Happy Friday, y’all! Remember that we have a new Friday Five format this year and our theme for the first Friday is fitness. I’m sharing five thoughts on the Hanson’s Half Marathon Training Plan. You may recall I shared my thoughts on the plan after one month. Now I’m just two weeks out from my big race and so I wanted to share my thoughts again. Don’t forget to check out Cynthia and Mar and some of the other folks who link up with us – and please don’t forget to link to your hosts if you are participating! Have a great weekend! 
- The high mileage is HIGH – but doable. In January, I ran more miles than I’ve ever run – and I’ve trained for and run six marathons! I have to say that looking back and realizing that I’m running more miles than I did when I was training for a marathon has me excited about training for my fall marathon.
- The plan is pretty rigid in terms of what days you do particular workouts. Because you run six days a week, it’s a bit of a challenge to switch around runs. It can be done, but has to be done thoughtfully. My general run schedule has been Sunday/Monday – easy; Tuesday – speed or strength (remember, in the Hanson’s plan, strength is just longer speedwork; Wednesday – rest; Thursday – tempo run; Friday – easy; Saturday – long. This means that if I take a rest day Tuesday instead of Wednesday, I’d have two hard runs back to back and that’s a bad idea. Obviously the easy days can be swapped out with a hard run, but I just have to ensure that I’m not doing back to back hard runs. It requires a lot of thought and so, I really haven’t had many times where I switched days because it’s a lot of work.
- If you don’t sleep well or don’t sleep much, this plan will probably change that. I had been really bad about getting enough sleep (and I’m still not the best) but the peak weeks really take it out of you and you will be tired – building in enough sleep will affect your runs.
- Run easy on easy days. I have learned to love the easy day and I have learned that you can’t run too “easy” but you can definitely run not easy enough and pay for it. Learn from my experience and truly take easy days easy. It’s sometimes easier said than done, but it helps.
- Always give yourself the benefit of the doubt about hitting paces. I read in the Hanson training book that if you start a run and can’t hit your paces, it’s best to just change the workout to an easy run. I’ve kept that in mind on days where I felt like I doubted my ability to hit the prescribed paces. I always gave myself a mile – and what do you know, every time I hit it. Give yourself a chance to succeed before psyching yourself out. Trust me!
Have you ever trained using the a high mileage plan?
I’ve just gone to the opposite extreme with Run Less Run Faster. Next week will be my first week – we’ll see how that works for me… My body was starting to really complain with my running. 🙁
Thanks for the linkup!
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I did that plan and liked it! I hope you do, as well!
I really liked Hansons and will be starting it up again soon as it’s a great plan for training for the back to back races that I do. The best part for me is that even if you have to scrap a run or two, because, you know, life, you still have plenty of miles in the bank for whatever you are training for.
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Yes, 100% true. You were one of the first people I knew who thrived on high mileage. 🙂
That’s awesome that it’s working for you! It’s definitely important to pay attention to pace for all runs, and alternate easy and hard days. I’m excited to hear how your race goes!!
I have heard about the Hanson plan but I have never followed it. I run about that much now but they are not structured runs. I just run! I know adding speed work and tempo runs would help. And all my runs are always the same pace. I never have “hard or easy” runs.
Running that much an often scares me. I don’t know that I could do it but that is the beauty in having so many options. I’m glad you are liking it an I hope it works out well for you. Thanks so much for the link up!
In theory, I would love to try this plan. But with the baby’s sleep schedule and my hubby’s traveling, I just don’t think it’d work well for me. Possibly one day I can give it a whirl. I’d love to know how my body would respond to it.
I have been so intrigued by how this plan has worked out for me. I’m not sure how I’d manage with kids, though!!
I’m glad this plan is working for you and so excited Shamrock is right around the corner! You’ve worked so hard this training cycle 🙂 PS – I’m back!!
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So happy that it is going well for you. I have told you before, I admire you because I could never run that much… nor my body nor my schedule could handle it. I am training with Jeff Galloway run/walk method for my first marathon. It calls for 4 runs a week (plus non mandatory cross training) and 3 runs if you are over 40, which is my case ! So I have been doing 3 or 4 per week, and it is very flexible in changing out days. I have loved it. Will see on April 3rd if it works!
Wow, that sounds really tough. I don’t think that would fit with my schedule or all the other things I want to do. But, they do say to run better you should run more, so it should really pay off!
This is definitely the hardest I’ve ever trained. Very excited for a bit of a break from training after shamrock!
It sounds like you’ve been doing well with this plan and it’s nice to hear it’s working for you. I have a few friends doing Hansons and it sounds like it’s been working for them as well.
I’m not sure about MORE speed work being strength but, it seems to be working for you! I do love running easy days easy and to downshift your pace if you can’t hit it – those are fantastic pieces of advice.
So excited to see how this all plays out for you!
Hansons uses the word “strength” to denote longer speed workouts – not like strength training, just a different phrase. 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement, Allie!
I’ve never done a high mileage plan and think that it probably would not work for me. I will be interested to see how you like this long term. All those days of running make me tired just thinking about it!
I haven’t done Hansons before but my coach is a huge proponent of running frequency so (before I was injured) I was running 6 days per week with 4 of them as easy runs. So glad to hear you’re finding it is working well. And the fact that you’re sleeping well is also good. Overtraining/increasing volume quickly often gives me insomnia.
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Very interesting! I like being able to move around my runs during the week, so running 4 days has worked well, though I will probably have to increase that when I train for my first marathon this fall! It’s been great seeing your progress, look forward to hearing how the race goes!
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Glad to hear that the Hanson method is working so well for you. I can barely fit in three days of running right now, so I can’t imagine trying to run six days a week, and with more mileage. The Galloway method and training plans have worked really well for me in the past, and I’ve been able to increase my pace in the past as well. My current mantra is “If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it” so I’ll continue using the Galloway method until it doesn’t work for me anymore.
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Is the top mileage 16? I think #5 is very interesting and good for confidence building. I can’t wait to see how well you do! I should try this plan I have been thinking about it.
No, for the half its 12 – the marathon plan is different.
Glad the plan is working out for you. I can’t imagine ever running 6 days a week! I’ve tried 4 days a week and even that was hard work to stick to sometimes. I’m currently doing 3 days a week as an experiment with cross training in between and it seems to be going OK!
Look forward to hearing how your race goes! 🙂
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I did train with high mileage for my last fall half. Which I ended up DNS because I got injured. I know now that the higher the mileage the more need to stretch frequently!!
I tried the Hansons plan for my second marathon, during my first year of law school, and you’re right, I slept like a log every night! Even though I was tired, though, I feel like the high mileage made me a more efficient runner….I’m getting ready to start another training cycle for a June marathon, and while I don’t think I’ll be following the plan exactly, I’m going to try to do six days a week.
Glad it’s working for you! I don’t ever see me committing to a high mileage plan but that’s the beauty of options. Shamrock is almost here!
Mar @ Mar on the Run recently posted…5 Yoga Benefits for Runners & prAna Spring Style
I guess you have to define high mileage. For me that was around 100-120 per month (for a half). Didn’t work for me, but you have to remember I’m in my 50s and we so often need more recovery time.
#5 is interesting, though, and I’ll have to keep it in mind. Except I’m only running 3 x week, so they’re rarely easy runs.
I’ve loved hearing about the Hanson plan. I understand the science behind it and it’s interesting seeing how it plays out in real terms for people. I think the high mileage plan is probably not for me but it’s good to see all the options that are out there.
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I like and appreciate that you’re sharing your feedback about this plan every so often. Mine is somewhat similar, but I’m running 5 days a week (which is still an increase for me). I totally agree about keeping the easy runs easy–sometimes easier said than done, but I’ve really come to love my Sunday recovery runs without a Garmin and just taking in the sights and keeping it nice and slow!
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Yes, our plans seem super similar 🙂
I haven’t followed the Hanson’s’ plan but I have read the book and think it looks great! My coach is big on running higher mileage so even though I mainly train for shorter distances I will still run up to 50mpw during my peak training times. I think it’s great for building strength which is so helpful during the latter parts of a race when you’re trying to maintain pace on tired legs!
I’ve heard about the Hanson’s plan and it’s nice to hear it’s working for you. I’d love to try it one day, but with my schedule right now it would be hard. I’m using the My Asics app plan which isn’t a lot of miles but gives easy and hard runs. Good luck on your race!
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That’s awesome that this plan has worked so well for you. I am sure you are going to kill it for race weekend!! Happy weekend 🙂
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Innnnteresting. This plan doesn’t sound quite right for me, at least not yet — my biggest takeaway from MCM training was to run LESS than I was in favor of more strength training. So for this fall’s marathon my plan is to run less, but maybe after I have six marathons under my belt and the rest are injury-free, I’ll check this method out!
You gotta do what’s right for you! I’m kinda excited/terrified to run a marathon after this plan!
I am terrified of high mileage runs. I don’t hit my paces nearly often enough!
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I’ve been reading about the Hansons method on several other bloggers pages as well. So, there really must be something to this training plan. I gave Advanced Marathon by Pete Pfzinger a shot but I had to cut back to the Runner’s World Advanced marathon plan because Pfzinger is tough! It’s not that I don’t think I couldn’t handle it physically but I felt I was left with nothing in the tank for my work, family, and other life happenings. I think if I’m ever able to quit the pharmacy I could devote the time it requires. I’m really excited to see how your race turns out! KUDOS to you for challenging yourself. You are capable of so much!
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Thank you for the kind words. I have discovered I really like higher mileage and running almost everyday!
I have read the Hanson’s marathon book and I am intrigued! The high mileage does intimidate me. I used to run 50-60 miles per week but I got really burnt out after awhile. But I was doing that month after month, not just for a set period of time to train for a race!
I used to be better about committing to running 6 (or even 7 in the past) days a week. Now, I am battling to get in 4! I love cross training though and am not great at fitting in both in one day. Anyhow, I am sure these extra miles are only going to help you be even more awesome. One of the running clinics I went to, the first thing the instructor said (I think it was Dr. Jason Karp) was MILES. The most thing you need to know is that you need to put in the miles each and every week. Good luck keeping up that schedule and Have Fun killing your next marathon!!
I had a client using an adapted Hanson plan! We both loved the high mileage. I’m hoping to use something similar for my fall races.
Wowsers!!! running 6 days a week….I would DIE!!! and my knee would be like ‘chile please!!
Good job getting it done! you will rock your race!!
If I do a half in the Fall, I may consider the Galloway run /walk to save the knee a bit. we will see
It’s been so interesting hearing about your Hanson experience week to week. I don’t think I could do it, but I am SO excited to see your results from Shamrock!
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Oh I think you could. I didn’t think I could either! 🙂
You know I’m thrilled you’re following the Hanson’s plan! It’s nice to have a Hanson’s buddy. 🙂 Are you considering it for your fall marathon?
Yes!!! It’s terrifying to think about but definitely. 🙂
I can’t wait to hear how your half goes! You have been working so hard!
Love that you’ve been doing this, I’ve been curious about it but it doesn’t work for my tri training lifestyle.
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Oh yeah no way. Not conducive to that as well. We need to catch up, friend!!
I think it’s great that you’ve been thriving on this plan. I know it definitely wouldn’t be for me just because it’s not feasible for me to run 6 days a week, nor do I want to. I found the more days I ran when I first started, the more injuries I had.
Sounds great! If the plan only helped me to sleep better, it would be worth it!