WEEK 8: HALF MARATHON 2020

WEEK 8 HALF MARATHON 2020 WITH SAINTS DAYS 5K & 10K TRAINING PLAN STARTS At the end of this week a few of you may be running or walking a very early St. Patrick’s Day-themed 10K RACE. Smaller local races may choose this early date to avoid competing with bigger races. Most will be held later, on the weekend of March 14-15.

If the 10K is your GOAL race ( you don’t plan to continue training for a half marathon) you may be running or walking to finish this distance or to complete it  in a specific length of  time. The EARNED RUNS ‘Saints Days’ walking and running plans do not aim to prepare trainees for speed, especially a personal record (PR), but once you’ve recorded a 10K finish time it is something  you will be able to consider for a future competition goal!
 
A strategy that many runners follow to insure they will not quit mid-race but cross the finish line in good form is to start it comfortably slow and end it with their best effort.  The plan is to hold back initially, pick up speed gradually, sustain an increased effort for miles 4 and 5, and dig deeper for the final 1-1.25 miles.  The general idea is to cover the second half of the race distance, just after passing the mile 3 marker, in less time than the first half, which is referred to as a ‘negative split’.
 
A benefit of starting at a slower than normal pace, in spite of other runners enthusiastically passing by on either side, is a strong finish. You’re likely to be moving past some, possibly many of these same people who passed you as you pick up speed later in the race. The strategy has worked for me in both walk and run events.
 
Those who are training to run, run/walk, or walk the HALF MARATHON later in the spring, will treat this 10K as a ‘tune-up’ event rather than a goal race.  You’ll plan to hold back a bit, maintain a steady pace, and not push hard with an all-out effort at the finish.  For this reason, there wasn’t a scheduled taper or a ‘peak’ for this distance.

If you don’t remember the BLOG post that explained the concept of training or “tune-up” races, and linked to an online Runner’s World article  you might check it out. There was a similar discussion in advance of the 5k St. Valentine’s Day tune-up race as well. 
 
The advice given in that article was to run the ‘tune-up’ 10K evenly all the way through, finishing as if you felt you could have run faster. This race is about gently testing yourself before the half marathon. It provides you with a ‘practice’ race that should build confidence. In other words, easy-does-it, especially at the start.  Don’t blast out of the gate and wither before the end.
 
Also, there’s a piece by Kelly O'Mara posted by PodiumRunner.com that provides more explanation.

Those not racing for a few weeks might begin to think about a race strategy and practice it mentally as you run or walk the end-of-the-week long runs. 
 
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!

https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20811938/tune-up-for-successful-racing/

https://www.podiumrunner.com/training/use-races-train-races/

http://www.earned-runs.com/blog/fun-tune-up-races