1K, 2K, 3 x 3K, 2K, 1K
1K, 2K, 3 x 3K, 2K, 1K
Designed for 1/2 Marathon runners
Intensity
1K at 10K effort
2K at 15K effort
3K at Goal 13.1 effort
Recovery
3 - 5 minutes between sets
Exertion
8/10
Periodization
Foundation Period, Stabilization Block
Context & Details
Training load can be understood in either absolute or relative terms and can be considered as either external or internal.
External load refers to the distance covered and running speeds achieved during a given training session or block of training.
Internal load is the body’s specific responses to a given training session or block of training.
Most training programs for runners are primarily communicated, tracked, and evaluated by external load — how many miles a runner is logging and what speeds are they running those miles. Advances in fitness are measured solely by increases in both training volume or paces. Progressing training by only external load parameters is convenient and attractive because it seems straightforward — to get better all a runner needs to do is run faster and/or more. While this is true, this approach ignores the reality of the training process, namely the journey to successfully increasing and sustaining higher external loads, and thus fitness and performance ability, is, in fact, non-linear.
Many ambitious runners with high goals have tried linearly increasing their mileage and workout speeds week in and week out only to see their progress stymied by injury, illness, fatigue, or an unwelcome combination of all these maladaptive outcomes.
However, there is a better way to measure and progress training, especially in the early stages of a training plan or career.
Research by Seiler and Tonnessen suggests internal load may be the most accurate indicator of effort made by runners and a better way to progress training than by external measures.
This is good news! You don’t need to be a salve to pace charts and weekly mileage tallys to become a faster runner.
Internal load is easy to measure.
As the work of Dr. Carl Foster has shown, an athlete’s self-determined Rate of Pervied Exertion (RPE) has proven to be a reliable and highly accurate tool when reporting the relative stain an athlete experiences before, during, and after a training session or intensive block of training. Quality training load monitoring devices, like WHOOP, base their record-keeping and feedback on both perceived RPE as well as key biological mechanisms of Heart Rate and HRV.
How you measure RPE is up to you. Like any measure, to be of value it needs to be tracked consistently.
I like to track both how an athlete is feeling and RPE.
To measure how an athlete feels I like to use the Great - Good - Fair - Bad - Terrible scale which corresponds with the following numerical measures:
5 = Great
4 = Really Good
3 = Good
2 = Fair
1 = Bad
0 = Terrible
Additionally, I like to have athletes self-report separately how they feel before, during, and after training sessions. If there is a warm-up and cool-down component to a session, I like a report for those segments as well.
The reason for segment reporting is two-fold:
1st is the Hawthorn Effect (the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed). Athletes tend to become more highly attuned with how they feel if you ask them to be aware of how they are feeling.
And 2nd, how someone feels can change throughout a training session depending on the activities involved.
For example: on an easy, recovery workout, like a shakeout jog of 30 minutes on a grass field the day after a highly demanding workout, many athletes start out feeling Bad or Fair due to lingering fatigue from the prior strenuous session. However, the goal of the shakeout jog is to facilitate recovery and leave the athlete feeling better, so ideally I’d expect to see a slight upgrade in their reported feeling to either Fair or Good after jogging. If that doesn’t happen then it’s a possible signal either the day’s training session was too hard, long, or fast to elicit the desired acute training effect — or perhaps outside stressors or the cumulative training load of a training block may be overwhelming the athlete.
After a training session, I also like athlete’s to report a final RPE on an Easy - Moderate - Challenging - Difficult - All Out scale which corresponds with the following numerical measures:
5 = All Out
4 = Difficult
3 = Challenging
2 = Moderate
1 = Easy
0 = Rest
This final RPE report is a critical piece of information for me as a coach, especially when working with new or young runners.
For every training session or block, I prescribe I have an anticipated training RPE I expect the athlete will experience. If the athlete’s RPE is aligned with my expectation, then I am confident the training load they’re experiencing is as intended. Should a pattern of misalignment start to develop then it’s a clear signal to reevaluate their training plan, as their reported load is not what was anticipated.
Reporting and tracking internal load is just as important, if not more, than external load — especially in the General and Foundation Periods of training, like where today’s workout takes place.
In the General and Foundation Periods, all workouts are performed on effort or internal load. Any workout target times are loose guides only. The central aim of the preparatory periods of training is to ready the athlete to handle the training in the Specific and Performance Periods when the focus shifts to advancing the external loads, namely the target times decided for workouts and races.
The mistake too many runners and coaches make is to prioritize external load measures throughout the entire training process, instead, the internal load should be the driving metric. Obsessing over external load measures can lead runners to force their training and do silly things, like run 3 miles at 11:30pm at night on a Sunday just so they can record 100 miles for a 7 day period in their training diary. This type of behavior is counterproductive to the training process.
When internal load, as measured by feeling and REP, is championed, both athlete and coach make more productive decisions about training. Instead of going out for 3 miles at 11:30pm on a Sunday night to satisfy the weekly mileage tally, the 97-mile week runner will peacefully fall asleep so they can wake up and report feeling “Great” before the next day’s training.
Continue Learning
Join the Scholar Program for $29 to learn more about successful 1/2 Marathon Training and get unlimited access to courses and training programs on distance running.
Good books on 1/2 Marathon training
The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training by Jan Olbrecht
Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald
The Science and Practice of Middle and Long Distance Running by Philip Hayes, Richard Blagrove
Daniels Distance Running Formula by Jack Daniels