WHEN I WROTE MY first book, Hansons Marathon Method, I wasn’t married, had no kids, and had all the time in the world to focus on writing. Now, a couple years later, I juggle coaching, running, writing, and quality time with my wife and young daughter. It’s downright chaotic at times. I’m no different than most of you, so I certainly realize how hard it can be to make time to train along with all that we have going on in our lives. A great support system helps. And a good program, and coach for that matter, should be reasonably flexible, recognizing that life happens while we train and that sometimes runs need to be moved around or adjusted. A good program will allow for such adjustments with minimal overall “damage” to the person’s training. Let’s discuss some of the common issues that come up and how you can work around these to make the Hansons Half-Marathon Method work for you.
Our programs fit a wide range of time goals and abilities; however, we still receive some requests for information on how to add to the weekly volume. As we have discussed, the faster a runner wants to complete the half-marathon, the more training he or she will have to put in (to a point). That added training generally comes in the form of an increase in weekly mileage. If you are a first-time half-marathoner following the Just Finish Program, you are probably better off sticking with the recommended mileage for your first 13.1-mile training journey. If, on the other hand, you have never raced the half distance but have some experience with shorter race distances, the Beginner Program probably has the right mileage for you. It will give you that all-important increase in weekly mileage without throwing too much at you at once. Even if you have been successful in shorter races, running high mileage is an entirely different beast. So if you haven’t run high weekly volume, give the Beginner Program a shot for your first half-marathon and then slowly add mileage or move up to the Advanced Program for your second attempt at the distance, depending on how your body responds.
If you are experienced in the half-marathon distance and are following the Advanced Program, adding mileage becomes a bit more complicated. While the intuitive choice may be to add to the long run, we first suggest running on your rest days to add mileage. If you are looking to ramp up your weekly mileage, we recommend adding an easy 4–8 miles on Wednesday, your rest day, and voilà! You instantly see roughly a 10 percent increase in mileage. For many runners, an easy running day, rather than a rest day, placed between the two SOS days may actually better stimulate recovery and uphold the routine.
Another approach for adding mileage is through the modification of easy days in the Advanced Program, most of which have runs of 4–6 miles. It is reasonable for an experienced half-marathoner to increase those runs to 6–8 miles. By adding 2 miles to each easy run during the week, you bank an additional 8 miles per week, topping you out in the 60 miles per week range. We have successfully used this approach with a number of competitive men and women who run in the low 1:30s and sub-1:30-hour range.
A final method for adding mileage to the Advanced Program is to increase the distance of the long run. We don’t recommend throwing in an 18- or 20-mile long run just for the sake of doing it, however. With the half-marathon distance, the rules remain in line with our overall philosophy, which means keeping your long run at 25–30 percent of weekly mileage and less than 3 hours. Your longest long run is already longer than the race distance, so being able to cover the ground on race day should not be a concern. However, our programs offer plenty of room between where the long runs sit and where they could max out if you have already increased your weekly mileage by using the other ideas just discussed.
For the ambitious few who have slowly increased their mileage and are looking to safely hit that 70–80 miles per week range, we again suggest adding miles to easy days, making those runs at least 10 miles each. If you run all 7 days per week, with 4 easy days, that will total 40 miles per week, or 40–50 percent of your goal. In this scenario, strength workouts total 11 miles, and we usually recommend adding a 3-mile warm-up and cooldown before and after to log a few extra miles. Including the warm-up and cooldown, tempo runs will peak at around 13 total miles, and we suggest increasing the Saturday run to 6–10 miles. Then, when you add in an 18- to 20-mile long run, you’ve got about 95–100 miles on your legs for the week. However, unless you are looking at running a half-marathon in the sub-1:15 range, these changes are probably not realistic.
Runners will also often ask us about running twice a day. As with the long run, our recommendation depends on the person. For most people, it’s hard enough to find time to run once a day, let alone twice. If you are looking to add up to 10 miles per week, then it’s usually easier to just add Wednesday as an easy run. Then you are left with only a few miles to account for, and it’s simpler to just add a mile to a run a couple of times during the week. For those running 70–80 miles per week, an 8- to 10-mile run will take anywhere from an hour to 80 minutes (e.g., 10 miles @ 8:00/mile). For people who are running that sort of mileage and looking to finish in 1:05–1:20 in the half-marathon, a 10-mile run is not a major run. Even in this scenario, a second run may still not make a lot of sense. In this case, easy runs of 8–10 miles added to the SOS will already put you well into the 70–80 miles per week range. After a person is running more than 10 miles a day, however, two runs per day should be considered. At that point you are talking about 14–15 miles, or more, per day. It may not seem like much, compared with 10 miles of single runs, but at this level, those 4–5 extra miles put in during a second run can elicit real physiological adaptations.
In Appendix A, we discuss the plan followed by the elite athletes in the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Here you can garner some ideas on how higher weekly volume can be broken up. To reach the coveted 100-mile mark, you can either increase your easy runs from 10 miles to 12 miles, which will give you an extra 6 miles per week, or you can add a second 4-mile run a couple of days a week. All this mileage is added without messing with the volume or intensity of the core SOS workouts, demonstrating what huge gains added easy mileage can spur on its own.
One of the most common reasons runners require a change in their training program is to accommodate races. While we generally suggest including other races sparingly leading up to a half-marathon, in certain situations such competitions are advantageous. In particular, we have discussed the benefits of beginners racing a 5K or 10K to help establish a baseline for their half-marathon-specific training. For this race to be useful, you must schedule it strategically. For a number of reasons, the first and best opportunity is at the end of Week 7 in any of the programs. The first 4 weeks are spent increasing base mileage to prepare you to handle harder-intensity running; this is followed by the speed segment of training, along with increasing mileage. Because it takes about 3 weeks to adjust to new training stressors, it makes sense to schedule a race at that 7-week point. With the Just Finish Program, a race gives you an opportunity to see where your fitness is at and decide if you want to establish a time goal.
As far as race planning around your half-marathon, I would suggest a 5K during the speed cycle and a 10K during the strength cycle. That way, you are (1) building your race distance throughout the training cycle and (2) racing a distance that won’t take away from your other training. A 5K during the earlier training weeks would be about what your Thursday tempo run distance would be. During the later stage of the training block, a 10K would be around the tempo distance. So, you get to race and not lose out on an SOS day.
The training grid (Table 5.1) demonstrates more specifically how you might shift around your workouts to best accommodate a race. You’ll notice that during the week, Thursday’s tempo run is replaced by Saturday’s easy run, while the Friday run remains the same. Saturday is then race day, which replaces the tempo run. This is a strategic replacement because both a race and a tempo run stimulate the anaerobic threshold. Hence, the Sunday run is replaced by another easy run that is longer in duration. Beyond that week, the schedule picks up again right where it left off.
This example and the previous discussion in Chapter 4 demonstrate why it is important not to race too often, regardless of whether you’re using the Just Finish, Beginner, or Advanced Program. Races cause big adjustments in the tempo runs, long runs, and sometimes both. While the impact is not as strong early in the training, it becomes a larger issue the closer you get to your half-marathon. Each runner has to weigh his or her own pros and cons of racing sparingly or often. If you are not overly concerned with your finish time in the half-marathon, then the number of times you race beforehand matters less. On the other hand, if the half is your ultimate goal and you are chasing a time, then you want to choose races sparingly, paying close attention to their timing in your training program.
Prior to any structured training, many runners are fairly haphazard in their approach to running, putting in varying amounts of volume and intensity depending on mood, weather, and the like. While any exercise is obviously good for your body, training requires more focus and strategy. Herein lies one of the greatest challenges in following a structured training program: scheduling conflicts. For instance, your child’s T-ball games are on Thursdays, the same day you are supposed to do your tempo workouts. Or maybe you have to work every Sunday, which is also the scheduled long run day. As coaches, we find ourselves reassuring runners about these issues every marathon cycle. By giving you three simple guidelines for working around life’s obligations, we offer you the tools to tend to your responsibilities without letting your running get off track.
If you decide to switch your workouts around, stay as consistent as possible. For instance, if you trade Thursday’s workout for Friday’s one week, try to do the same every week moving forward. The key is to avoid constantly swapping different days every week. If you move your strength workout to Friday one week, but then do another strength workout the following Tuesday, you’ve done two strength workouts within a 5-day period. This not only upsets the training balance but also can lead to injury and overtraining. If you know something is going to regularly conflict on a certain day of the week, make sure the changes are uniform across weeks and months. If you work all day Sunday, switch your long runs to Saturdays throughout the entire training cycle. Routine is the key here. The more you can maintain it, the better.
Put simply, you should always take either an easy day or a rest day between SOS workouts. If you miss your speed workout on Tuesday and complete it on Wednesday instead and then go right into your tempo run on Thursday, you’re asking for an injury. In this situation, the best bet is to move the tempo run to Friday, leaving an easy run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. This shows that you can adjust for certain obligations and disruptions without upsetting the entire balance of training.
Consider the previous example in which an SOS workout was missed on Tuesday. What’s a runner to do if there is no other possible day to reschedule the workout later in the week? One option is to just move on. That’s right, cut your losses and move on to the next SOS workout. In some circumstances, there may be no way around this scenario. If you don’t have time to get in the full workout, however, the other option is to consider sneaking in a quick run, or abbreviating the workout, getting in what you can. Even a 25-minute run is better than forgoing a workout altogether.
Illness and injury are certainly the most frustrating reasons you may need to adjust your training around. Over the weeks to months you spend preparing for the 13.1-mile distance, you are likely, at the very least, to catch a bug. The chance of injury, on the other hand, is largely avoided through smart training, but it is not entirely eliminated. Even when you’re doing everything right, you can trip on a curb and take a spill or roll an ankle on uneven terrain. Here is how to navigate these potential running layoffs, depending on the number of days missed and when these days are missed.
Maybe you tweaked your knee or were sick in bed for a couple of days. If you come out unscathed after a day or two, training can resume normally without scaling back mileage or intensity. You just lose a couple of days of running—no harm done. For example, if you took a wrong step at the end of your long run on Sunday, causing you to miss training on Monday and Tuesday, simply jump back in on Wednesday. If you are feeling 100 percent, complete Tuesday’s SOS workout on Wednesday and move the Thursday tempo to Friday. This allows you to still fit in all of the week’s SOS workouts, but it also adheres to the rule of scheduling an easy or rest day between hard runs. However, if you aren’t able to reschedule your SOS days to fit within those parameters, then just forge ahead with your tempo run on Thursday and let go of the missed SOS workout. While a number of missed workouts can spell doom for your marathon goals, a single lost workout will never be your demise.
Physiological regression will be minimal, even if no running at all takes place within this time frame. Usually, a person who misses this many days has something more than a 24-hour flu or a simple ache or pain. With that said, if you are feeling healthy enough to get in a couple of short, easy jogs while you recuperate, by all means do so. If instead you’re truly laid up, rest assured that the consequences of a few days off won’t deter your end goal. After 3–4 days of missed training, come back slowly by running easy for 2–3 days, then pick the schedule back up and follow it as usual. If you have missed 5–6 days, run easy for 3–4 days and then revert to the previous week’s training regimen. After that week, jump ahead and catch back up with the training program. For instance, if you miss Week 3, run easy through Week 4 and then return to Week 3’s workouts during the 5th week. After that, jump to Week 6 and follow the training as it was originally prescribed.
At this point the body starts to lose some of those hard-earned physiological gains you have made. You’ve probably heard the saying “You lose it twice as fast as you gain it.” It always seems that it takes a lot more time and effort to gain fitness than it does to lose it. Taking a week and a half off from running definitely necessitates serious schedule modification; however, that modification depends on the point in the plan at which the missed block occurs. If it occurs before the strength portion of the training program, then the runner won’t have to make any major adjustments to race goals. If the setback happens after the strength workouts begin, the runner will probably need to adjust race goals because there may not be enough time to get in all the normal training. Keep in mind that if you can still manage to run some short, easy runs during this period and have the go-ahead from your doctor, the time it takes to return to normal training will be significantly less. If running isn’t possible, commit to crosstraining to prevent a drop-off in fitness. The hope is that fitness will remain high enough to allow an easier and faster transition back to healthy running. Always remember in these situations to consult a physician who is familiar with runners before diagnosing yourself and prescribing your own treatment. In either case, you don’t need to abandon your plans to run the half-marathon, but adjustments are necessary.
Upon your return to running, you should run easy for the same number of days that you missed. If you lost a week, then run easy for a week. After that, go back to the last training week that you were able to complete and repeat it, then run the week that was originally missed, and from there pick the schedule back up. So, with a week missed, it takes 3 weeks to get back on track. If you are able to run easy during your time off, subtract a week from that time frame. This advice applies throughout the training program, but once strength workouts have begun, you may do the math and realize, “Wow! I don’t have enough time.” Unfortunately, this happens. While many people can rebound quickly enough to run the race, their goal time will be compromised. Once you get into that final 4–6 weeks of training, the pros and cons of racing should be weighed. If you are really looking to run that goal time and you miss 10 days of running with 5 weeks to go, you could choose to look at other race options. If you are comfortable with potentially missing the mark, then go for it.
Unfortunately, if you are forced to miss this much time, you are faced with a serious decision. After 2 weeks of lost training, the decreases in physiological gains are quite significant—as much as 3–5 percent. While this might not seem like much, consider this: For a runner attempting a 2:00-hour half-marathon, a 4 percent loss means an increase of nearly 5 minutes for the overall finishing time. The slower the race goal time, the more time gained. Even worse, after 21 days away from running, 10 percent or more of fitness is forfeited. This means that VO2max and blood volume can decrease by up to 10 percent, anaerobic threshold decreases significantly, and muscle glycogen decreases by as much as 30 percent. These are all important to endurance performance, and if you miss 2 weeks of running, it may take more than 2 weeks to even get back to your previous level, setting you far off course. In particular, if this happens during the strength portion of the program, there simply may not be enough time to regain your fitness levels and get ready for the goal race. If you are following the Just Finish Program, you don’t have a designated strength portion, but you will still be in the hardest part of your training at this time, so the guidelines here are still applicable.
Although you won’t run your best, advanced runners in this situation may be able to sneak in shorter training segments and still complete the race, albeit likely falling short of the original time goals. However, beginners and first-time half-marathon runners should be cautious when it comes to losing substantial amounts of training time and forging ahead to the goal race. For runners in this situation, consider choosing a new race or at least revising time goals. In all our years of coaching, we’ve seen too many people rush back from illness or injury to make a race deadline, often forgoing proper recovery and in the end having a poor race experience.
If you are set on running the originally scheduled race, be sure to step back and understand what the time off from running means for you physiologically. If you’ve taken 2 weeks off, adjust your race goal by 3–5 percent. If you’ve missed closer to 3 weeks, adjust your expected performance by 7–10 percent. For example, if Runner A missed 2 weeks of training and was shooting for a 2:00 half-marathon, she should adjust her goal by 3.6 minutes (120 × 0.03) to 6 minutes (120 × 0.05). The new time goal would then be 2:03–2:06. Any more than 4 weeks off, and we suggest choosing a new race altogether.
Although we have just presented a number of ways to modify your training schedule, we contend that it is best to avoid taking unscheduled days away from training if at all possible. This applies even when your legs are tired and sore, since soreness and injury are not inextricably linked. There will be times during training when your legs are achy, fatigued, and nonspecifically sore; it just comes with the territory. Many of the adaptations that happen during training occur as a result of running on the days you just don’t feel like running.
If you have an injury, however, your response should be different. For less severe injuries, make sure that you are not only taking time off but also using that time to identify the root cause of the problem. Otherwise you may continue to run into the same issue upon returning to training. For instance, if you are experiencing shin splints, figure out what you need to do to reduce the pain, like getting new shoes or implementing a strength routine. If your body will allow it, reduce the volume and intensity, but continue running short and easy through the healing process. While training may need to be reduced, it doesn’t necessarily have to stop completely to allow for recovery, that is, if the cause of the injury is identified and treated. When you can maintain some fitness, downtime is significantly minimized, and regular training can be resumed much sooner.