Whether it’s your first 5k,  your 1st or 25th marathon it’s always best to stick to a training schedule.

KARC’s training schedules will help guide you and get you to the start line healthy and ready to have a successful race.

We have training schedules for a variety of goals and abilities. If you are unsure of what training plan is right for you, contact the Training Director on Slack for more information. Select the link below to find the training schedule for your race.

Since we are a large club of over 400 members we are organized into pace groups for logistics and additional communication. There are six pace group coordinators and yes, you can belong to more than one group and or switch between groups as it fits your schedule and training needs. All pace group coordinators will communicate their group’s run distances and meeting times on the club Slack workspace. You should receive an invite to join Slack when you sign up as a member. Once  you join Slack, you can join any pace group or special interest channels you like to stay up to date on the club’s activities. If you are a paid member and have not received an invitation to the club workspace in Slack, please reach out to the Training Director on Slack.

Build a group of running friends who are compatible with your pace. 

• Bobcats – Walkers
• Spartans – 12:00 min/mile or slower
• Mavericks – 11:00-12:00 min/mile
• Mustangs – 10:00-11:00 min/mile
• Tigers – 9:00-10:00 min/mile
• Cougars – 8:00-9:00 min/mile and Falcons – 8:00 min/mile or faster

For this year's training season, KARC is offering three plans for the full marathon and three plans for the half marathon.

The number 1 most important thing to make sure you have a successful race is:

DON’T GET INJURED

All of us are different. The great thing about running is it brings all of us together. However, that doesn’t mean that our bodies respond the same to training. Listen to your body. Don’t run through persistent pain, don’t push workouts when you know your body needs to heal, and don’t try to make up for lost mileage. It is far better to show up at the start line in January a little undertrained than injured. You should add stretching, core work, dynamic exercises, etc 2-3 times a week to suit your schedule.

The plans are designed to start slow and build slowly. We’re taking advantage of a 24-week build so that mileage doesn’t have to increase rapidly. The plans build in days when you should rest and recover.

Running comes with its own language. Here are some of the important terms to understand

Easy Runs

The bulk of our mileage. Conversational pace. Easy means easy. Don’t push it because you feel good – save it for the workouts and for race day!

Recovery Runs

Easier than easy. It is nearly impossible to run these too slow. You should be able to breathe in through your nose here! You should feel refreshed afterwards. Challenge yourself to see how low you can keep your heart rate. Many runners do a Recovery Run the first run after any Long Run.

Long Runs

Long runs can be done at your easy pace. The effort to hold this pace will likely increase over the length of your run, especially once they get over 2 hours. For these longer efforts, make sure you are practicing your race day nutrition and hydration. While the end of a 20 miler can feel hard, you shouldn’t be totally destroyed. Save that for race day!​

Marathon Pace (MP) Long Runs

These runs are really training your body to run the last miles of the marathon. Start with your normal easy pace, warm up well, and then run your pace for the marathon for the last part of the long run. Practice your race day nutrition and hydration; treat these as marathon simulation. These workouts are hard and combined with the cumulative mileage leading up to them will serve you well. They are physically and mentally taxing.​

Tempo Runs

Tempo runs should be done at the pace you can run for approximately 1 hour. For most of us, this will be somewhere between our 10k pace and our 10 mile pace. This is hard running, but it should be smooth and controlled. Many of the tempo workouts in this plan will say 4 x 1 mile. A workout like that may go as follows: - 2 mile warm up - Repeat 4 times: o Run 1 mile at tempo pace o Jog for 2 minutes - Cool down 1 mile or to desired mileage These workouts can be run as 4 straight miles of tempo, which will usually result in a slightly slower pace.
If you can’t sustain the pace for the whole workout, start slower next time.

Speed

Speed work trains our body to improve oxygen utilization. These repeats are done at our 5k race pace and should feel difficult by the end. Ensure you’re fully warmed up before starting them, and plan for recovery jogs of anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of the time it takes you to run the interval. For example, a 28:00 5k runner would go through 800m in about 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The recovery sections should be 2:15 to 4:00. Their workout could look like this: - 2 mile warmup - Repeat 5 times: o Run 800m at 5k pace (or run hard for 4:30) o Recover jog for 3:00 - Cool down 1 mile or to desired mileage For the early speed work in this plan, just follow a minute of hard running with a minute of easy running and repeat as indicated.

Hill Repeats

Hill Repeats in the KARC Marathon/Half Marathon plans are done on the Hill behind Cinco Ranch High School. "Hill 2x8 reps" means run comfortably hard up the hill and jog down 8 times, then do a recovery run around the hill on the flat ground twice, then repeat. Alternately, a parking garage may be used. Depending on the how steep and long the ramps are, adjust the number of repetitions per set. Similarly any inclined pedestrian surface may be used. (note: only use a parking garage during quiet traffic times)

Strides

Strides train our body to run with good form, improve our turnover, and allow us to run at a high speed without taxing our aerobic system. These should be done towards the end of an easy run and last no more than 20-30 seconds with full recovery after. A great way to run strides is on the track – run the straightaway hard but controlled, focusing on arm swing, knee lift, good turnover, etc. Afterwards, jog the rest of the track nice and easy.

Changing the plan to meet your schedule

We’ve tried to have this plan suit KARC’s schedule – track Tuesdays, tempo Thursdays and long run Saturdays. If this doesn’t work for you, move the runs around to suit. However, please ensure you watch out for too much training load over a number of days. The rest days here are interspersed to allow you to recover and avoid injury and burnout. Chaining 3 or 4 days of hard running together is counter productive.

Training races

The plan includes the following local races:

• Back 2 School 5k on Labor Day Monday in September – use this to dial in your training paces
• Houston Half in October 
• HMSA 25K in November
• Turkey Dash on Thanksgiving in November
• 30k in December

These races are a great chance to check in on your fitness, get some race prep practice, and have some fun. 

Some final thoughts

• Maybe you have a coach who says that running tempo intervals isn’t as effective as long tempos, or that you don’t need to run 20 milers to do well in the marathon. If you have a coach, listen to your coach! These plans are designed to give a path to marathon improvement and are good for most runners, most of the time.  If you have invested in personal coaching, stay the course. These plans are meant to serve as a resource for our club and may not be perfect for you.
• Read Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning. It’s a wealth of information and discussion from someone who not only won the Olympic Trials and represented the US twice, but also trained several athletes over the years. His notes on hydration, nutrition, injury prevention, and racing strategies are great material for anyone who wants to run the ultimate race distance.