Half Marathon Training 8 Weeks
Half marathon training 8 weeks to success.
How do you accomplish half marathon training success within 8 weeks?
Razor sharp focus, that is how.
Can you even get into the proper shape to race a half marathon in 8 weeks?
The answer to that is yes but your success really is going to come down to cutting out the unessentials from your routine.
I have found that the best half marathons I have run in the past came when I was 100 percent narrowed in on what I wanted to do, how I was going to do it and when I wanted it completed by.
Very few people write down their goals.
Have you?
Write them down, see what you envision.
Grant Gardone, a well-known entrepreneur states that he writes his goals down twice a day, once before he gets up and before he goes to bed.
Powerful.
If you start to do this you have already laid plans for your subconscious mind to bring you what you dream about.
Whatever you ask for in prayer (thoughts), believe you have recieved it and it will be yours – Mark 11:24
You have to plan your work and work your plan
A great businessman by the name of Holton Buggs made that statement.
Businessman and women are much like us endurance athletes is that they know what they want and are willing to do what it takes in order to make their dreams a reality.
The reality is normal surrounds us all so you have to decide in your training and the way to dream and goal set if you want to average, good or great.
All require some form of effort but greatness requires doing what most simply won't and if you start writing down your goals daily you are going to be well ahead of the majority of people who have never written them down once.
Earl Nightengale, back in the 1950's made a video called the Strangest Secret where he mentions that people fail to think and because so few are truly utilizing the power of their minds, few realize their true potential.
I wanted to share this video with you because I have found, through 24 years of endurance, mindset is everything.
You can physically train but the great athletes know the importance of writing down goals and training their minds.
Half marathon training 8 weeks to success is basically a mindset and what distance runners are seeking out.
How can I be successful within 8 weeks in running 13.1 miles in the fastest possible time possible.
Key Points
1. Focus on the pace you want to run
8 weeks is sufficient time to run a half marathon so in that time period you want to ensure you are spending some time at the goal pace you have in mind.
Do you have a goal time you want to run?
Do you just want to finish and are not really concerned with time?
I think if you focus on challenging yourself in training you will accomplish both.
You'll not only run faster but complete the race and have enough left in your tank to feel as though you could have went much farther.
The greatest runners are great in that they spent a lot of their mileage at or below their goal race pace.
Practicing at speeds, whether that be for a few minutes or for many miles will create the training adaptation that is needed to slow less than those around you.
The key point is slow less because every runner, regardless of ability is going to slow in the race.
It is the runner who maintains pace and doesn't slow as rapidly as those in front or behind them that is going to run a great half marathon.
2. Alternate one hard long run with one easy long run
One of the best pieces of training advice I have ever received as a half marathon and marathon specialist is alternating one hard long run with the following week, easy.
Your preparing and training hard but you also have to keep in mind how well you are recovering.
There is massive physiological adaptation that occurs during long runs.
One of the key benefits from this is that you are teaching the body to handle being in a fatigued state for a long period of time.
The body, after the effort, created a supercompensatory effect meaning it is weakened by the workout temporarily and than becomes stronger within 48 hours of the initial effort.
I wrote an article about 7 workouts for long distance runners that work that will add on to this post that can benefit you.
Examples of workouts I would be doing is 12x400m two weeks out at a strong pace but with total rest.
Earlier in the training block I might do these fast but with very little rest whereas now I am doing them at the same pace but with full rest.
I am not concerned with trying to set world records in training 2 weeks before a half marathon or how little rest I can give myself between sets.
My goal is just to maintain and remind my body to stay revved up and ready.
The emphasis is maintenance with a few days left before a half marathon, not overtraining or trying to accomplish more when it is leverage you want all your focus to be on in the last few days.
Leverage means to do more with less.
Have faith in the workouts you have completed during the past few weeks, be confident in your ability.
One of the biggest mistakes I have made and seen other runners make is worrying over things that simply do not matter.
Have I done enough?
Can I run as fast as so and so?
Am I sleeping enough?
Will I be able to maintain the pace?
Turn your mind off on your concerns and focus all your energy and attention on what you want to happen.
You want your focus and mind on the end result you seek, not on what you worry about.
Remember, the old saying ‘whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve'.
I can assure you from personal experience that if you are doing the work necessary and are envisioning every second of the day what you want, your imagination and mind will bring you want you desire.
Half marathon training 8 weeks, 12 weeks or 16 weeks, doesn't matter.
Success can be achieved in any of the three time periods, 8 weeks simply means you have to do more in a shorter amount of time.
Focus less on quantity and more on quality during this block of training.
Have confidence in the workouts you are doing, don't be easy on yourself in training.
If you cut a workout short, you are only cheating yourself.
You may have off days, don't get bent out of shape over this.
It happens to the best runners in the world.
Again, cut out the unessentials, anybody or anything that is not lifting you up is not getting you closer to your goals and dreams.
Change your associations, turn off the Idiot Box (TV), read more books.
Do the little things that can make an enormous difference.
Surround yourself with positivity, do not watch the news, take care of your mind, what you feed it just as you would how you training physically.
This sport is mainly mental and it is a component of preparation many runners do not fully utilize.
You are already ahead of the game.
Let me know if you have any further questions, videos you would like made on problems you have encountered with your running that you would like further guidance on or feel free to leave a comment.
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