There are many ways to train for a marathon, half marathon, 15k, 10k etc.  Our training program utilizes methods which can not only train a person to race efficiently at a specific distance, but at all distances.

Ideally, there will be a strong relationship between race times at shorter and longer distances. E.g. there is a strong relationship between your 5k and your 10k and your half marathon time.
There are many calculators on the net that can help you find that type of relationship and tell you how fast you should run your half marathon based on your 5k time for example.

However, for many runners, their 10k-time is worse than what their 5k-time suggests. And their half marathon-time is even worse than what their 10k-time, let alone their 5k-time suggests. Their race times deteriorate as distance grows.

There are two main reasons for that:
1. Runners are not doing enough mileage,
2. The mileage they do, is done too fast.

The key to being good at long-distance running is a high lactate threshold. Your lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in your legs. Go faster than your lactate threshold pace and within minutes you start feeling uncomfortable. Your legs start feeling heavier and heavier. In the end you just have to slow down or stop. When you do training specifically to increase your lactate threshold, then your “easy, comfortable” running becomes faster and faster over time.

Deep inside your muscles lurk a multitude of microscopic structures called mitochondria. Although small (they can’t be seen with an ordinary microscope), the mitochondria are of major importance to your athletic efforts; as you increase their density, your performance capacity rises simultaneously.  That’s because the mitochondria are the only places inside your muscle cells where carbohydrate, fat, and protein can be broken down in the presence of oxygen to create the energy you need to exercise. To put it simply, the more mitochondria you have, the more energy you can generate during exercise and the faster and longer you can run.  The more mitochondria, the less lactate at every running pace. But mitochondrial adaptation in each fiber type is very dependent on the intensity of your training.
So, what is the correct training intensity?

Surprisingly, you can get the best results by doing just aerobic training.
So the key to improving your lactate threshold lies in training below your lactate threshold pace. Some sessions may be close to lactate threshold pace, but it needs to be stressed that your training should be slow, rather than fast.
The old saying “No pain, no gain”, ironically enough does not work!

In addition to this, a general increase in mileage would be good.  When applied consistently over time, racing performance will improve significantly. This is what we call base building. Over time, lactate threshold will increase and it will become easier to run faster. Once this important step is accomplished, we can further improve race times by doing some speed work and conditioning work in the last few weeks of training.