Half Marathon Session Replacement

by Mackenzie
(Wisconsin)

Dealing with the half marathon, using the 100 day plan :

"Hi Marius,

I ran my first marathon last fall using your plan. In about a month I'm going to do a half marathon which I also trained for using your plan, and am doing another half this fall. I know you say to replace the long slow runs in the plan with faster and somewhat shorter runs at a "float" pace, and I've kind of been guessing at what that means, but do you have any more concrete suggestions for long and slow training run replacements when training for a half marathon? "

Answer: Hi Mackenzie and thanks for your question. The point with the half marathon is that there is the options of approaching it with more flexibility (due to the shorter distance) - so it is possible to play around a bit more with a half marathons schedule vs a "strict" marathon plan.

What I mean with replacing the long slow runs is to take the LONGEST marathon specific runs (the 2+ hour walk/runs, the extreme long & hard sessions where you run over 1 hr of intense training etc) and replace it with somewhat shorter, more dynamic sessions - that you find in the first 5-6 weeks of the 100 day plan.

A general advice in terms of running a half marathon with the 100 day plan is to use the same type of system you already see there (easy-hard-easy system) and periodization but do less of the extreme. Simply cut down on the longest stuff. And "borrow" more sessions from those first weeks as they are more specific for the pace and distance.

Doing that, the 100 day plan will work extremely well for the half marathon as well.

I wish you all the best,
Marius