The half marathon is not an event to take lightly. Whether a beginner or a more experienced runner it requires at least a few weeks if not months of training. For many a half marathon is the peak event of their season, although it is an excellent warm up event for those taking on a marathon.
Experience and fitness are the two key factors that will determine your potential. Most good runners will seek to dip below 1 hour 30 minutes, whilst most beginners or intermediates will look to beat 2 hours. Incredibly, the male and female world records stand at a staggering 58 minutes 33 seconds and 1 hour 8 minutes 25 seconds respectively!
Your training programme should reflect your running experience and current level of fitness through the manipulation of training type, duration, intensity and frequency.
Beginner (>2 hours)
Your focus is to increase the length of time (duration) that you can run without stopping. This is done through continuous running (2-4 sessions/week), slowly increasing the duration of your runs whilst maintaining intensity at an easy to moderate level. Typically one run a week is characterised as a 'long' run.
Intermediate (1 hour 30 minutes - 1 hour 59 minutes)
Your focus is to blend your continuous runs (30-90 minutes duration: easy/moderate intensity) with interval based training, i.e. 3-5 bouts of 4-8 minutes at race pace interspersed with 60-90 seconds jog recovery. The number of sessions per week will vary from 2-5 with one dedicated 'long' run.
Experienced (≤1 hour 30 minutes)
Your focus is to find the right blend of continuous and interval training sessions so that you can keep pushing your race pace to the next level. The number of sessions per week will vary from 3-6 and you may complete a number of training races in order to finalise you race pace.
As you progress towards your half marathon race, use feedback from specific training sessions to understand your race potential, i.e. target time. From this target time you can now calculate your pacing strategy to ensure you don't run too slow, or perhaps run too fast and fatigue.
In addition to a well balanced diet, carbohydrate to fuel the muscles and fluid to hydrate the body are the two most important areas to think about in preventing fatigue and thus ensuring the quality of your training and maximising your race day potential.
Before
Always begin hydrated by consuming 5-7 ml of fluid per kilogram of body weight (~ 200-500 ml) 2-4 hours before. In addition consume a high carbohydrate meal 3-4 hours before and if necessary top up your carbohydrate stores up until you start running.
During
- For training sessions that are > 60 minutes and are low to moderate intensity or < 60 minutes at a high intensity it is important to consume both fluid and carbohydrate. Drink 125-150 ml every 15-20 minutes of Lucozade Sport, whilst a carbo gel every 45 minutes is a great addition for extra energy.
- For training sessions that are < 60 minutes at a lower intensity fluid replacement as opposed to carbohydrate intake is your primary aim. Drink 125-150 ml every 15-20 minutes of Lucozade Sport Hydro Active.
- When racing your half marathon try to take on fluid and carbohydrate regularly throughout. Drink 125-150 ml of Lucozade Sport every 15-20 minutes, and consume one carbo gel every 45 minutes.
- Caffeine has been shown to be a powerful performance aid in running, helping athletes increase their work rates. Drink one bottle Lucozade Sport with Caffeine Boost 60 minutes before the start of the race for maximal benefits.
After
Try to replace 150% (~ 500 ml) of the fluid lost in sweat in addition to approximately 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram bodyweight. A combination of Lucozade Sport Recovery and other food sources is an ideal choice.
REMEMBER: Always trial your nutrition and hydration strategies in training before you use in races