between reps at Level II as your Rest Interval (RI).
The Cool Down (CD) is at a low intensity, jogging (Level II) for a minimum of ten minutes.
Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.
During the last rep, you should feel challenged but still in control. If that is the case this pace will be about right for your half marathon.
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.
I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.
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Download the Garmin (.FIT) files for this workout for FREE
If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published.
With COVID-19 putting us here in NZ into lockdown (but still able to exercise in our local neighbourhood) and events cancelled, my race plans have been put into disarray. For the next four weeks, I’m focusing on improving my 5km time. Monday will see me running a 5km and then 28 days of focused training.
Previously over a 4 week period I and an athlete I coach have just taken over 2 minutes each off our 5km times. Jamie has dropped nearly 3 minutes from 25:36 to 22:37 (12% improvement) and I have taken my 5km time from 23:20 to 21:09 (9% improvement). I’ve put together a package that will help runners of all abilities, run a faster 5km.
I’m so certain that you will be running faster I have given it a 100% money back guarantee if you don’t improve your 5km time after 28 days. I don’t care what your excuse for running slower is after 28 days…..
- I didn’t do any training…..
- It was raining…..
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I’ll still give you a 100% refund.
If you want to be one of the first 20 people to go through this programme and get it for the ultra-low price of $28 then fill in the form below. But before you do so here is what you will get for your $47:
- A dedicated training programme on Training Tilt (value $277)
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That’s a total value of over $454, and you will only pay $47 for this 28-day training programme and support features. All at no risk, if you don’t get faster you get a full 100% money back guarantee.
