Malmo's Favorite Half Marathon Workout

I'm not sure what malmo's favorite is, but for me its 1 x 13.1 at half marathon pace. I know what kind of half marathon shape I'm in every time I run it and sometimes I pr. The only downside is you have to run it kind of early on saturday and sunday mornings.

5 miles tempo @ half marathon pace, 5 minute jog recovery, 4 x 800 @ 8k pace with 2:00 jog recovery

I am also interested in a response to this post if Malmo has a moment.

Thanks!

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I think my question is closely related.

Malmo, after you answer the OP's question, I'd really appreciate it if you could give us some specific training suggestions (how to structure training weeks and specific workouts) that will maximize endurance over an hour long race. I'm specifically looking for suggestions for the last three months before a race after on a decent base period.

Impossible Dream wrote:

I am also interested in a response to this post if Malmo has a moment.

Thanks!

1) 5 min easy, 5 min hard for 70 minutes

2) 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for 80 minutes

3) Many tempo runs anywhere for 3 - 12 miles, mostly in the 3-8 mile ranges. Somewhere between Marathon and HM pace. If you are doing a 3 mile "run to the barn" it's OK, even encouraged, to drop down below HM pace for the final mile.

4) Find a huge hill that takes you 2:00 to run, with a smaller 100m hill on the back side. Run the hill. jog down the backside, turn around and sprint the short side. Jog down to the bottom and repeat - 8-10 times.

5) During an easy 10 mile run, break into 3 hard surges of about 4-6 minutes each.

Excellent!

Thanks very much for the post. I'll likely incorporate some of these leading up to my HM on April 16.

One follow up question, what do you consider hard(referencing 1 and 2)? HM pace? Current or goal? Or is it simply by feel, what you can handle for the duration?

Thanks again!

Hard is what feels hard. You know hard as well as you know tired, sleepy, hot, cold, hungry, hot and horny.

Got it. I think 5 on and 5 off with that particular prescription is one I'd be more prepared for.

Thanks again Malmo.

Thanks Malmo for your advice.

Can you explain why you adivse equal recovery time for the intervals? I always did 5 minutes with 2-2,5 minutes rest and felt comfortable with it.

If you don`t mind I've another question. I'd like to improve my strenght in the 5-10 k and plan to follow a schedule like this:

Mo: tempo run

We: short intervals/hills

Sat: road intervals 5/5 min or 10/10 min

+ DOUBLES as much as I can

Any advice is highly appreciated. Please excuse the bad language.

Malmo,

Still not sure about what you mean by hard. I think of hard as related to how often I can/should repeat the workout. I think you mean these to be once every 10 to 14 days workouts, correct?

Foreigner wrote:

Can you explain why you adivse equal recovery time for the intervals? I always did 5 minutes with 2-2,5 minutes rest and felt comfortable with it.

If you don`t mind I've another question. I'd like to improve my strenght in the 5-10 k and plan to follow a schedule like this:

Mo: tempo run

We: short intervals/hills

Sat: road intervals 5/5 min or 10/10 min

The rest interval you are citing is typical 5k/101k track training. The rest interval I gave you would be at a faster pace -- at about your easy (not real easy) running pace. For me, in the day, that would have been approx 4:40/mi "on" and 5:50/mi "off", probably faster on both sometimes.

Not to speak for malmo, but another benefit of the 5on/5off is that it is more reasonable to do for 70 minutes (35 minutes of "on" or ~7 miles) while incorporating something that is actually hard and not just moderate.

If you did 5on/2.5off for 70 minutes, you would do 9.5 "ons" (47:30) and it would end up being a very different workout. You could also do 7 "ons" but you'd have a harder time putting in a half-marathon-duration workout.

Malmo, that sounds a little like Charlie Spedding, yes?

I don't know.

malmo wrote:

5) During an easy 10 mile run, break into 3 hard surges of about 4-6 minutes each.

Or two surges... or even one.

Foreigner wrote:

Can you explain why you adivse equal recovery time for the intervals?

Simplicity -- because I set my watch to "beep" every 5 minutes.

Malmo ... I truly believe that having a few beers one afternoon with you would truly be an outstanding way to pass some time .....

Malmo, I tried 5 minutes on 5 off for 70 minutes today. Harder than I thought but not a killer. Especially when running the recovery intervals at a decent pace which seems to be essential.

OP here. Thanks for all the responses.

Malmo, those workouts are exactly the kinds I was looking for - thank you. What I mean by that is they can be run on the roads, and do not take an exorbinant amount of time to complete. Some of my training partners take up to 3 hours (including driving to meet somewhere, warm up / cool down, socializing, etc.) to complete a long interval session. This accomplishes what they do and I start and end up on my front door.