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HEART + SOLE: HALF MARATHON, LEVEL 2

(6 customer reviews)

BEST FOR: Experienced half-marathoners looking to set a PR
PREREQS: Runs of 50–60 minutes 4–5 days a week for at least 8 weeks. Completion of a half marathon or marathon within the past six months. Injury-free. Recommended completion of a Heart + Sole: Level I program (10K, half-marathon, or marathon), but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule.
NUMBER OF WEEKS: 20

Heart + Sole: Half-Marathon, Level 2 is a 20-week program suitable for experienced runners ready for a challenging program and a strong race day.

You’ll continue to train by heart rate, using your individual zones, calculated by regular testing, to moderate your effort appropriately. You’ll spend plenty of time in the lower zones, continuing to build your endurance base; you’ll also spend some time climbing hills, finding different gears with pick-ups and intervals, challenging yourself with progression runs and speed workouts, and practicing your race pace so that you’re ready to thrive on race day.

$140.00

  • *Race Date

    Step One: Select your race date:

    If you don’t know your race date yet, please select a date that you estimate will be close to your race date. When you solidify it, let us know and we can change it.

     
    Training Date

    Step Two: Your training will begin on:

    Mark this date in your calendar as your official start date! (If your program has already started, no worries; email us and we’ll help you jump in.)

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The Details

Heart + Sole: Half-Marathon, Level 2 warms up with the first four weeks focused on learning to run by heart rate and getting you familiar with form + drill runs. (We also throw in a hill + progression run during those beginning weeks to fire things up.)

Weeks 1 through 11 in this program have five days of running; one cross-training session; two strength circuits; two foam rolling sessions; and one rest day.

In Week 12, the schedule rotates between running six days a week/running five days a week + one cross-training day. Every week has just one (very important) rest day.

BIGGEST WEEK OF TRAINING: 7 hours, 10 minutes (includes 6 runs + 2 strength circuits)

LONGEST LONG RUN DISTANCE: 2 hours, 20 minutes (you’ll hit this twice)

CROSS TRAINING + STRENGTH TRAINING INCLUDED? Yes. One weekly cross-training session is included in Weeks 1-11, and in weeks 12-20, you rotate between running six days a week and running five days a week/1 cross-training session. Each week has two strength circuits. Two of the strength routines include resistance bands.

WEEKLY OVERVIEW: Five or six runs; one cross-training session (weeks 1-11, then interspersed in weeks 12-20); two strength circuits; one rest day

FIRST AND PEAK WEEKS: (workouts are explained fully in the program)

All your workouts are accessible via a Training Peaks Account. This free training tool will help you chart the nearly daily growth of your endurance base. It also sends you a daily email with your workouts for today and tomorrow so you can plan accordingly.

Coaches Jen and Liz are there to help you over speed bumps and answer your questions—and we promise, they’ll never throw a clipboard or blow a whistle in your face. Not only have the dynamic duo designed every facet of your program from your first step through your finish line, they’ve also written a weekly newsletter filled with advice and tips that corresponds to your training program.

What’s more, there are three ways you can connect with them:
—Ask the Coach column on Facebook: Coach Jen or Liz posts a weekly Ask the Coach column, where you can comment with anything that’s on your mind. (If you’re not a Facebooker, you can email us with your question.)

—Exclusive Podcasts: Coaches Jen + Liz talk through pacing, injuries, and plenty of other helpful + entertaining topics.

—Office Hours: If you’d like individual guidance, Coaches Jen + Liz have regular office hours so you can chat over your situation.

In addition to Train Like a Mother Club, you’ll be invited to join a private Heart + Sole Club on Strava, where you can track your miles, and a private Heart + Sole Facebook page, where you’ll quickly find an army of (funny, empathetic, inspiring) #motherrunner teammates.* You’ll share training tips, stories of good runs and bad, cheer each other on, and push each other out the door. Momentum comes from teamwork, and these programs roll on some serious #motherrunner momentum.

*Please note that your membership in both our Strava and Facebook groups and access to the training program coaches are limited to the duration of your training plan, plus a few weeks for you to bask in the glow of your race and work with the coaches to help plan your next athletic goal and corresponding training plan. Your access to the Facebook group begins when your training plan does. You are welcome to request entry up to one month before your starting date.

Upon registration, you will receive a package stocked with training essentials, including GU Roctane Drink Mix, two GU Energy items (an Energy Gel and GU Chews); a pair of blister-banishing Wrightsock running socks; a 2-oz. bottle of Sweat X Odor Eliminator spray; and an AMR sticker for your water bottle or laptop. Over $25 worth of swag!

(Domestic shipping is FREE for all merchandise and training swag packages. International shipping is not currently available but we invite you to participate in any of our online programs! Just email us at tlamclub@anothermotherrunner.com and we will help you bypass the shipping at checkout.)

QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

This 20-week program starts based on your race date. On the front page, put in your expected race date, and it will give your the date to start training, 20 weeks prior. You can sign up for a race anytime, but the newsletters and program won’t start until your start date.

Building running-specific fitness is like building a pyramid. You have to start with a wide, solid base that can support the demands of the structure as it grows higher and higher. The stronger and wider the foundation, the better your performances will be at the peak. Without a stable base? The pyramid is going to collapse into the sand—or in your case, result in injury, burn out, sickness, or a performance plateau. Thanks, but no. The most efficient way to build your own, never-gonna-break-down pyramid is to train in your own heart rate zones.

The majority of the runs in this program are in Zones 1-2, which helps you build a solid foundation of cardiovascular endurance and keep your risk of injury low. Running by heart rate requires patience and persistence. You will likely run slower than you have in years, and your post-run, “I’m-a-b*d*ss” glow may not feel as intense as it usually does. (But make no mistake, you are STILL a b*d*ss!)

The thing to keep in mind is that that post-run, b*d*ss glow is likely from a Zone 3 effort, which leaves you prone to injury + stagnation. What’s more, that glow is temporary, and fleeting euphoric feelings are typically not worth the long-term drawbacks.

Often athletes abandon training in lower heart rate zones out of frustration or boredom—or because they just can’t bear one.more.slow.run—and move on to the higher zones for one of two reasons:
A) They get to maintain a nice clip and satisfy their inner competitive beast
OR
B) They believe that training harder will yield faster and stronger results.

A is true—it does feel good to run fast, but it doesn’t do anything for building endurance or warding off injury. And B? Simply not true. We—Coaches Jen + Liz— have trained athletes by heart rate for over twenty years, and have seen huge gains when they lean in, slow down, and trust the process.

Because using your heart rate—not your GPS or best friend—as your pace guide allows you to zero in on Zone 2. This Zone, which encourages, slower, easy running, improve endurance and aerobic capacity while allowing all of your body, from your strong, powerful glutes to the tiny tendons in your feet, to adjust to the high-impact demands of running. When you exercise in Zone 2, you improve your heart’s ability to pump blood and your muscles’ ability to utilize oxygen—two of the foundational bricks of your #BAMR pyramid.

Training in Zone 2, a physiological sweet spot, teaches the body to become more efficient at fueling muscles and metabolizing fat as a primary source of fuel. Slow twitch muscle fibers become stronger and better at using oxygen to produce energy.

It’s not only about oxygen transport though. Your ligaments, tendons and other connective tissue adapt more slowly to the high impact demands than your muscles do. Hanging in Zone 2 gives them time and distance to adjust and prepares them for the higher intensities of the upper zones.

If you’ve been running for 50–60 minutes 4–5 days of the week for at least 8 weeks and have completed a half-marathon or marathon within the past six months, you can give this program a go. Plus, of course, we need to be injury-free.

We recommend having completed a Heart + Sole: Level I program (10K, half-marathon, or marathon), but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule.

It depends on your budget, your preference for features, and your feelings towards tech. (One great place to do a deep dive into heart rate monitors is D.C. Rainmaker.) The most basic or sophisticated model will be suitable for this program; we recommend using a device from either Garmin or Polar.

As you look through the options, know you need a monitor that, at a minimum, displays elapsed time and heart rate. Features like cadence, pace, vertical oscillation, and stride length are interesting to observe and track but are definitely not necessary.

Wrist-based monitoring, including Apple watches, has definitely improved over the years, but it’s still not as accurate as a chest strap, so go for the latter if you want the most consistent data.

Two of the strength routines include resistance bands, so if you’d like to purchase those, that would be a good investment. (Hello, hip stability!)

No. The fee is for the comprehensive training plan, unlimited support, miles of resources, exclusive podcasts, and swag package, which will help you nail your half-marathon, both physically and mentally.

Yep—and we’ve heard again and again it’s worth it. Staying committed and motivated during the days, weeks, and, yes, months of training can be ridiculously hard. If you can do that—and these programs are all about accountability and inspiration—race day becomes a celebratory victory lap, not a slog full of self-doubt.

Within a few weeks of registration, every participant in a Train Like a Mother program receives a stocked swag package with some of our favorite training essentials. Domestic shipping is now FREE for all merchandise and training swag packages.

We are no longer able to ship internationally, including to Canada. That said, we invite all international runners to participate in any of our online programs! Just email us at tlamclub@anothermotherrunner.com and we will help you bypass the shipping at checkout.

We definitely want this to work into your life and your running lifestyle. You can email us within 2 weeks of starting the program and we will set you up with another plan or a partial credit for an upcoming challenge. We will not be able to issue a straight-up refund.

With a smart training plan, doable strength training, and advice on foam rolling and other self-care, we’re going to do our best to keep you injury-free. That said, if you have an injury or illness that totally slays your training, let us know within two weeks. We’ll work with you to get you a partial credit for an upcoming program.

THE REVIEWS

Reviews (6)

6 reviews for HEART + SOLE: HALF MARATHON, LEVEL 2

  1. Christine (verified owner) –

    I really enjoyed the personalized zones and heart rate caps in this approach to heart rate training. In the Heart + Soul level 2 half plan, I found the variety of weekly runs to be both challenging and engaging. The strength circuits got a little boring but they did the job and had me ready come race day. The coaches were extremely knowledgable, supportive and encouraging. I ran a very strong trail 20k and had a blast doing it! A complete success.

  2. Cynthia (verified owner) –

    Caution: may cause massive PR! After following the level 1 plan and missing my rave due to illness I chose to capitalize on my fitness gains and jump to level 2. I PR’ed by 13 minutes!! Coaches Liz and Jen will fill your days with quality workouts and soul with words of wisdom. They are incredibly knowledgeable about many areas of fitness and how it all works together. I highly recommended not only the Heart and Sole programs but the coaches as well.

  3. Amy (verified owner) –

    I had been heart rate training for about 3 years before starting this plan, and I was in a rut. I wasn’t getting any faster in zone 2, and my race pace wasn’t getting any faster either. About 6-8 weeks into this plan, my zone 2 pace increase by almost a full minute! It was like something just clicked. My increased strength has made me feel like a completely different runner. Thank you Liz and Jen!!!

  4. Marianne (verified owner) –

    Such a great program! I was able to learn a lot about running by feel including for pace and heart rate work. I had a super strong race. The coaches are so helpful with questions in both office hours and on the Facebook page. On this plan I had my highest mileage running month ever, which was a fun accomplishment.

  5. Lori (verified owner) –

    I LOVED at his plan! Once I got over my initial fear of running 6 days a week, I started seeing great improvements. This was my 4th or 5th training cycle with coaches Jen and Liz, and I appreciate their no-nonsense, real world approach. I felt great on race day and felt strong while running my goal pace for a new PR. I was not beaten up after the race and think I could have pushed it harder. I cannot recommend it enough!

  6. Deanna (verified owner) –

    This is a challenging plan that incorporates a lot of speed work. However, heart rate training allows me to not feel too worn out after a long run! This plan set me up to run my best race by having me test out my “goal pace” on a few runs. My only problem is myself – I have a tendency to start too fast. So I will use this plan again for this half marathon training cycle, but I will try to take it easy at the start of the race!

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

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