Weeks 5 & 6 of a 13 Week Program

Week 5 Starts Monday 24 August 2009
Week 6 Starts Monday 31 August 2009

Monday:
10 miles easy on grass
This is to allow the body to recover from yesterday’s long run & for you to mentally prepare for the hard sessions ahead.

Tuesday:
12 mile
This is to build up the milage, to get used to covering long distances, this should be a little faster than your Sunday run but not too fast as you still have tomorrow’s training to do.

Wednesday:
10mile steady ,(on grass if poss),
Steady runs are good for endurance, strength & getting used to running same time p/mile over longer distance.

Thursday:
2 miles warm up
3 laps Fartlek (45min)
Cool down
Farklek is steady running with fast pick-up in places,this is the same as doing a speed session.Fast pick-ups should be done close to race pace & the easier/recovery bits should be steady.

Friday:
8miles EASY
These easy days are very important to allow the body to recover from all the hard stuff you’ve just put it through. It is to be enjoyed.

Saturday:
8mile TEMPO RUN in the morning,
For strength & endurance. This should be ran at 80–85% of marathon race pace.
5mile easy run in the evening.
This is to get rid of lactic acid from the legs before tomorrows long run.

Sunday:
Week 5 – 20miles, on grass if possible
Week 6 – 22miles, on grass if possible
Staying on grass means less impact on all joints helping too prevent injuries, these long runs are to get you used to staying on your feet for a long period of time building you up to marathon time & distance.

Hi folks,
Don’t get a fright reading this program, its not as bad as it reads, do remember it is only a guide, to get you on the right track & to give an idea of where your going. Each of us is different & what suits me may not suit you, for example some of you prefer to do your long runs on Saturday instead of Sunday, that’s fine, this is not written in stone. As you can see there are only 9 weeks left until the big day so happy training to all,
Don’t forget to enjoy it!
Lucy D’Arcy

Training Program By
Emily Dowling