Brooklyn Half Marathoners,
This week is not about building fitness. To race your best at the Brooklyn Half, this week you need rest, and a few small efforts to help promote healing and neurological responsiveness.
On Saturday morning you’ll get to the start line feeling sharp, light, quick and strong. Until then, however, you might feel any which way: stale, giddy, sluggish, energetic, achy, or grumpy. These are all good signs! All the energy your body usually spends getting you from point A to B has pulled a U-turn and is busy repairing your tissues and restocking stores. Help it in these tasks by giving yourself plenty of down time, sleep, fats, proteins, carbs, water, and lazy roll-around stretching as needed.
A few specific pointers:
Mileage: How many miles did you run during “peak week,” two weeks ago? Your mileage for the 8-9 days before the Half Marathon (including last week’s long run) should total around 50% of your highest mileage week this 12-week season. If you have any questions, look to the Coach and Coffey Half Marathon Plan for specifics.
Speed: Your Speed Run is listed below, and should be run between 5 and 4 days before your race.
Week’s layout: Refer to Coach and Coffey Half Marathon Plan for sample weekly layouts. You should do a short run the day before the race, which you may not feel like doing but will help you feel better on Race Day. We suggest you take the day before that off.
Cross training and lifting: Your total physical activity outside of running should be 50% at most of your normal weekly effort and minutes. If you typically lift, bike, or do yoga, or anything else, keep it up, but make it all short and easy. As with your runs, this week is about staying in a rhythm and going through the motions.
Food: Eat well, but keep it simple. Nothing new, too salty, too spicy, too decadent, too rich, too adventurous or too….anything. Just keep it pretty boring until after the race!
Hydration: Again, don’t go wild. Keep sipping, and break up the water with juices and electrolyte drinks. You want all the tissues of your body to be lubricated, but you don’t want to wash out all your electrolytes, a condition known as hyponatremia. Just keep hydration on the good side of normal.
Time on feet: we want you fresh on the line! Splurge on a cab, put your feet up, and be lazy.
Pre-race jitters: Either you’ve got them now, or you will soon! Nerves are totally normal, and even a good sign. You’ll want that adrenaline on race day! But, for now, keep them at bay with distraction. Conversations with friends, books, movies, music, museums, and long, leisurely meals are your friends and teammates. Don’t sit around fretting your cortisol up!
Sleep: get as much as you can, but don’t sweat it. You can trust your training, your adrenaline, your taper, and your well-functioning bodies to deliver on Race Day. Many many many half marathon prs have been run on low/weird sleep. Don’t stress.
Taper crankiness: you may have them and you may not! Unlike the marathon, Half Marathon taper response can vary. If you have a lot of energy or none at all, if you’re grumpy, sleepy, or giddy, it’s all normal. Feel what you feel, put don’t stew in it. Pop in a movie, go out to lunch, or call and friend for a grounding chat.
New aches and pains: first, remember that it’s very normal for these to crop up during race-week, because your body has turned its focus inward. Very rarely does a race-week ache impact a race. Do a good stretch, ice, and rest.
Nervous habits: it’s very normal to develop funny race-week behaviors that, in retrospect, are obviously not great. Sipping water every 10 seconds? Cramming an entire season of stretching into 6 days? Trying out a new, better, revolutionary diet/posture/sleep program? Don’t do it! Your race will be good because your season has been good. You’re good. Nothing needs changing. Keep everything on the light/easy/clean side of normal.
You know what you’re doing. You’ve earned that confidence. Own it.
LFG
Coach + Coffey
This week you will run 3-6 times, with 1-2 Speed Run(s) and 1 Long Run
The last 8-9 days before your marathon (including last week’s long run) should be about 50% of your peak week’s mileage. For more help planning, check out the Coach and Coffey Half Marathon Plan for examples of weekly mileage breakdowns and progression, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the post for advice on the last few days before race day.
Speed Run: 6x3:00 @ HM pace w/ last :30 surge) with 1:00 recovery
Run 5-20 minutes of easy warmup running.
Do 5-10 optional minutes of dynamic warmups + strides.
6x3:00 w the first 2:30 @ Half Marathon Pace and the last :30 @ 10k pace.
At first glance, this workout may look too tough for a race-week effort. Take a closer look. The key to running this tune-up is to stick to the paces. This should not be a workout where you explore your fitness and push the pace “for confidence.” Today, show your confidence with restraint.
The first 2:30 of each 3:00 interval should start at Half Marathon Pace. Try to hit race pace pace exactly. Make it a game—half way though taper, with your legs feeling all sludgy and creaky, can you slip into that “home” rhythm?
Then, with :30 to go in the interval, do a “gear shift” into 10k pace and make it look good. Show off. Like a kid shooting jump shots in a lonely gym (and the crowd goes wild!!), visualize race day and feel your body come to life.
Remember—we’re not building fitness anymore, we’re just going through the motions to help keep your engine revved and metabolic rate UP for race day. This one last refresh of race pace and touch of “kick” pace for juuuust a minute, you’ll leave the workout feeling fresher (and in a better mood 🤭) than when you started!
Take the 1:00 at a walk or a jog—doesn’t matter. And, if you’re feeling blah and want to stretch it to 1:30, totally fine.
A last word: If you’re feeling like you need to do less, do less. The taper is the most persnickety and personal part of any training cycle. My advice is to do at least 4 reps, but after that just feel it out. For Olympians and first-time 5kers alike, race week coaching is about feeling it out. Trust the body, friends. When in doubt, do less (but do do something.)
5-20 minutes easy cooldown running + dynamic cooldown, just like at the start.
Have a small, sweet snack or juice within 20 minutes
Aerobic Runs — 1-3 runs @ 3-8 miles
Every run this week aside from the speed run should be very easy. You should also run significantly less mileage this week than you typically do, as well as fewer days. We suggest you refer to page 7-9 in the Coach + Coffey training plan for mileage models.
Your runs during the first half of the week will depend on your typical milage. For the last couple days before the race, however, we want to be specific:
Thursday – OFF – we suggest you take the-day-before-the-day-before off. And, don’t just let it be off from running—give yourself a lazy day. Get a little bored. Your body is putting on finishing touches so you just sit tight.
Friday — run 2-5 miles + 4-6 easy :20 shakeout strides.
You’ve done strides many times with us. Don’t change a thing. Just do your very easy shakeout run. Finish and do some drills and dynamic movements IF you’re used to them. Then, wind up and do some light strides. If they feel great, GREAT! If they feel cruddy, they’ll get that crud OUT so you can feel great tomorrow.
Have a small sweet snack within 20 minutes and get home to chill.
Saturday – RACE