The Road to Khon Kaen: You can do it in 16 weeks!

By Peace Corps Thailand Magazine on 09/10/2016 • ( Leave a comment )

Jim Damico, 126 TCCS

You keep reading these articles leading up the Khon Kaen Marathon and say “I should do that.” but life at site has been busy with end of term and community projects and such. But now you’ve got a short ‘winter break’ so now is the perfect time to break your routine and start a running habit, especially now that cooler weather is also in the forecast. The race is still 16+ weeks away so maybe the marathon might be a stretch if you haven’t already been running, but the half-marathon is definitely doable. You’re healthy and been biking everyday. Now all you have to do is put on those running shoes and get out there.

To run a half-marathon, or even a full-marathon, means building endurance by gradually increasing your weekly mileage. No worries! Below is a 16-week training schedule that adds miles safely. There are cross-training, strength-training and stretching, and rest days built into the program to help prevent injury. Plus, the long runs are on Saturdays when you have time to go the distance, giving you Sundays to recover.

Notes about this workout:

SS (Strength training and Stretch): Even though you’re not running on these days, you still want to get your heart rate going for at least 30-minutes doing some strength training. This is a great time to work on strengthening your core using some HIIT (high intensity interval training) for maybe 20-minutes and then spend the rest of the time stretching or doing yoga.

CT (Cross training): You bike a lot but you can also use cycling to work other muscles on your off days. Again, you want to get your heart rate going faster so we’re not talking a leisurely bike tour. Really push it. And just like your strength training, you can do some HIIT workouts in the middle of your ride by going fast for 40-sec and then coasting for 20-sec and then doing it again maybe 10 times. Or just speed up the whole ride so you know you’ve put in a workout but not so fast that you’re huffing and puffing.

Rest: Rest days are for your heart but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing something active. Do some more yoga or stretching exercise. Talk a walk around the village. Play some frisbee or volleyball with your neighborhood kids.

And here is a printable plan you can download of the same plan.

http://media3.popsugar-assets.com/files/docs/Fitness-BeginnerHalfMarathon-Print.pdf

Below are a few more 16-week half-marathon training plans so you’re bound to find one you like. Some are just easy runs with distance getting longer and others include some interval workouts.