Fall Half Marathon Training Program

Training is easier (and more fun) with friends!

With Fleet Feet’s Marathon Training Program Powered, you’ll find a holistic training plan to help you cross the finish line feeling empowered. We're gearing up for Fall Marathon Training by targeting a mid-November race. JOin us to train for the Charlotte Marathon or any other Fall Marathon.

Marathon training isn’t just about logging miles. It’s about learning to challenge yourself incrementally, tackling different types of runs, building strength and making space for rest and recovery.

With our marathon training plan, You and your fellow runners will bond as you train, learn and improve together, with plenty of support along the way.

Here’s what you can expect:

• 16 weeks of daily training with our expert coaches. 
• In-person support for accountability, camaraderie and fun.
• Warmup and cool down exercises to make every run smoother
• 2X weekly strength routines to make you strong and resistant to injury
• Mobility and cross-training exercises to balance your training
• Tips from pro athletes on gear, nutrition, recovery, mobility and more
• Coaching support in person and via email to answer your questions along the way.

Important Information:

• Open House Run/Walk: Saturday, July 27th, 2024 at 8 am at Fleet Feet in Myers Park Join us for a group run and walk to introduce you to our coaches, mentors and pace groups. Come see how this program is open to all paces and will support you in your training towards a marathon.
• Dates: July 30th through November 13th, 2024
• Goal Race: Charlotte Half Marathon on Sunday, Noember 16th or any other Fall Half Marathon.
• Workout Days: Tuesdays at 6:00 pm in Fort Mill, Wednesdays at 6:00 pm in Myers Park and Satursdays at 8 am alternating between the three stores and other area running routes.
• Cost: $150. This does not include the race fee.

As a participant you will receive:

• Weekly Newsletter with location and and workout information.
• Training Plan for your target marathon.
• Safe and organized weekly group long runs with pre-planned routes, turn-by-turn directions, water/aid stations and mentor led pace groups.
• Mentored weekday workouts including Hill Repeats, Track Workouts, and Fartleks.
• Training Program Swag
• 2X weekly strength routines to make you strong and resistant to injury.
• Mobility and cross-training exercises to balance your training.
• Tips from pro athletes on gear, nutrition, recovery, mobility and more.
• Coaching support in person and via email to answer your questions along the way.

REGISTER HERE!

More information:

 We find lots of great places to run and walk in our community - on bike paths, areas with sidewalks, etc. Occasionally, we'll hold a workout at a local track to run a speed workout. All location information will be shared with you each week in our Program Newsletters. The workouts will last about an hour to an hour and a half as we increase mileage throughout the season.

What to expect at Weeknight Workouts:

The focus of the weeknight workouts is to work on our speed and power when running. Where you're looking to finishyour first distance race or your fastest distance race - building a speed workout into your training is important. You work different muscle groups (fast twitch vs. slow twiitch muslces), build endurance in your legs and lungs, and it helps keep our workouts from getting stale. We'll cover a variety of workouts such as Speed Repeats, Hill Repeats, Fartleks (Swedish for "speed play"), tempo runs, etc. We focus on pace and effort during these workouts. Below is an example workout:

• Welcome/Announcements/Find your pace groups
• 10 min Warmup Easy Jogging
• Track Ladder workout: 400m hard effort/jog 200m recover + 800m hard effort/jog 400m recovery +1200m hard effort/jog 400m recovery + 800m hard effort/jog 400m recovery + 400m hard effort.
• 10 min Cooldown easy jogging
• Optional Cool down stretching/core with your group
• Overall, you'll have done ~3 miles of speed work , but with recovery included in the workout.

What to expect at Saturday Long Runs:

The Saturday long run focus is on tme on your feet. We use the long run to build up our endurance so that we can finsih our distance races healthy and happy! Overall, these long runs should be at a very easy pace. We don't want to race through the long runs because it will feel like we've "raced" every weekend - our bodies will be tired and increases the likelihood of injury. EAch group will be led by an experienced mentor who will help guide and support you! Typically, we run loops from a central point so that we can have access to water/bathrooms/coaches. Tihis alos allows our Half Marathoners and Full Marathoners to train together, while going different distances. For example, the Half Marathonoers may be running 8 miles while the Full Marathonors will do 12 miles - all groups will run 8 together and then the Fuller Marathoners will continue on for another 4 miles. We'e also able to accommodate different trainign distances this way, you still get the support of the group but can train for your goal race.

Pace Groups:

Our groups are open to anyone! Yes, anyone. We group everyone based on a timed milea t the beginning of the season and use that to help match you with similarly paced people. Your coaches will help give you suggested training paces one in your group! A general breakdown of our groups are as follows

• 8:00 - 9:00 training pace
• 9:00 - 10:00 training pace
• 10:00 - 11:00 training pace
• 11:00 - 12:00 training pace
• 12:00 - 13:00 trainng pace
• 13:00 - 15:00 training pace (Run/Walk Interval Group)
• Walking Group

We recommend coming into the training beng able to run or run/walk 4 Miles.

Run/Walk Interval Running:

There are many benefits to using a run/walk method in your training. We encourage beginning runners to start using a Run/Walk interval in our Beginner 5K training programs. But using a Run/Walk interval is not just for beginners - it's an excellent tool to help you build endurance and help you cross the finish line of your distance race. Our coaches willl help to modify the workouts to support our interval runners - they will assist with pacing, workouts, racing strategies, and much more. Some of the benefits include:

• Decreased chance of injury. The run-walk method causes less wear and tear on the body, decreasing the chance of injuries. Continuous use of muslces will result in fatigue much quicker. This method will allow a runner to go farther and/or longer before fatigue sets in.
• Quicky recovery. With less wear and tear on the body it's also easier to recover after a run.
• Breaks up distance into manageable units. Running is as much mental as it is physical - especially when you get into the distance races. Using the run-walk intervals will help with those long distances. Running 14 miles just seems impossible. But breaking it down by running fo ra set number of minutues, it's much more manageable.
• Motivating for new runners. This method allows just about anyone to run any race they want. It doesn't matter your age, weight, gender, or physical ability. You can be a runner. As you start off slow, you can work your way up to running fo ra longer amount of time and having fewer walk breaks.