Phase 2 "long run" duration question

About to lead into Phase 2, which will take me up to a half marathon on April 6th

The 'middle' section of most of the 'day 6' runs in phase 2 say "this isn't a long run", but some of the warm up sections are quite long (30 mins)

Eric - what would you suggest a total 'day 6' run duration should be in phase 2 if I'm aiming for a half marathon (my average half marathon race times are around 90 minutes)

I want to ensure I'm working on all the speed stuff, but also want to ensure I'm used to running at or near half marathon distance during this period - it's a bit of a balance I know - I quite like tinkering with the schedules (as you suggest in book) but wanted to get your view on this specific area

Cheers Rich

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric Orton on January 27, 2014 at 9:24am

Hey Rich - now that you are entering Phase 2, I think for the second time, it will be important to not make these runs TOO long. It will be more effective to focus on race specific speed/intensity (as you mention) to build speed endurance. You built endurance during Phase 1, so now the plan is to turn this into speed endurance and it would be a mistake to continue to do longer runs like in Phase 1. Especially due to the high intensity scheduled in Phase 2. Doing too much long endurance will inhibit the speed endurance process.

So, I would keep Phase 2/Day 6 runs at 90- min or at 15K. On the runs that assigned a duration on hilly course in zone 3-5/6 - REPLACE this with progressive time spent in SP Zone 3. This will help train your specific half marathon effort.

Keep all the other Day 6 runs the same, as this will sequence well with what is scheduled during the week, which is very important.

Hope this helps and keep us posted as always.