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Basic Marathon & Half-Marathon Training Guides

from Missy Kane

Health Promotions Coordinator

Covenant Health

This is a basic running/walking program that is similar to a program used last year by some of the Marathon Minute team members who were raising money for the Wellness Community. The guide will give you an idea of the distance you need to jog/walk each week. Would you prefer a personalized program? Call 865-541-4500 and we’ll try to arrange assistance from one of our fitness professionals. If you’d like more workout details including stretches and strength training, watch for publication of Missy’s Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon training guide in January. It emphasizes training for the half-marathon, but will be useful for marathoners as well.

The benefit of this program is that it follows "the 10% rule," which says that you are more likely to get injured if you increase your overall running mileage by more than 10% each week. Beginners who increase their mileage more than 10% during any given week get injured at a much higher rate than those who increase at a slow, steady pace. By converting 10% of your workout time from running to walking each week, the program ensures that your mileage increase will remain at 10% (even if you walk very, very slowly).

Marathon Training Program

Week #	Week of	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Nov. 28	3 easy	4 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	5 long	Rest
2	Dec. 5	3 easy	4 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	6 long	Rest
3	Dec. 12	3 easy	4 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	7 long	Rest
4	Dec. 19	3 easy	5 fast	Rest	3 easy	Rest	8 long	Rest
5	Dec. 26	3 easy	5 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	10 long	Rest
6	Jan. 2	4 easy	5 fast	Rest	4 easy	Rest	11 long	Rest
7	Jan. 9	4 easy	6 easy	Rest	4 easy	Rest	12 long	Rest
8	Jan. 16	4 easy	5 fast	Rest	4 easy	Rest	14 long	Rest
9	Jan.23	4 easy	6 easy	Rest	4 easy	Rest	16 long	Rest
10	Jan. 30	5 easy	6 fast	Rest	5 easy	Rest	16 long	Rest
11	Feb. 6	5 easy	7 easy	Rest	5 easy	Rest	16 long	Rest
12	Feb. 13	5 easy	8 fast	Rest	5 easy	Rest	18 long	Rest
13	Feb. 20	5 easy	8 easy	Rest	5 easy	Rest	18-20	Rest
14	Feb. 27	5 easy	8 fast	Rest	5 easy	Rest	15 long	Rest
15	Mar. 6	3 easy	5 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	8 long	Rest
16	Mar. 13	3 easy	5 fast	Rest	3 easy	Rest	8 long	Rest
17	Mar. 20	2 easy	3 easy	Rest	2 walk	Rest	2 easy	Marathon

Half-Marathon Training Program

Week #	Week Of	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Dec. 26	3 easy	2 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	4 long	Rest
2	Jan. 2	3 easy	2 fast	Rest	3 easy	Rest	4 long	Rest
3	Jan. 9	3.5 easy	2 easy	Rest	3.5 easy	Rest	5 long	Rest
4	Jan. 16	3.5 easy	2 fast	Rest	3.5 easy	Rest	5 long	Rest
5	Jan. 23	4 easy	2 easy	Rest	4 easy	Rest	6 long	Rest
6	Jan. 30	4 easy	2 fast	Rest	4 easy	Rest	6 long	Rest
7	Feb. 6	4.5 easy	3 easy	Rest	4.5 easy	Rest	7 long	Rest
8	Feb. 13	4.5 easy	3 fast	Rest	4.5 easy	Rest	8 long	Rest
9	Feb. 20	5 easy	3 easy	Rest	5 easy	Rest	9 long	Rest
10	Feb. 27	5 easy	3 fast	Rest	5 easy	Rest	10 long	Rest
11	Mar. 6	5 easy	3 easy	Rest	5 easy	Rest	10-11 long	Rest
12	Mar. 13	4 easy	3 fast	Rest	3 easy	Rest	8 long	Rest
13	Mar. 20	2 easy	3 easy	Rest	3 easy	Rest	2 easy	Marathon

While these guides focus on running/walking distance (those numbers in the charts represent miles!), I personally would rather see most folks use one or two workouts a week as cross-training workouts. Instead of running or walking 3 miles, do 30-40 minutes on an elliptical machine, or bike. You could make every Thursday a cross-training day. And if you battle injuries, you could also make Mondays a day to do a low-impact aerobics class or swim etc. That is the only way I made it through last year’s training and marathon. I also made it a rule to jog easy for 7 minutes, then walk fast 1 minute on all my long runs. And I occasionally would do a long hike of 14-16 miles instead of a long run/walk. When I say “fast,” I mean that either you can try to increase your pace to a little faster than normal or use this day to do some faster segments within your workout. IN the middle of your walk/jog, you could do a fast 1 minute, then slow down 1 minute before picking up your pace again, and repeat this sequence 4-6 times. This would be in the middle of your walk/jog.

Have a great time getting ready for the marathon! In addition to this site, visit www.covenanthealth.com for regular updates regarding preparations for the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon 2006.