Thank you. I’ve got 3 lunch hours I can squeze a weights session into and this sounds great (along with push ups)
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Couple of good resources:
https://www.coachweb.com/sport/running/strength-training-for-runners
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As in the Tri thread.
February
35 runs in 28 days.
39 hours 423km
Trying to regain some run fitness I lost from a nasty illness from 18th November to Christmas, about 5 weeks in total.
It resulted in a drop of 40 - 50 seconds per km in more of my run times for equivalent heart rate.
I’m back to about a 10s /km deficit now. So still slower than when I entered Manchester Marathon in October which was form I thought I was going to build from.
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Would anyone be willing to share their general training schedule for running + bike + strength training? Have a half marathon in the spring, full marathon in the fall as my a races this year with some small cycling races as b races.
Right now I’m running 18-20 miles per week.
I just started the Hal higdon half marathon intermediate 2 plan which goes
Monday- cross training
Tuesday - easy run
Wed - workout
Thurs - easy run
Friday- off
Sat- pace run
Sun - long run
Am workouts are not an option m-thurs as I start work at 5am those days
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I’m also mixing running, cycling and strength training. I’ve tried different ways of balancing weekly training in each sport. You could build fitness in both cycling and running, but I find it better to emphasise one over the other for a given training period.
At the moment, I’m getting back to running after long-term injury and focused on training for 10 km races in the summer. My approach is to run just four days a week, so longer runs each session, giving time for cycling on other days, and with the hope that fewer running sessions will mitigate injury risk.
I’d imagine you could make this approach work if you’re training for longer races as well. A double run day could be an option to build extra mileage.
I am currently doing 7-9 workouts a week with no days off atm. I have a 3 week build, one chill week cycle currently.
I am doing 3 bike rides, 4 runs, 1 proper strength training, 1 core focused short session.
A week might look like this:
Mon: Hard intervals bike (30/15, 40/20, 4x4…)
Tue: Steady run (45-75min)
Wed: HIIT Running (Hill repeats, 1 minute intervals, 5 minute at HM speed etc.)
Thur: Gym
Friday: Steady Run: (45-75min)
Sat: LIT Bike (90-180min) + Core
Sun: Long Run (1:30 to 2:30) + LIT Bike usually to make the total activity 3:30h
The sessions usually get longer in each of the 3 weeks, with a much shorter and less intense schedule in week 4.
So maybe 3x9x30/15 in week one, and 3x13x30/15 in week 3.
The rationale behind the long run + bike on Sunday is to build the engine for a full marathon, when I am not yet ready to run for 3.5 hours.
The HIIT runs are getting more race specific. Over the winter I mainly did hill repeats, now I am doing flat 1 minute repeats (closer to the effort level of the 5 and 10k races I am currently participating in), and when switching more towards marathon and half, I’ll be doing longer intervals, at closer to that race‘s goal pace.
My schedule appears to be very similar to yours, with my first half marathon being just 4 weeks away, and my first ever marathon being Berlin (9/21).
To be better prepared for the half, I am now incorporating an acceleration at the end of my Sunday long run (15-30 minutes just sub FatMax).
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I used Hals plan for my first Marathon and loved the structure.
My advice for mixing cycling and strength in hindsight with a bit of what I tried. I had a few endurance cycling events that i wanted to do during the marathon training block so I had to keep my cycling legs but didnt peak or focus on them at all.
Your Tuesday and Thursday run are recovery runs - they are there just for weekly mileage and if you’re feeling fatigue are the first ones to go. Thursday is your best bet at doubling a run and a ride. Get your easy run out of the way and hop on the bike. You’ll have Friday to recover for the weekend runs.
The Saturday Pace run is absolutely brilliant and something you should adhere to, you have to get used to running at your goal pace to know what that effort feels like. If you have the juice after Sunday long run, this is when you can do your strength training - you need Monday to recover and Tuesday will be easy so you can go pretty deep on Sunday. If you want a second strength session or harder bike interval day, i’d try to do it Wednesday but always after the run. Your focus is running so it comes first.
If I remember correctly, the plan from Hal has 3 week volume builds and then you reset a bit. Figure out which week is #3 and figure out how to get some long rides in just for time in saddle knowing that you’re going to ride the line of fatigue but you’ll have an easier week next week.
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Good luck at Berlin, do you have a goal in mind?
Thanks. For now it‘ll be participating, not suffering horribly the entire way, and completing the race.
A specific time goal makes very little sense in my current situation, but with hopefully 2 half marathons under my belt, and significantly more long runs in the book, I should get a pretty good picture by then.
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Your final 8 weeks of marathon training should (will) have you doing 13+ miles for your long run every weekend, so you’ll have plenty of half marathon distance runs under your belt. My wife and I ended up signing up for a ton of half marathon races during our training blocks and used them as training runs.
One of my favorite memories from training was heading out for a casual 16 mile long run. 3 miles away from the car, my watch buzzed and i’d just set a PR in the half marathon. That was a huge confidence builder as i finished out the heavier weeks of training going into the race.
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My monthly run training so far this year:
Jan: 14 runs, 14:10, load 643, 6450 kJ
Feb: 9 runs, 51K+154m, 12:29, load 745, 6645 kJ
Ran the NYRR United Airlines NYC Half today. 15K of really hard work, followed by 6.2K of sheer torture. Roughly one hour of high tempo, two hours of threshold or above. I had a target of 8:30/km, sub-3hrs.
The soles of my feet hurt like hell and by the 15.5K mark, I didn’t feel like taking another step. In those first 15.5K, the best I could do was 8:35/km, already off my target pace even though I was pretty much running at threshold HR.
Dug deep and finished, ending up 4min slower than the half I ran in 2023 and 13min behind today’s goal. Felt like absolute dog shit that last 6K… I’m calling this one RPE 10. Nothing left in the tank when I finished.
Some days you cover yourself in glory. Some days (like definitely today!) are character development opportunities. Official time: 3:12:03, 9:06/km (14:39/mi).
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Congrats on a race completed! Some days they just dont go to plan and thats alright. Silver lining, sound like you’ve got a new threshold HR if you were pinned for 2 hours 
I see your training numbers from last month. I’m no coach but I think some longer runs would do you good. Feb looked like an average of 5k whenever you laced up the shoes.
How was the course?
Yup. Not every day is a glory day. And 36 hours after returning from a week of skiing, there was a subtantial risk that my performance would suck. No problem… I’d rather have the time with my son than a new PR. I was there to do the work, and develop the mental toughness not to quit when things go sideways. Mission accomplished.
The course was nice. First time they cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which I appreciated because it’s less of a climb than the Manhattan (?) Bridge on which they did it before. Running on the three-lane FDR is surreal, and has a great view (also a headwind).
Re the longer runs, what I could really use is more volume: I’m only running 1hr on a weekday and 2hrs on Sunday, and I only worked my volume up to a two-hour (15K) run every Sunday this January. But my goal is to start doing triathlons, and both swimming and cycling are higher priority, and 7-8 total hrs/week are all my body can handle for now.
So I am improving overall, the runs just don’t show it as much.
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So, I just tested a theory about how much run fitness a person retains over time lol!
Kinda snuck up on me, but I went into Sunday’s shamrock half in PDX with almost zero run prep. I’m full on into specialty bike training so I planned to really try for the bare minimum disruption. I also got talked into an early season XC race 4 hours away the day before sooo…. yeah. I also came down with a minor cold the day before 
Everything was working against me.
Back in October I did the Portland marathon at 4 hours so I had that going for me, but I did a sum total of two training runs for this half at 30 and 40 minutes respectively, easy pace, the week prior.
Kinda shocked at the result tbh, 1:44 on sore legs from the 2 hour Mtb race the day before. Both races were a good bit hilly too, so I was fairly surprised. 1:44 is my second fastest time ever on this course.
Maybe I should enter every race tired, sick and unprepared haha!
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Nicely done! My half PR coincidentally happened when I was in the specialty block of cycling training and came in at 1:48. I bet at our speed cycling and general cardio vascular work has a lot of crossover between sports. I doubt it would translate as much for a sub 1:30 runner.
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Last summer I started running (48 y/o and for the last 20 years only cycling) very slowly for two months and then started to ramp up and got an achiles tendon injury that took several months to heal and 40h of physical therapy im still thinking on giving it a go again next summer after the ultra MTB season ends for me.
Just got to go even more slowly on that ramping up.
Ran my first ever Half Marathon race today in Hannover, Germany. Over 13‘000 starters just for the Half.
Great super flat course, very well organized event.
My goal was to go sub 1:24h.
With 3ks to go, I had some energy in excess, so I increased the pace a little.
Ultimately, it was a great race, with about 60-90 seconds, that I could have squeezed without going super deep.
Very happy, also with the fact that my colitis did not become any relevant.
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Great time for your first half - weather looks ideal! How do you like those adidas?
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