The Difference
I can see you all sitting there and rolling your eyes at my choice of title - shouting at the screen, it's just half the distance! I knew that already, and yes you would be right but there may be some things that you didn’t know. Read on!
Whilst one is ‘mere 21.1km’ and the other 42.2kms they could be further apart in terms of races and how you should attack them. Firstly - let's look at the bodies energy systems.
The Aerobic system - can use carbs, fats or even proteins for energy production. This is the most efficient energy system in the body but takes longer to produce energy. As the name suggests, oxygen is a requirement for this system. This is often referred to as the ‘low intensity system’ or zones 1 and 2.
For your reference, in a 1 mile race, 80% of energy contribution comes from the aerobic system and just 20% is produced anaerobically. This jumps to 90/10 for a 10km race and 97.5/2.5 for a marathon! This should highlight the importance of AEROBIC training in your program, no matter what distance you are training for.
The aerobic system has a key feature in that it can utilise fat as a fuel, we all have a near unlimited supply. It will however use Carbohydrate to help breakdown the fat into usable energy. This is great for a marathon if running for longer at much lower intensity but when running a half marathon your intensity should obviously be much higher.
The breakdown of glycogen creates ATP as glucose is converted into pyruvate. During this process, hydrogen is produced and if there is enough O2, the aerobic system will use the hydrogen and pyruvate to make more ATP (energy). When a lack of oxygen occurs the system cannot keep up and so the hydrogen combines with pyruvate to form lactate.
When the lactate production is faster than lactate clearing, this is called the lactate threshold and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood. Increased blood acidity stops the use of fatty acids for energy production increasing the body dependence on carbs as a fuel source.
In short, the higher the intensity of the race, the higher the body depends on carbohydrates.
As carbohydrate stores deplete so will performance.
Lactate threshold is typically defined as the pace/speed or heart rate you can maintain for 60 mins of exercise. So unless you are a highly trained athlete , you will likely be running below this intensity. It’s worth looking at your LT Zones to figure out how hard you can push in this race.
When working at 50% of lactate threshold; 45 - 55% of Kcals come from fat: Intensity wise, this equates to roughly a fast walk.
At 75% of Lactate threshold (a very easy run); 10 - 30% of Kcals come from fat.
At or above Lactate Threshold its 0%.
Depending on your fitness levels – you probably aim to run a Half marathon at 95% LT (Tempo zone).
We don’t need to worry about fat replenishment at these levels from an energy standpoint as we have finite stores. Carbohydrate however needs replenishing
In order to achieve certain performance targets in a half marathon, exercise intensities will often need to rise above 70% of Max HR, limiting glycogen at this point is inefficient to the body for the reasons explained, therefore replacing glycogen stores pre, during and post exercise is favourable. I would suggest a small amount of fuel before the race start and in the first half of the event to ensure you are still drip feeding the ‘emptying bath’.
Now we can understand the difference between a marathon and half marathon. During a marathon we expect to deplete glycogen stores at around half way or roughly 90 min to 2hrs in. This is why we begin fuelling from the off! We could look at a half marathon and expect if you are to be done by 90 min – 2hrs then it wont need fuelling as you will have enough glycogen stored. What must be remembered though is the intensity difference discussed earlier. Ensuring you start the half marathon fully topped up (with glycogen) is a key aspect of maintaining a hard pace from the start, then topping up stores as they are depleted through the race will ensure you can stay at around 95% of LT without the body feeling it needs to slow down as glycogen depletes. It is shown that for performance, 60g of carbohydrates per hour is beneficial for runners. More specifically, 20g every 20 mins is shown to work very well. Hence why many sports nutrition companies usually create gels with 18 – 22g of carbs in. Want a simple fuelling pack to get you half marathon ready? Head to InnerFight HQ for our special Secret Training half marathon pack!
ENGINE
Working on holding our MIKKOS score calories for longer blocks of time.
GYMNASTICS
This week, we will focus on rope climbing, doubleunders, and handstand push-ups in gymnastics. We will focus on the skill elements to help you with these movements! Whether you have these movements down or not, this class will help you improve in all these movements so you're ready to attack classes!
HYROX
We start to put together the pieces and do a mini HYROX
MOBILITY
We will go over full-body flow routines focusing on flexibility for full-body alignment.
PURE STRENGTH
In Pure Strength, we start the week with some percentage work on the close grip bench press, followed by heavy rows and a shoulder pump to finish. Wednesday, we worked up to a heavy single on the deadlift, with some tough drop sets followed by some heavy single leg work.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Snatch Focus this week, and we get into over-head squats before working into some Snatch High Pulls and Hang Snatch and then finish with some heavy Snatch singles!
Track Tuesday
Week two of our over/unders block, this week we move to 1km efforts.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
Wednesday ride* 5.59am BOTS. << use links/details from a few months back
4 X 8min at your best effort, what have you got?
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
Our classic builders set this week, 5min builds based on effort! A great tempo run.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Ride
Back to a long ride today, 105km in the group with some structured intervals to follow.
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
Sunday long run
Team IFE on Tour are 3 weeks out from the marathon in Munich, so they need to run long. Why not come along and support with some miles to? Message sh@innerfight.com to find out more.
Start time: 05:29am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: From InnerFight
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
Today we will hold tempo for 2 long blocks and one shorter block. Keep asking yourself if you are running a 7/10 effort during this session.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
This week our over/unders have increased from 800m to 1000m. Paces are the same as last week. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
We will be running our intervals around the Olivia apartments this week for 1 loop and then in the park for a shorter loop. Try and pick up the pace on the shorter park loops.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
This week our efforts will build from 4/10 to 7/10 over 3 blocks of builders. You therefore have 3 attempts to hit that 7/10 feeling. We recommend that you do not start off too fast on this one.
Sunday
Time: 5:29am
Location: InnerFight
Session: Long Run
We will be running from InnerFight this Sunday. There are various options from 15km to 35km depending on which races you have coming up. If you would rather run for time, that is also fine! Routes will be shared in WhatsApp and on TrainingPeaks.
We will kick the week off on Monday with heavy single-leg work and move on to a fast interval workout. Tuesday is about the sandbags with a tough set of EMOMs followed by a partner workout. Wednesday, we have more focus on our strict pull-ups and then a gymnastics and running-based workout. Thursday, we will hit some technical work on a clean complex and follow it up with some heavy clean singles, followed by a tough and fast-paced workout with rowing cleans and wall balls. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Jerks in the skill and then a gruelling chipper.
Monday:
Strength:
Walking Dumbell Lunges
Conditioning:
In a 2 min window
25 KB Sumo deadlift (2x24/16)
Amrap DU
rest 2 mins
In a 2 min window
16 Weighted Box Step Ups 1 x KB 24/16
AMRAP Cals Bike
rest 2 mins
x3
Tuesday:
Strength:
Building Weight Sandbag To Shoulder
Conditioning:
In Pairs
100 sandbags to shoulder (80/50)
Every 4 mins
1 car park lap farmers carry 2 x 32/24
Wednesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B) KB Push Press + Pull Ups + Side Plank
Conditioning:
16 min amrap
Pool Run
10 burpee pull-ups
3 wall walks
Thursday:
Strength:
A) Clean Pull + Hang Squat Clean + Front Squat
B) Squat Clean
Conditioning:
For time:
500/400m row
30 squat clean (60/40)
50 WallBalls
Friday:
Strength:
A) Push Jerk
Conditioning:
It's an awesome triplet to end the week! Therapyyyyy!
I can see you all sitting there and rolling your eyes at my choice of title - shouting at the screen, it's just half the distance! I knew that already, and yes you would be right but there may be some things that you didn’t know. Read on!
Whilst one is ‘mere 21.1km’ and the other 42.2kms they could be further apart in terms of races and how you should attack them. Firstly - let's look at the bodies energy systems.
The Aerobic system - can use carbs, fats or even proteins for energy production. This is the most efficient energy system in the body but takes longer to produce energy. As the name suggests, oxygen is a requirement for this system. This is often referred to as the ‘low intensity system’ or zones 1 and 2.
For your reference, in a 1 mile race, 80% of energy contribution comes from the aerobic system and just 20% is produced anaerobically. This jumps to 90/10 for a 10km race and 97.5/2.5 for a marathon! This should highlight the importance of AEROBIC training in your program, no matter what distance you are training for.
The aerobic system has a key feature in that it can utilise fat as a fuel, we all have a near unlimited supply. It will however use Carbohydrate to help breakdown the fat into usable energy. This is great for a marathon if running for longer at much lower intensity but when running a half marathon your intensity should obviously be much higher.
The breakdown of glycogen creates ATP as glucose is converted into pyruvate. During this process, hydrogen is produced and if there is enough O2, the aerobic system will use the hydrogen and pyruvate to make more ATP (energy). When a lack of oxygen occurs the system cannot keep up and so the hydrogen combines with pyruvate to form lactate.
When the lactate production is faster than lactate clearing, this is called the lactate threshold and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood. Increased blood acidity stops the use of fatty acids for energy production increasing the body dependence on carbs as a fuel source.
In short, the higher the intensity of the race, the higher the body depends on carbohydrates.
As carbohydrate stores deplete so will performance.
Lactate threshold is typically defined as the pace/speed or heart rate you can maintain for 60 mins of exercise. So unless you are a highly trained athlete , you will likely be running below this intensity. It’s worth looking at your LT Zones to figure out how hard you can push in this race.
When working at 50% of lactate threshold; 45 - 55% of Kcals come from fat: Intensity wise, this equates to roughly a fast walk.
At 75% of Lactate threshold (a very easy run); 10 - 30% of Kcals come from fat.
At or above Lactate Threshold its 0%.
Depending on your fitness levels – you probably aim to run a Half marathon at 95% LT (Tempo zone).
We don’t need to worry about fat replenishment at these levels from an energy standpoint as we have finite stores. Carbohydrate however needs replenishing
In order to achieve certain performance targets in a half marathon, exercise intensities will often need to rise above 70% of Max HR, limiting glycogen at this point is inefficient to the body for the reasons explained, therefore replacing glycogen stores pre, during and post exercise is favourable. I would suggest a small amount of fuel before the race start and in the first half of the event to ensure you are still drip feeding the ‘emptying bath’.
Now we can understand the difference between a marathon and half marathon. During a marathon we expect to deplete glycogen stores at around half way or roughly 90 min to 2hrs in. This is why we begin fuelling from the off! We could look at a half marathon and expect if you are to be done by 90 min – 2hrs then it wont need fuelling as you will have enough glycogen stored. What must be remembered though is the intensity difference discussed earlier. Ensuring you start the half marathon fully topped up (with glycogen) is a key aspect of maintaining a hard pace from the start, then topping up stores as they are depleted through the race will ensure you can stay at around 95% of LT without the body feeling it needs to slow down as glycogen depletes. It is shown that for performance, 60g of carbohydrates per hour is beneficial for runners. More specifically, 20g every 20 mins is shown to work very well. Hence why many sports nutrition companies usually create gels with 18 – 22g of carbs in. Want a simple fuelling pack to get you half marathon ready? Head to InnerFight HQ for our special Secret Training half marathon pack!
Track Tuesday
Week two of our over/unders block, this week we move to 1km efforts.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
Wednesday ride* 5.59am BOTS. << use links/details from a few months back
4 X 8min at your best effort, what have you got?
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
Our classic builders set this week, 5min builds based on effort! A great tempo run.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Ride
Back to a long ride today, 105km in the group with some structured intervals to follow.
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
Sunday long run
Team IFE on Tour are 3 weeks out from the marathon in Munich, so they need to run long. Why not come along and support with some miles to? Message sh@innerfight.com to find out more.
Start time: 05:29am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: From InnerFight
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
Today we will hold tempo for 2 long blocks and one shorter block. Keep asking yourself if you are running a 7/10 effort during this session.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
This week our over/unders have increased from 800m to 1000m. Paces are the same as last week. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
We will be running our intervals around the Olivia apartments this week for 1 loop and then in the park for a shorter loop. Try and pick up the pace on the shorter park loops.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
This week our efforts will build from 4/10 to 7/10 over 3 blocks of builders. You therefore have 3 attempts to hit that 7/10 feeling. We recommend that you do not start off too fast on this one.
Sunday
Time: 5:29am
Location: InnerFight
Session: Long Run
We will be running from InnerFight this Sunday. There are various options from 15km to 35km depending on which races you have coming up. If you would rather run for time, that is also fine! Routes will be shared in WhatsApp and on TrainingPeaks.
We will kick the week off on Monday with heavy single-leg work and move on to a fast interval workout. Tuesday is about the sandbags with a tough set of EMOMs followed by a partner workout. Wednesday, we have more focus on our strict pull-ups and then a gymnastics and running-based workout. Thursday, we will hit some technical work on a clean complex and follow it up with some heavy clean singles, followed by a tough and fast-paced workout with rowing cleans and wall balls. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Jerks in the skill and then a gruelling chipper.
Monday:
Strength:
Walking Dumbell Lunges
Conditioning:
In a 2 min window
25 KB Sumo deadlift (2x24/16)
Amrap DU
rest 2 mins
In a 2 min window
16 Weighted Box Step Ups 1 x KB 24/16
AMRAP Cals Bike
rest 2 mins
x3
Tuesday:
Strength:
Building Weight Sandbag To Shoulder
Conditioning:
In Pairs
100 sandbags to shoulder (80/50)
Every 4 mins
1 car park lap farmers carry 2 x 32/24
Wednesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B) KB Push Press + Pull Ups + Side Plank
Conditioning:
16 min amrap
Pool Run
10 burpee pull-ups
3 wall walks
Thursday:
Strength:
A) Clean Pull + Hang Squat Clean + Front Squat
B) Squat Clean
Conditioning:
For time:
500/400m row
30 squat clean (60/40)
50 WallBalls
Friday:
Strength:
A) Push Jerk
Conditioning:
It's an awesome triplet to end the week! Therapyyyyy!
ENGINE
Working on holding our MIKKOS score calories for longer blocks of time.
GYMNASTICS
This week, we will focus on rope climbing, doubleunders, and handstand push-ups in gymnastics. We will focus on the skill elements to help you with these movements! Whether you have these movements down or not, this class will help you improve in all these movements so you're ready to attack classes!
HYROX
We start to put together the pieces and do a mini HYROX
MOBILITY
We will go over full-body flow routines focusing on flexibility for full-body alignment.
PURE STRENGTH
In Pure Strength, we start the week with some percentage work on the close grip bench press, followed by heavy rows and a shoulder pump to finish. Wednesday, we worked up to a heavy single on the deadlift, with some tough drop sets followed by some heavy single leg work.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Snatch Focus this week, and we get into over-head squats before working into some Snatch High Pulls and Hang Snatch and then finish with some heavy Snatch singles!
I can see you all sitting there and rolling your eyes at my choice of title - shouting at the screen, it's just half the distance! I knew that already, and yes you would be right but there may be some things that you didn’t know. Read on!
Whilst one is ‘mere 21.1km’ and the other 42.2kms they could be further apart in terms of races and how you should attack them. Firstly - let's look at the bodies energy systems.
The Aerobic system - can use carbs, fats or even proteins for energy production. This is the most efficient energy system in the body but takes longer to produce energy. As the name suggests, oxygen is a requirement for this system. This is often referred to as the ‘low intensity system’ or zones 1 and 2.
For your reference, in a 1 mile race, 80% of energy contribution comes from the aerobic system and just 20% is produced anaerobically. This jumps to 90/10 for a 10km race and 97.5/2.5 for a marathon! This should highlight the importance of AEROBIC training in your program, no matter what distance you are training for.
The aerobic system has a key feature in that it can utilise fat as a fuel, we all have a near unlimited supply. It will however use Carbohydrate to help breakdown the fat into usable energy. This is great for a marathon if running for longer at much lower intensity but when running a half marathon your intensity should obviously be much higher.
The breakdown of glycogen creates ATP as glucose is converted into pyruvate. During this process, hydrogen is produced and if there is enough O2, the aerobic system will use the hydrogen and pyruvate to make more ATP (energy). When a lack of oxygen occurs the system cannot keep up and so the hydrogen combines with pyruvate to form lactate.
When the lactate production is faster than lactate clearing, this is called the lactate threshold and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood. Increased blood acidity stops the use of fatty acids for energy production increasing the body dependence on carbs as a fuel source.
In short, the higher the intensity of the race, the higher the body depends on carbohydrates.
As carbohydrate stores deplete so will performance.
Lactate threshold is typically defined as the pace/speed or heart rate you can maintain for 60 mins of exercise. So unless you are a highly trained athlete , you will likely be running below this intensity. It’s worth looking at your LT Zones to figure out how hard you can push in this race.
When working at 50% of lactate threshold; 45 - 55% of Kcals come from fat: Intensity wise, this equates to roughly a fast walk.
At 75% of Lactate threshold (a very easy run); 10 - 30% of Kcals come from fat.
At or above Lactate Threshold its 0%.
Depending on your fitness levels – you probably aim to run a Half marathon at 95% LT (Tempo zone).
We don’t need to worry about fat replenishment at these levels from an energy standpoint as we have finite stores. Carbohydrate however needs replenishing
In order to achieve certain performance targets in a half marathon, exercise intensities will often need to rise above 70% of Max HR, limiting glycogen at this point is inefficient to the body for the reasons explained, therefore replacing glycogen stores pre, during and post exercise is favourable. I would suggest a small amount of fuel before the race start and in the first half of the event to ensure you are still drip feeding the ‘emptying bath’.
Now we can understand the difference between a marathon and half marathon. During a marathon we expect to deplete glycogen stores at around half way or roughly 90 min to 2hrs in. This is why we begin fuelling from the off! We could look at a half marathon and expect if you are to be done by 90 min – 2hrs then it wont need fuelling as you will have enough glycogen stored. What must be remembered though is the intensity difference discussed earlier. Ensuring you start the half marathon fully topped up (with glycogen) is a key aspect of maintaining a hard pace from the start, then topping up stores as they are depleted through the race will ensure you can stay at around 95% of LT without the body feeling it needs to slow down as glycogen depletes. It is shown that for performance, 60g of carbohydrates per hour is beneficial for runners. More specifically, 20g every 20 mins is shown to work very well. Hence why many sports nutrition companies usually create gels with 18 – 22g of carbs in. Want a simple fuelling pack to get you half marathon ready? Head to InnerFight HQ for our special Secret Training half marathon pack!
Monday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Tempo
Today we will hold tempo for 2 long blocks and one shorter block. Keep asking yourself if you are running a 7/10 effort during this session.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Sports City
Session: Track Tuesday
This week our over/unders have increased from 800m to 1000m. Paces are the same as last week. This is your chance to run fast with the wider InnerFight Endurance Community and Coaches.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: Ladies Only Intervals
We will be running our intervals around the Olivia apartments this week for 1 loop and then in the park for a shorter loop. Try and pick up the pace on the shorter park loops.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Kite Beach
Session: The Coffee Run
This week our efforts will build from 4/10 to 7/10 over 3 blocks of builders. You therefore have 3 attempts to hit that 7/10 feeling. We recommend that you do not start off too fast on this one.
Sunday
Time: 5:29am
Location: InnerFight
Session: Long Run
We will be running from InnerFight this Sunday. There are various options from 15km to 35km depending on which races you have coming up. If you would rather run for time, that is also fine! Routes will be shared in WhatsApp and on TrainingPeaks.
We will kick the week off on Monday with heavy single-leg work and move on to a fast interval workout. Tuesday is about the sandbags with a tough set of EMOMs followed by a partner workout. Wednesday, we have more focus on our strict pull-ups and then a gymnastics and running-based workout. Thursday, we will hit some technical work on a clean complex and follow it up with some heavy clean singles, followed by a tough and fast-paced workout with rowing cleans and wall balls. Friday, we finish the week with some heavy Jerks in the skill and then a gruelling chipper.
Monday:
Strength:
Walking Dumbell Lunges
Conditioning:
In a 2 min window
25 KB Sumo deadlift (2x24/16)
Amrap DU
rest 2 mins
In a 2 min window
16 Weighted Box Step Ups 1 x KB 24/16
AMRAP Cals Bike
rest 2 mins
x3
Tuesday:
Strength:
Building Weight Sandbag To Shoulder
Conditioning:
In Pairs
100 sandbags to shoulder (80/50)
Every 4 mins
1 car park lap farmers carry 2 x 32/24
Wednesday:
Strength:
A) Strict Pull Ups
B) KB Push Press + Pull Ups + Side Plank
Conditioning:
16 min amrap
Pool Run
10 burpee pull-ups
3 wall walks
Thursday:
Strength:
A) Clean Pull + Hang Squat Clean + Front Squat
B) Squat Clean
Conditioning:
For time:
500/400m row
30 squat clean (60/40)
50 WallBalls
Friday:
Strength:
A) Push Jerk
Conditioning:
It's an awesome triplet to end the week! Therapyyyyy!
ENGINE
Working on holding our MIKKOS score calories for longer blocks of time.
GYMNASTICS
This week, we will focus on rope climbing, doubleunders, and handstand push-ups in gymnastics. We will focus on the skill elements to help you with these movements! Whether you have these movements down or not, this class will help you improve in all these movements so you're ready to attack classes!
HYROX
We start to put together the pieces and do a mini HYROX
MOBILITY
We will go over full-body flow routines focusing on flexibility for full-body alignment.
PURE STRENGTH
In Pure Strength, we start the week with some percentage work on the close grip bench press, followed by heavy rows and a shoulder pump to finish. Wednesday, we worked up to a heavy single on the deadlift, with some tough drop sets followed by some heavy single leg work.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Snatch Focus this week, and we get into over-head squats before working into some Snatch High Pulls and Hang Snatch and then finish with some heavy Snatch singles!
Track Tuesday
Week two of our over/unders block, this week we move to 1km efforts.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1 hour
Wednesday Ride
Wednesday ride* 5.59am BOTS. << use links/details from a few months back
4 X 8min at your best effort, what have you got?
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
The Coffee Run
Our classic builders set this week, 5min builds based on effort! A great tempo run.
Start time: 05:59 am
Session length: 1 hour
Location: Common Grounds, Jumeirah Beach Track
Saturday Ride
Back to a long ride today, 105km in the group with some structured intervals to follow.
Start time: 05:59am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: BOTS - https://goo.gl/maps/6AwtJXW8nA45Cy9H8
Sunday long run
Team IFE on Tour are 3 weeks out from the marathon in Munich, so they need to run long. Why not come along and support with some miles to? Message sh@innerfight.com to find out more.
Start time: 05:29am
Session Length: 1 hour
Location: From InnerFight
I can see you all sitting there and rolling your eyes at my choice of title - shouting at the screen, it's just half the distance! I knew that already, and yes you would be right but there may be some things that you didn’t know. Read on!
Whilst one is ‘mere 21.1km’ and the other 42.2kms they could be further apart in terms of races and how you should attack them. Firstly - let's look at the bodies energy systems.
The Aerobic system - can use carbs, fats or even proteins for energy production. This is the most efficient energy system in the body but takes longer to produce energy. As the name suggests, oxygen is a requirement for this system. This is often referred to as the ‘low intensity system’ or zones 1 and 2.
For your reference, in a 1 mile race, 80% of energy contribution comes from the aerobic system and just 20% is produced anaerobically. This jumps to 90/10 for a 10km race and 97.5/2.5 for a marathon! This should highlight the importance of AEROBIC training in your program, no matter what distance you are training for.
The aerobic system has a key feature in that it can utilise fat as a fuel, we all have a near unlimited supply. It will however use Carbohydrate to help breakdown the fat into usable energy. This is great for a marathon if running for longer at much lower intensity but when running a half marathon your intensity should obviously be much higher.
The breakdown of glycogen creates ATP as glucose is converted into pyruvate. During this process, hydrogen is produced and if there is enough O2, the aerobic system will use the hydrogen and pyruvate to make more ATP (energy). When a lack of oxygen occurs the system cannot keep up and so the hydrogen combines with pyruvate to form lactate.
When the lactate production is faster than lactate clearing, this is called the lactate threshold and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood. Increased blood acidity stops the use of fatty acids for energy production increasing the body dependence on carbs as a fuel source.
In short, the higher the intensity of the race, the higher the body depends on carbohydrates.
As carbohydrate stores deplete so will performance.
Lactate threshold is typically defined as the pace/speed or heart rate you can maintain for 60 mins of exercise. So unless you are a highly trained athlete , you will likely be running below this intensity. It’s worth looking at your LT Zones to figure out how hard you can push in this race.
When working at 50% of lactate threshold; 45 - 55% of Kcals come from fat: Intensity wise, this equates to roughly a fast walk.
At 75% of Lactate threshold (a very easy run); 10 - 30% of Kcals come from fat.
At or above Lactate Threshold its 0%.
Depending on your fitness levels – you probably aim to run a Half marathon at 95% LT (Tempo zone).
We don’t need to worry about fat replenishment at these levels from an energy standpoint as we have finite stores. Carbohydrate however needs replenishing
In order to achieve certain performance targets in a half marathon, exercise intensities will often need to rise above 70% of Max HR, limiting glycogen at this point is inefficient to the body for the reasons explained, therefore replacing glycogen stores pre, during and post exercise is favourable. I would suggest a small amount of fuel before the race start and in the first half of the event to ensure you are still drip feeding the ‘emptying bath’.
Now we can understand the difference between a marathon and half marathon. During a marathon we expect to deplete glycogen stores at around half way or roughly 90 min to 2hrs in. This is why we begin fuelling from the off! We could look at a half marathon and expect if you are to be done by 90 min – 2hrs then it wont need fuelling as you will have enough glycogen stored. What must be remembered though is the intensity difference discussed earlier. Ensuring you start the half marathon fully topped up (with glycogen) is a key aspect of maintaining a hard pace from the start, then topping up stores as they are depleted through the race will ensure you can stay at around 95% of LT without the body feeling it needs to slow down as glycogen depletes. It is shown that for performance, 60g of carbohydrates per hour is beneficial for runners. More specifically, 20g every 20 mins is shown to work very well. Hence why many sports nutrition companies usually create gels with 18 – 22g of carbs in. Want a simple fuelling pack to get you half marathon ready? Head to InnerFight HQ for our special Secret Training half marathon pack!
I can see you all sitting there and rolling your eyes at my choice of title - shouting at the screen, it's just half the distance! I knew that already, and yes you would be right but there may be some things that you didn’t know. Read on!
Whilst one is ‘mere 21.1km’ and the other 42.2kms they could be further apart in terms of races and how you should attack them. Firstly - let's look at the bodies energy systems.
The Aerobic system - can use carbs, fats or even proteins for energy production. This is the most efficient energy system in the body but takes longer to produce energy. As the name suggests, oxygen is a requirement for this system. This is often referred to as the ‘low intensity system’ or zones 1 and 2.
For your reference, in a 1 mile race, 80% of energy contribution comes from the aerobic system and just 20% is produced anaerobically. This jumps to 90/10 for a 10km race and 97.5/2.5 for a marathon! This should highlight the importance of AEROBIC training in your program, no matter what distance you are training for.
The aerobic system has a key feature in that it can utilise fat as a fuel, we all have a near unlimited supply. It will however use Carbohydrate to help breakdown the fat into usable energy. This is great for a marathon if running for longer at much lower intensity but when running a half marathon your intensity should obviously be much higher.
The breakdown of glycogen creates ATP as glucose is converted into pyruvate. During this process, hydrogen is produced and if there is enough O2, the aerobic system will use the hydrogen and pyruvate to make more ATP (energy). When a lack of oxygen occurs the system cannot keep up and so the hydrogen combines with pyruvate to form lactate.
When the lactate production is faster than lactate clearing, this is called the lactate threshold and lactate begins to accumulate in the blood. Increased blood acidity stops the use of fatty acids for energy production increasing the body dependence on carbs as a fuel source.
In short, the higher the intensity of the race, the higher the body depends on carbohydrates.
As carbohydrate stores deplete so will performance.
Lactate threshold is typically defined as the pace/speed or heart rate you can maintain for 60 mins of exercise. So unless you are a highly trained athlete , you will likely be running below this intensity. It’s worth looking at your LT Zones to figure out how hard you can push in this race.
When working at 50% of lactate threshold; 45 - 55% of Kcals come from fat: Intensity wise, this equates to roughly a fast walk.
At 75% of Lactate threshold (a very easy run); 10 - 30% of Kcals come from fat.
At or above Lactate Threshold its 0%.
Depending on your fitness levels – you probably aim to run a Half marathon at 95% LT (Tempo zone).
We don’t need to worry about fat replenishment at these levels from an energy standpoint as we have finite stores. Carbohydrate however needs replenishing
In order to achieve certain performance targets in a half marathon, exercise intensities will often need to rise above 70% of Max HR, limiting glycogen at this point is inefficient to the body for the reasons explained, therefore replacing glycogen stores pre, during and post exercise is favourable. I would suggest a small amount of fuel before the race start and in the first half of the event to ensure you are still drip feeding the ‘emptying bath’.
Now we can understand the difference between a marathon and half marathon. During a marathon we expect to deplete glycogen stores at around half way or roughly 90 min to 2hrs in. This is why we begin fuelling from the off! We could look at a half marathon and expect if you are to be done by 90 min – 2hrs then it wont need fuelling as you will have enough glycogen stored. What must be remembered though is the intensity difference discussed earlier. Ensuring you start the half marathon fully topped up (with glycogen) is a key aspect of maintaining a hard pace from the start, then topping up stores as they are depleted through the race will ensure you can stay at around 95% of LT without the body feeling it needs to slow down as glycogen depletes. It is shown that for performance, 60g of carbohydrates per hour is beneficial for runners. More specifically, 20g every 20 mins is shown to work very well. Hence why many sports nutrition companies usually create gels with 18 – 22g of carbs in. Want a simple fuelling pack to get you half marathon ready? Head to InnerFight HQ for our special Secret Training half marathon pack!