With marathon season in full swing, now’s not the time to be feeling flat in your training. These three brutal workouts are designed to launch your marathon performance to the next level. Add these sessions to your training plan to perfect all elements of a marathon–endurance, strength and speed–so you can crush the course come race day.
Floating mile repeats
This session will boost the mental and physical readiness needed to hold pace deep into your marathon. “Float” recoveries–faster than a jog, but slower than race pace–train your body to adapt to fatigue and recover while still moving forward.
Begin with a 10-15 minute easy warmup run, along with some drills.
Tackle 6-8 x 1 mile (1,600m) at half-marathon pace, followed by 2 minutes of float recovery slightly slower than marathon pace. The session will cover up to 12.8 km of work, plus the recovery efforts.
Cool down with a 10 to 15-minute easy run.
The spicy pyramid session
Neglected speedwork during your marathon build? This workout will fix that–fast. You’ll touch both 5K and 10K race pace to master your marathon speed and give you the edge you need to kick down the final stretch on race day.
Warm up with a 15-minute easy run, followed by dynamic drills and a few short, quick strides.
Run 400m, 800m, 1,200m, 1,600m, 1,600m, 1,200m, 800m, 400m at 5K-10K pace with a 2-minute recovery jog between. Aim for 5K pace for the shorter reps and 10K pace for the longer ones. The total working volume for this session is 5.6K.
For speedwork sessions, it’s even more critical to get in a good cooldown to promote recovery–especially if your speedwork is a little rusty. Aim for 10-15 minutes of very easy running.
Master of the hills
Hill repeats build unmatched strength and mental toughness. Hills burn, but guess what? You’re gonna push through it and come out stronger. For this workout, find a long and gradual incline.
Warm up with a 15-minute easy run, followed by 5 x 30 seconds at 5K pace with a 30-second jog between pickups.
Repeat 10 x 60-second hills at 5K pace. The workout seems short, but starting out too fast could quickly catch up to you–it’s better to start slow and work up your speed as you go. Jog down slowly and begin your next rep once you return to the bottom of the incline.
Cool down with a 15-minute easy run.