This training program is designed for beginners. The beginner is defined as someone who has not run in a very long time or has never run before, but is able to walk at least one or two. miles. If you are over the age of 35 and are 13kg or more overweight, it is a good idea to see your doctor before starting this program.
This is a 12-week training program which starts with base building and progresses slowly building your endurance thus enabling you to complete the distance. As beginners you may find it an awesome and overwhelming challenge, but taking short regular walk breaks will make your goal to run a half marathon (21.1 km) achievable and with little risk of injuries. I recommend a 5:1 run/walk interval. That is, run for 5 minutes then walk for one minute and continue this pattern for the entire run.
Yes, YOU CAN RUN the Ikogosi Half Marathon!
DOWNLOAD BEGINNER TRAINING PLAN
The Training plan Will be downloaded to your Computer Or devices.
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This Experienced Marathon Training Plan is for experienced runners: individuals who compete regularly in 5K, 10K, half-marathon and even marathon races and who want to improve their performances. You should be capable of running 30 to 60 minutes a day, five to seven days a week and have a basic understanding of how to do speedwork. If that sounds like too much training, and this is your first half marathon, you might be more comfortable training using the beginners training plan.
The Training plan Will be downloaded to your Computer Or devices.
Training encourages you to make positive choices with your diet, social life, and sleep
patterns. Here are some training tips that will help you towards your goal:
1. Keep a training log.
Write down your daily mileage, run times, race distance and times, and how you feel. It’s
hard to remember what you did later, so write it down immediately. This will help you learn
from your training, especially if you end up doing more races in the future.
2. Increase weekly mileage by no more than 10 percent.
This allows for a gradual increase in mileage and reduces the risk of injury over time.
3. Include a “cut back” week.
Every third or fourth week of training, take your foot off the gas and cut back a little. This means reducing your mileage and using it as an easy week.
4. Run three to four days a week.
Include one long run, two shorter runs for speed and strength, and an optional easy recovery run day. For speed, focus on your run pace one day a week by running slightly faster in short increments of time or distance. For strength, include some hills one run each week. Long runs are runs that increase your distance. Run these at a slow, comfortable pace, about 1 or 2 minutes per mile slower than your expected goal pace.
5. Alternate a hard day with an easy day or a day off.
This allows your body to properly recover from the hard effort, which is when real adaptations take place.
6. Take at least one day completely off per week.
Rest, and recover. Two days a week for rest and recovery is okay when you’re new to marathon training, too!
7. Monitor your resting heart rate.
What Is a Normal Resting Heart Rate?
Take your resting pulse each morning before arising or use a smart watch that measures heart rate. Keep track of it in your training log. After several readings, you will have a baseline number. As our fitness improves, our resting pulse decreases. If you see your resting heart rate spike up by 10 percent or more Above your normal resting pulse, take it easy that day.
This can be a sign of fatigue, lack of recovery between workouts, or an illness coming on and it is best to take the day off, sleep in, or change a hard workout to a very easy one, until your resting heart rate returns to normal.
8. Consider cross-training one or two days a week.
Performing complementary cross-training activities will increase your aerobic conditioning without additional running. Swimming, cycling, or rowing are good options. Keep cross-training activities to 45 minutes, one or two times a week, and do them at a very moderate intensity level.
9. When in doubt, always listen to your body.
If you are tired, rest. If a workout feels hard, it is hard. If you need a day off, take one. No matter what a training plan says, the real coach of your training will be your body, so tune in and take notes on what it’s telling you throughout your journey.
Remember some of these tips have been included in our training plan!Yes,
YOU CAN RUN the Ikogosi Half Marathon!
The Ikogosi Half Marathon may be months and many training miles away but as far as your diet is concerned, the preparations for race day should start now. The good news is that you won’t have to make drastic changes to your current eating habits; there is no need to buy expensive supplements or special foods. Here are nutrition tips for periods of training, you may have heard it before – for good reason as they are golden rules!
1.Fruit & vegetables: Eat plenty of, and a variety of fruit and vegetables – many are full of vitamins and minerals such as iron, magnesium, and potassium, which are critical for the body to function normally
2.Breakfast: Always eat breakfast. After a night asleep, your body will need energy. Eating a good breakfast sets you up for the day and helps to avoid cravings for sugar or caffeine later in the day.
3. Variety: Eating a wide variety of foods consistently is fundamental in nutrition. For example, have different things for breakfast each day, and try to eat a wide variety of food stuffs at each meal. Also do not restrict your diet (for example, cutting out meat/dairy etc) unless you have a good reason to do so, but if you must, then make special effort to get the nutrients you are missing by restricting your diet from other sources.
4. A balanced diet: Make sure you eat a balanced diet and everything in moderation. ‘Balanced’ means a variety of foods but also not too much of one particular food. It is easy to find your diet lacking balance if you have a restricted diet or allergies/intolerances, so ensure you target a variety of the foods which you can eat.
5. Nutritious foods: Highly nutritious foods should be top of your list! These include oily fish, green leafy vegetables, colourful vegetables, nuts and seeds, berries, whole-grains and shellfish. These provide high nutritional value compared to other foods, and a lack of them could lead to deficiencies in important vitamins or minerals.
6. After training: Always eat or drink something within 20 minutes of training – this is when your body is hungry for nutrients and absorbs them quickly. If it is not practical to eat a proper meal within 20 minutes, then eat a snack (for example banana or sandwich) or drink a protein-carbohydrate drink, followed later by a proper meal.
When race day arrives, what should you eat? A carbohydrate-rich breakfast is the best option, eaten well (two hours) before the start of your warm-up. Examples include toast with honey, bananas, porridge and rice, with a little added protein such as almonds, eggs or yoghurt. What you eat should not be a surprise, nor something new – choose things that you have eaten before and know that you can run well on.
Avoid foods which might upset your stomach, such as high-fibre, oily or very spicy foods. Apart from that, come up with a race day breakfast plan, and then test it out before race day during a long run.
Hydration is also very important for runners, because it is needed to replace the
water and electrolytes lost while sweating, and because dehydration over a certain level will impair your performance.
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