Whereas observe exercises aren’t the principle focus of a marathon coaching program, they’re nonetheless helpful for marathon runners. The next three exercises are taxing, each bodily and mentally, so be sure you’re well-recovered and feeling sharp earlier than you start.
Monitor exercise for velocity and effectivity
Marathon runners don’t must concentrate on growing their lactate threshold the best way 1,500m runners do, however that doesn’t imply they will’t nonetheless profit from having the next lactate tolerance. Having the next lactate threshold means you may run extra effectively at your marathon tempo, and also you’ll have the ability to preserve a quicker tempo for all the marathon.
As we talked about, these exercises are lengthy and difficult, in order that they shouldn’t be launched into your coaching till later in your marathon construct, if you’re bodily and mentally able to tackling them. Pacing can be crucially necessary in these exercises, and runners ought to select their beginning velocity properly to make sure they will make it to the top.
Moreover, it’s necessary to run these exercises with good type, so be sure you do type drills earlier than starting to begin on the correct foot.
The exercises
The three exercises are 16-20 x 400m, 12-16 x 600m and eight x 800m. It is a lot of quantity, and runners ought to intention to finish them at roughly half-marathon tempo. For those who can, attempt to velocity up within the ultimate intervals of the exercise, however your tempo ought to nonetheless be managed.
Be sure you do a 10-20 minute warm-up and cool-down on both aspect of the exercise, and relaxation between the intervals needs to be one or two minutes.