Supplements Two Oceans Marathon Training Guide 2018 | Page 27

TRAINING
RECOVERY WEEKS
You will see that rest weeks are included approximately every four weeks throughout the programmes, to allow your
body to adapt to the previous weeks of training. Some athletes are tempted to train more in recovery weeks, but
resist the temptation! Rest and rejuvenation are key to seeing improvements in training and performance.
Also look out for the following signs that you may need a rest day:
• Impaired performance that does not improve with 2 to 3 days of rest
• A feeling of heavy, slow, tired legs or arms that does not improve with 2 to 3 days of rest
• Trouble sleeping
• Sudden loss of appetite
• Cranky mood
• Flu-like symptoms
TRAINING WITH RATE OF PERCEVIED EXERTION (RPE)
Also note that these plans use a RPE scale of 1-10, as per the Borg Scale below. You can guide your training using
RPE, regardless of the equipment you may have (HR monitor, GPS device). Depending on the coach, training plan,
or equipment you may use, training zones will differ. This plan uses RPE as a guide to intensity. If you do choose to
train with zones, the following table which we have formulated gives you some basic guidance on which RPE level
corresponds with specific zones.
Borg RPE Scale
1 Really easy Zone 1
2 Easy Zone 1
3 Moderate Zone 2
4 Sort of hard Zone 2
5 Hard Zone 3
6 Hard Zone 3
7 Really hard Zone 4
8 Really hard Zone 4
9 Really, really hard Zone 5
10 Maximal, like hardest race Zone 5
KEY TERMS & DEFINITIONS
• WU: Warm Up Take the first 10 to 15 minutes (2 to 3km) of each workout to warm the muscles up. Start slow
and assess how your body feels. Sometimes there may be a hard run on the schedule, but even by the end of
the WU you may still be feeling tired, sluggish and heavy-legged. In this case it will be better to NOT do the
planned hard workout. (RPE 1)
• E: Easy This means exactly that. An easy pace run is one done at a speed where it takes no effort at all, you can
look around, and you can chat if you are running with someone. (RPE 2)
• M: Moderate This running speed is just a bit faster than easy. It requires a little input of effort, you won’t want to
talk quite so much, and you’ll have to concentrate a bit on the running pace. (RPE 3)
• HD: Hard This requires a big input of effort, relative to the distance (for example, hard for 5km is a bigger effort
input than hard for 10km). Lots of concentration is required, breathing will be very hard, you certainly won’t want
to talk, and you’ll be looking forward to when you can slow down. (RPE 6-7)
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