NEWSLETTER - West Australian Marathon Club

The Complete Season
by Jon Kappler
I would never say just doing a marathon is not
achieving for the season whether it is your first or
you are familiar with the event. But often you will
complete the event mid season and having spent so
much physical and emotional energy on this one race,
you can be left mid-season with plenty of great events
ahead of you but a plan that hasn’t planned passed one
race. And if all has gone to plan, then you will be in (or
close to) the best shape of your life. Definitely focus
100% on the marathon as the marathon requires you
to totally commit, but I’m going to suggest you plan for
a complete season of racing and look at some shorter
races after the marathon. Combining your great fitness
with some zip and a fast 10km could be just around the
corner.
Regularly I’m told by athletes who have dedicated
their focus and are training primarily on the 42.2km
event, that they have lost some speed they had prior
to logging all of the kilometres required to succeed
at longer races. The benefit is you have developed
strength and it doesn’t normally take too long to get
the legs turning over slightly faster.
and focusing on a neuromuscular system rather than
fitness system. This will give you that fast running
feeling back.
This session may bring back memories of when we
were all younger and running fast was normal. But
take into consideration your age and if you have had
any recent injuries, adding intensity into your weekly
training can overload those weak areas. Remember to
listen to your body.
I’m also a strong believer in changing your running
pace once a week so this session may also be the
start of adding an interval session to your program on
a weekly basis. If you can execute my suggestion you
may also find long term benefits with your marathons
as don’t let the distance make your training totally
revolve around long slow runs.
So don’t get too excited and look at a race within a few
weeks of completing the marathon, take time to let the
body recover and start out with some easy running.
When you feel physically and mentally recovered from
the marathon, select a 10km race that is about 4-6
weeks away.
Being strong, we now need to add some intensity to
work a totally different system. Now back running
regularly and having no issues from the marathon,
choose a day that sits between a couple of easy
running days. Add a session of 150-200m efforts once
a week. The same principles apply to doing any faster
paced session, warm up well and do a few run through
efforts at 80% over 80-100m. When you have finished
warming up, run each 150-200m effort as fast as you
can, and completely rest before doing the next. You
should be able to start with 6-8 and add 2 every second
week, building to 10-12 maximum over the next 4-6
weeks. And always do an easy cool down run after the
session.
Along with the strength you have gained doing
marathon training, within weeks of doing these flat
out sessions you are stimulating your fast twitch fibres
19