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Garmin Coach training plan for Half Marathon has training sessions of more than 30 km - is this a bug?!??

I activated the Garmin Coach "Jeff Galloway" for Half Marathon Training in Garmin Connect for my Forerunner watch (945 LTE to be precise, but that is not important here I suppose since the Coach is the same for all watches I suppose, hence I am posting this in the "Garmin Connect" section of this forum).

I know from various books as well as from experienced "real life" running mates that when preparing for a FULL Marathon, you should do some "long runs" around 28, 30 and up to ca. 32 km in the weeks before the Marathon event. However, for a HALF Marathon such long runs are usually not foreseen during the training/preparation phase - you typically do not run (much) longer distances than the half marathon distance during training.

So I was surprised that the long runs that my Garmin Coach recommended to me (and that I actually carried out as suggested) were in the range how you would expect it for preparation of a FULL Marathon. Here's a record of my Garmin Coach "Long Easy Run" training sessions:

- 20 Mar.: 13.3 km (11.3 km + warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 1:25 h

- 19 Apr.: 19.2 km (17.7 km + warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 2:12 h

- 12 May: 22.3 km (20.9 km + warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 2:16 h

- 28 May: 25.4 km (24.1 km + warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 2:51 h

- 12 June: 28.5 km (incl. warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 3:39 h

- 3 July: 31.6 km (30.6 km + warm-up/cool-down) - Duration = 3:38 h

- 15 July: Finally: The Half Marathon Competition - Duration = 1:57 h

I told my running mates about this and they were sure that this must be a bug in Garmin's Coaching program. They said such long runs are typical in preparation for a Marathon, but absolutely not for a Half Marathon. Exactly what I thought.

What do you think? Is this a bug, or am I missing anything? Thanks!

  • It's true. I have just carried out the 24,1 km section for the half marathon coaching program. I guess I have to prepare for the 30 km plus section in 4 weeks then. If it helps me getting stronger, I don't mind

  • I also think the distances are nuts. I'm on week 9/21 week for half mara and it wants me to do 21k!

  • Just follow the plan. Jeff Galloway advice is run/walk, so if you find it to hard, walk a bit then run (not to fast)

  • Just seems an awful long distance for so early on in the training plan. And the run walk means it takes even longer ! I'm just doing less distance typically for every LSD and hope it works out 

  • I’m doing the Jeff HM runningplan too. Currently in week 11. My long run distance is 27,35km. Thought it was for building endurance. Anyway I keep setting new PR’s for longest distanceTrophy

  • I think, it's a bug in the Galloway training plan.

    I'm on week 15/17 for a 10k and have a 20.92k long run to do now. Sweat smile

    I used to train for half marathons earlier with similar kilometers. Well, I'm following this plan anyway, so I will be ready to run a half marathon later in the autumn. Slight smile