Does FIRST have a half-marathon training schedule?
A. Yes. It is posted on the FIRST website at http://www.furman.edu/first/greenvillehalfmarathon2005.pdf. Q. I am very intrigued by the FIRST training program and noticed differences in the schedules posted on your web page vs. the schedule debuted in the August 2005 issue of Runner’s World. I am wondering if the 16 weeks is enough? It seems the website schedules are a bit more intense, i.e. more 20 mile runs, more reps during speed work, etc?. A. Your observation is correct. The RW schedule for interval workouts was simplified by Amby Burfoot to make it easily understood by the typical reader. The long runs were accurately reported. The reason that the website includes longer runs is that on our website there are two programs (FIRST to the Finish for those who have run a marathon and are training to run faster and Finish with the FIRST for novice runners). In our 2004 marathon training study cited in RW, we had novice runners as well as marathoners who weren’t doing runs longer than 6
