Malmo's Favorite Half Marathon Workout

Yes, those are your pr's, but you know what I was getting at. The caliber of runners surrounding you, at your level, would have been the guys closer to 13:18 and 28:06.

When someone asks another runner their pr's, I don't take it to mean strictly numbers, they are really asking "how good were you" or "what level were you at". I don't think 13:53 and 28:53 do you justice to the level you were on. That's all. Perhaps I read into it too much.

fictional narrative wrote:

Yes, those are your pr's, but you know what I was getting at. The caliber of runners surrounding you, at your level, would have been the guys closer to 13:18 and 28:06.

When someone asks another runner their pr's, I don't take it to mean strictly numbers, they are really asking "how good were you" or "what level were you at". I don't think 13:53 and 28:53 do you justice to the level you were on. That's all. Perhaps I read into it too much.

Yeah, he agreed with you and explained what level he was at.

malmo wrote:

Those aren't 'technically' my PR's, they ARE my PR's. I really didn't run either event enough to explore my potential there. I was a 1500/steeplechase runner before I jumped up to the roads. My 5k PR was from a March race in college in which the final 200m was 25.5. The 10k was a split from a 15k (on the track) in which I fell just short of Bill Rodgers AR. The fisrt lap was 77s, so from 2-26 I would have run about 28:43-45.

why did you go to the roads so early? money?

I'm not sure what your question is but I'll attempt to answer it anyway. The road race scene, as you know it today, didn't even come to launch until the early 80s. I would have preferred to continue racing on the track - 1500/steeplechase - but after tearing my PF, I didn't have much choice in the matter.

Incidentally, track races paid $300-$400, while road races paid $2000-$3000. So if my motives were solely money, road races would have been the way to do.

Did the pf bother you through your road career? Did you just fight through it? How bout today - does the foot give you any trouble?

Are you still running now?

What kind of running are you doing today?

bump for malmo on last two questions

So would summer of half marathon malmo be...

1. Doubles

2. Weekend long run

3. 1 day of 5 easy 5 hard or 10 easy 10 hard 60-80 mins

4. 1 day of hill repeats

5. And tempo runs whenever the body feels like it

Here is a workout I did with a 1:02 half guy from Switzerland. It was a killer and took about 3 tries to nail it. I was told, "when you hit this workout, you are ready to nail the half." I don't know about that but I hit my PR after this one.

Of course there are tons of other pieces already mentioned: speed, tempos (lots of them), long runs, etc. etc. This is just one tough half marathon workout we did.

1k @ 10k pace

2k @ 1/2 marathon pace

1k @ 10k pace

2k @ 1/2 marathon pace

1k @ 10k pace

2k @ 1/2 marathon pace

1k @ 10k pace

This workout description is very vague. You don’t mention the recovery time in between the reps. Also, some people can’t really identify their current 10k or half marathon ability before the race. So you’re not saying much by throwing distances out there.

Malmo,

I want to do a hard tempo run between 8-10 miles at half Marathon pace. In your opinion, do you think that would accurately reflect my final time in the half marathon? How long of a tempo run do you think is good indicator for a final half marathon time?

Thank you in advance

Some great stuff on here by Malmo

punju wrote:

This workout description is very vague. You don’t mention the recovery time in between the reps. Also, some people can’t really identify their current 10k or half marathon ability before the race. So you’re not saying much by throwing distances out there.

The 2k @ half marathon is the recovery, that's why it is a very tough workout. Think of it like the 30/40 workout, the 40 is the recovery.

speedygonzal wrote:

Malmo,

I want to do a hard tempo run between 8-10 miles at half Marathon pace. In your opinion, do you think that would accurately reflect my final time in the half marathon? How long of a tempo run do you think is good indicator for a final half marathon time?

Thank you in advance

I believe that he has said in other threads that he believes such an idea to be crazy.

why is it crazy?

speedygonzal wrote:

why is it crazy?

edumacator - Malmo how far do you think you could've run at half marathon pace in a workout? Assuming it was just a workout and not a time trial or something. Say around the time of your AR?

malmo - I'd say no more than 3 miles. When you're racing a HM you should be out on the edge by 5 miles.

Hey malmo,

Do you think doing the half-marathon training you did leading up to your AR in philly would be good to build strength in the fall for a post-collegiate 1500m runner? Say train for the HM until November then race and transition into 1500m training for late winter/spring? Would that help my 1500m times? Thanks

well, you can do a jack foster type build up of 10 weeks, with 70 minute runs six days per week steady in 530 miles running the hills hard. there is a bike ride for 4 hours once per week.

that' s pretty and simple for the base.

for the next six to eight weeks, you want to specify on the race pace quality and run easy after hard sessions for a couple of days.

say you're trying to run 5 minute miles for the half, that would be the target pace of the quality work or a little faster, 450 miles on occasion.

so you want to do five milers in 25 minutes, hard hill repeats, say in 10 minute segments x 6. maybe repeat miles at 450 in a group to make it much easier. on the easy days, 6 mins or slower pace is recommended in recovery. you only need 2 or 3 hard days per week, probably 2 with a steady varied pace run of 90 minutes thrown in.

the above schedule, i like because it is easy for focus and it works.

but the best schedule is to be periodic, and hit your quality work hard, but only long enough for the stimulus.

and then recover, build back to a higher level.

each system, even muscle group responds differently and each person is different.

as a coach, the very first thing you want to figure out is , how long does it take for my athlete to recover, and from what kind of work, long run, hard tempo, middle distance, sprints, power lifting....