BOISE RunWalk Change your life... and go the distance!
Written by Coach Steve
Develop Your Running Strategy
Strategy refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal and strategy will gather all you learn while training into a plan of action on race day. Accomplishing your long-distance goal depends on the decisions you make during training and race day too, and the best decisions are based on information gathered during the training season.
Experimentation
Every week during your training is an opportunity to experiment and gather information on the results of your workout "experiments". Approach each long workout with a goal pace and approach each workout properly fueled and hydrated. During your workouts ask yourself how you feel, how’s your performance. After the workout over the next several hours, ask yourself the same questions, again the following day. Depending on how you paced yourself during the workout, the distance you ran,
Introduction to Race Strategy - Fluids and Carbohydrates
Strategic Questions
Ask yourself these questions: Are you training for an event that will last longer than 60 minutes? What sources of energy will you rely on to complete the race? What sources of fluids will you rely on to complete the race? Do you plan on needing to consume electrolytes during the race? What are you doing to prevent bonking and seeing spots? What are you doing during your 14-week training season to determine what you can eat and what you can drink during the race without getting sick to your stomach? Early in your training season is the time to experiment with sources of fluids for adequate hydration, as well as sources of carbohydrates for adequate energy.
Read more: Introduction to Race Strategy – Fluids and Carbohydrates
Taper your Robie Creek Training Program – a Strategic Plan
Race Week and Race Day Strategies
We outline here a two week taper for the Race to Robie Creek Half Marathon. This plan was developed for you by 5-time Robie Champ Mike Carlson, and edited by Coach Steve. This plan presented the dates between April 1st and Race Day. As always, your actual plan is based on experimentation and the decisions you make over the 14-week training program with BOISE RunWalk.
2 Weeks prior to Race Day
* Get plenty of rest prior to your longest/hardest training run of the season.
* Minimum of 2 easy days between scheduled workouts during this second-to-last week prior to Robie. Have a minimum of two rest days between each weekday run.
1 Week to Race Day
Read more: Taper Your Robie Creek Training Program – a Strategic Plan
Taper into your Half Marathon – a Strategic Plan
We outline here the basic concepts for a two week taper into your half marathon, a taper that begins immediately following your longest training workout.
You just ran your longest training distance ahead of the half marathon coming up in about two weeks. Now is the time you begin a formal taper period as part of your periodized training program. With a successful taper, you’ll be well rested and full of energy at the START LINE of your half marathon in two weeks.
Two weeks out
If you are especially tired or feeling run-down, consider taking two easy days between workouts during this week.
Last “long” prior to race day
Your last long distance should be the weekend prior to race day. Approach this run casually, easily and just enjoy it. No hills, no need for speed or intensity. This is a “taper” run.
POST MARATHON RECOVERY - Week 1
By Hal Higdon (web). Edited by Coach Steve
Generally, it takes a minimum of two to three weeks for the body to recover from the strain of running 26.2 miles. Return too quickly and you increase your risk of injury. Some experts suggest resting one day for every mile you run in the marathon, thus 26 days of no hard running or racing! Others suggest one day for every kilometer, thus 42 days rest. Often the determining factor is not how quickly your body recovers, but how quickly your mind recovers, since you temporarily will have lost your main training goal. Olympic champion Frank Shorter says: "You’re not ready to run another marathon until you’ve forgotten the last one."
The training you do in the three weeks following a marathon should be a near mirror of what you did the last three weeks before: in other words, a reverse taper. Your eating after also should mirror your eating before, since a diet high in carbohydrates can help refuel your muscles as well as fuel them. Here is what to do during Week 1, the week after your marathon.
