Every runner has them. Those runs where your legs feel heavy, your breathing seems harder than usual, and a pace that normally feels comfortable suddenly feels like hard work. You might head out expecting a good session, only to find yourself struggling after the first couple of kilometres. And then the doubts start creeping in….
Another weekend of half marathon racing is behind us, and this week the New Zealand half marathon scene took us from Aotea / Great Barrier Island to Bottle Lake Forest in Christchurch. Wharf to Wharf offered two very different ways of tackling the half marathon distance, with separate Road and Track events, while Christchurch’s 4…
You can follow a very good half marathon training programme and still arrive on race day underprepared for your particular race. Why? Because 21.1 kilometres doesn’t always mean the same thing. A flat, fast road half marathon is a very different challenge from a course containing repeated climbs. A race with a long downhill section…
The long run is one of the most important sessions in your half marathon training. It is also one of the sessions runners are most likely to overcomplicate. How far should you run? Do you need to reach 21.1 kilometres before race day? Should your long run get longer every week? Should you include race…
As your half marathon approaches, the emphasis of your quality training should increasingly shift towards the demands of race day. The fitness developed during the earlier phases of your programme now needs to be converted into the ability to sustain a strong, controlled intensity for an extended period. This week’s Coach Ray’s Workout of the…
Another busy weekend of half marathon running is behind us, with racing from the roads of Whangamatā and Devonport to the trails of Cape Kidnappers. We also had the Māngere Bridge Fun Run, where the emphasis is on community participation rather than official individual race timing, while we’re still waiting for results from the Sri…
You’ve trained for weeks or months. You’ve completed your long runs, practised your race pace, worked on your fuelling and arrived at the start line ready to run 21.1km. But there’s one final piece of preparation before the gun goes: Your warm-up. For runners wanting to race their half marathon, I don’t believe the first…
Training determines much of what you are capable of on half marathon race day. But even the best training programme can be undermined by a nutrition strategy that has never been practised. Your half marathon nutrition plan should not begin at breakfast on race morning. It should begin weeks beforehand, during your training. You need…
Threshold running is one of the most valuable forms of quality training for a half marathon runner. It develops your ability to sustain a strong intensity for longer without crossing the line into the considerably harder work associated with Level V. This week’s Coach Ray’s Workout of the Week is 3x 10min Threshold Runs. After…
What a weekend for half marathon running. Around New Zealand we had racing from the roads of Cambridge, Hutt and Hatuma through to the trails around Lake Tekapo and Te Āpiti. We’ve also finally got the results from the previous weekend’s Sri Chinmoy Auckland Half Marathon. But the biggest half marathon story this week came…