Run Faster

I thought I’d take some time this week to review how my half marathon training is going. As you may remember from this post, I’m following the level 2 plan in Matt Fitzgerald’s book, Brain Training For Runners. I’ve just started week 8 of the plan, which means I’ve finished the six-week base training phase, and I’m on the second week of the build 1 phase. So far, I’m feeling really good about how my training is going.

The base training phase is a bit different than a lot of plans call for, in that there are several harder runs built into the plan, including hill repetitions, fartleks, and long runs of up to 10 miles. To me, having harder runs built even into the base training is really a plus, because doing too many runs at a slow (base) pace gets a little monotonous for me.

The build 1 phase calls for a two interval workouts, two recovery runs done slower than base pace, one shorter run done at base pace, and one longer run done at base pace. By the end of this phase, which will be week 10 of the plan, my weekly long run will be up to 14 miles. Even though (or maybe, because) this plan calls for quite a bit more mileage than I’ve been used to, I feel like I’m becoming a stronger runner.

What I like about this plan, in addition to the variety, is the philosophy behind it. Although the suggested mileage is quite a bit higher than I’ve been used to in the past, Fitzgerald puts a lot of emphasis on finding the right balance between training hard enough to improve your running and making sure that your body has time to recover adequately. What this means in practice is that the plans he provides should be taken as general guidelines rather than gospel, so if your scheduled workout for the day seems too easy for how you’re feeling, you should change it and run harder, and if it seems too hard, it’s okay to substitute an easier run or even take the day off. For me, this has meant that I’ve taken an extra day off in each of the past couple of weeks, but I’ve also taken shorter recovery breaks during the intervals than the plan suggests.

I also like that Fitzgerald gives you a different proprioceptive cue to work on each week to help you improve your form and running economy. Having just one cue to think about each week and each run really seems to help me get a feel for how that one change feels, so I think I’m integrating the form improvements a little bit better than I have in the past when I’ve tried to concentrate on several form cues during some workouts and have not thought about them at all in others.

I expect that I’ll continue to write more about how this plan is going for me as I continue to move through each phase of the plan. Meanwhile, if you’re planning to run a spring race and you haven’t yet chosen a plan to follow, take a look at Brain Training For Runners to see if it might work for you.

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Today I started training for my next half marathon, which I think is going to be either the Platte River Half Marathon (probably in early April, although there’s no date listed on the website yet) or the Colfax Half Marathon on May 18, 2008.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been following the FIRST training plan, but this time, I’ve decided to shake things up a bit and follow the plan in Matt Fitzgerald’s most recent book, Brain Training For Runners.

The book features 3 different half marathon training plans - Level 1, 2, and 3. I’m going to follow the level 2 plan, which calls for 5-6 runs per week and long runs up to a maximum of 14 miles. All of the plans are 20 weeks long, separated into 4 phases: base training for 6 weeks, a ‘build 1′ phase lasting 4 weeks, a ‘build 2′ phase lasting 4 weeks, and a 6 week ‘peak’ phase, the last week of which is a taper week.

There are a lot of similarities between the FIRST plan and the Brain Training For Runners plan - both call for 3 key workouts a week, and both emphasize training at specific paces. However, Brain Training For Runners calls for quite a bit more total distance per week.

The Brain Training For Runners plan also suggest that you focus on a different proprioceptive cue each week to help you improve your form. My cue this week is “falling forward” which is supposed to help prevent overstriding and give you the feeling that gravity is pulling you forward. The program also includes suggested core training, power training, and flexibility exercises.

I’m really looking forward to trying out this new plan - I’m hoping the extra mileage and the power training workouts - neither of which of done enough of in the past - will help me get a PR in my next race. Stay tuned in the coming weeks and I talk about how the new plan is going for me.

So, what are your plans for training through the winter and for your next race?

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