TIPS FOR HALF MARATHON TRAINING
The Helsinki City Half Marathon is organized on October 3rd 2020. Now that you have set your goal, it is time to focus on training. Luckily there is still plenty of time to train for the Half Marathon in Helsinki. Here are some tips on how you should train for the Half Marathon to be able to make a good performance on the race day.
When you are training for a Half Marathon, you should keep the runs on your comfort zone to avoid putting too much pressure on your body. This way you will be able to enjoy the training and your improving condition. This can be done by acquiring an easy pace in our trainings. Here are our top tips for you.
TOWARDS THE HALF MARATHON – IMPROVE YOUR BASIC CONDITION
The most important thing in training for a Half Marathon is improving your basic condition. What is it and how can it be improved? The goal in basic condition training is improving the blood flow in your muscles and your body’s capacity to use fat as an energy source. The easiest way to improve these qualities is by easy running or power walking. Also other long-lasting workouts like skiing, cycling and swimming are good for this purpose. Alternating between different training types is a great way of giving your body different types of stimulations to help you achieve your goal.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLOW RUNNING
For runners who start training for a marathon or half marathon, the hardest part of the training is often to run slowly. Many runners think that their pace is always slow, but forget to put it into perspective with their own condition. The training starts to feel tiring and running does not feel good anymore. Performing your runs at a too hard pace, can cause unwillingness to run, over-training and even sports injuries. To avoid this, keep in mind that most of your training should be done at an easy level. This means a pace that does not cause too much exhaustion or going out of breath.
TRAIN 2-3 TIMES A WEEK FOR A HALF MARATHON
When you are training for the Helsinki City Half Marathon the suitable amount for a two-week training period could be for example a couple of easy training, one long training and one harder training.
Easy training can be power walking or running at a steady pace (depending on your condition). It should be done at an easy pace that does not feel demanding. Your heart rate should be about 55-65 % of your maximum heart rate. If you are training in a hilly environment, you can walk up the hills to make the training easier.
Harder training is performed at a slightly faster pace and it should feel a bit more demanding. Your heart rate should be about 65-80 % of your maximum heart rate. The training can last about 15-30 minutes with a 10 minute warm up before and a 10 minute cool down after the training.
Long training is the mosr important one when training for a Half Marathon. It can be power walking or running at a steady pace (depending on your condition). It should be done at an easy pace that does not feel demanding before the end of the exercise. The long training can last about 1 – 1,5 hours and you can practice drinking during the exercise (water is fine).
Register here to the biggest Half Marathon in Finland, Helsinki City Half Marathon!