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First 2 weeks of Garmin Coach 1h32min Half Marathon plan are just Easy Runs, is it normal?

Pedro
over 4 years ago

I started a 12 week Half Marathon 1h32min Garmin Coach plan with Coach Greg, I did the benchmark run (5min @3'45") and I've already done 2 easy runs of 40 and 30 min. Now I have 3 more 30 min easy runs and a 80 minute easy run in the following week. Is it normal? I was expecting more variety, support videos, reads and technique exercises, but maybe it's just like this the first weeks of base training. Has anyone gone further in a similar plan?

Thank you!!

Note: I accidentally pressed the lap button in the last easy run so that I skipped the second 10 min and cool down rounds, does this affect the adaptive plan if I finish the workout as planned? 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to rosec2

    Thank you—this is helpful.  Both my husband and I signed up for Coach Greg 10k plans with different time goals (44m and 60m).  We’re 3.5 weeks in and my plan has been fun and varied from the start and his has easy runs of varying lengths...he’s bored.  I’ll tell him to stick it out...the fun is coming.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to LHill73

    Yeah, the first couple weeks were boring, but then it started throwing in some speed intervals and faster runs. I’m liking it a lot. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to fivecents87

    YES! I did this as well, I thought I was supposed to hit the lap button after every segment, it just made me skip the warm-up. I was actually just searching for "when to use the lap button" I still don't know. For example" tomorrow I have [Repeat 3 times]
    Cadence
    Run (30 sec)  150-200 spm
    Recover (30 sec)
    --> Do I hit the lap button after I'm done one round? Or wait for the watch to repeat three times on its own? Online, there aren't any "watch" demo's, only information on how to use the program. But, I don't actually know what to do on my watch, I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Last week I didn't hit the lap button and while I was on "Other - Lap Button Press" round the time just kept counting, I ran an extra km before I realised the watch hadn't moved to the next segment. And after I had also cut the warm up short the previous run, I was feeling a bit like a luddite... 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 7285705

    It’s not very clear with the lap button indeed. Basically you don’t need to press lap button at all unless it tells you to do so. And that’s very rare (although don’t understand the logic there).

    I signed up for HM at 1:36, benchmark 5km at 3:49. First 5 weeks were nice and easy sometimes long runs. Did them all longer and faster. Now I get more speed repeats and I start struggling. I’m in week 7 now and the 8x(800m at 4 min, 400 easy) almost killed me. However coach Greg is still confident I can make it (purple confidence level). If it’s going to get any harder I will struggle.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Doing half marathon with Coach Amy and it’s the same. I’ve already done 2 HMs but with bad training so I want to build up better and get a sub-2h. I normally run 10k runs at 5:30 or faster pace (recorded with this watch) but now it’s got me running 4k and 3k runs at 6:30 - 6:50 pace. I understand doing one recovery per week, but I’m getting two or three of these!

    I’m basically just running them a tad faster and adding some intervals if I feel like it. But doesn’t seem to be picking up on that and updating the plan at all.

    Not quite what I expected. 

    The buttons act funny if you’re doing a coach workout! I tried to press “down” because HR is on the second screen on my watch, but instead of going to that screen it jumped to the next part of the workout! Then I tried to hit “back” but it interpreted it as “lap”. In the end it somehow stopped the workout and then I hit “Resume” and just ran the rest of the run as I normally would. 
    Quite confusing!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 2226333

    Hi!

    I have the same problem as you. My whole life I have been training running at tempo, without watch nor training plan. I started one of these Garmin Coach plan to see what it is to train for real and specifically. I choose Amy and I set up a goal of 2h12 for a semi-marathon. I have never run more than 12km and I think that this 2h12 i a good goal for me. I am finishing week 3, the confidence of the coach is all the way at the end of the green, almost purple, and every week is the same: easy runs. 3.22km, 4.82km, 3.23km o 4,03km, 8,03km easy runs. I can see that week 4 will be the same. I don't that I can improve doing this. It is already what I was doing before without coach. I am really desappointed Disappointed

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    A few years ago I did a HR assessment in a lab, and received real life coaching based on the data.  I couldn't believe how slow he wanted me to run. "I'm going to have to walk on hills to keep my HR that low!" I said. 

    "Then walk," he said. And after a while my body adjusted so I could run faster with the same amount of work. Which is clearly what those people winning long races on TV are doing.

    For some reason the way it works is that instead of running fast and hoping your cardiovascular system catches up, is that you run below the limits and slowly push it up. For some reason you can only PUSH your aerobic threshold from below, whereas you PULL your lactate threshold from above. Therefore that middle zone where we think is a nice comfortable pace, better than that pokey one the coach wants, is not all that useful for improvement.

    My RL coach did assign me one run a week at the pace that I felt was the max I could sustain for 30 minutes.  If I made it for the full 30 minutes I'd try for faster the next week, and if I couldn't maintain it for the full 30 minutes I cooled down and went home. I like running, and I like going fast, so it was the right incentive for me to go just fast enough.

    I'm not a coach or a biologist. Just offering a data point to show that the stupidly slow runs might not be wrong.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Aviatrix

    agree, most everyone runs harder than they need to most of the time.  

    9859... most all training plans will start with a period of frequent easy runs to establish consistency, ease into the stress on ligaments/muscles, work on your aerobic base fitness before continuing onto more stressful work (longer runs, faster runs).   Slowly it will increase the duration of the easy runs and a long run. 

      
    It could be that with your goal of 2:12, it was a bit conservative with your training plan.  Can always add a little length to the easy runs after a couple times a week to increase your aerobic fitness.  But , really with any training plan you need to assess where you are at in your current fitness.... and look at the first few weeks.  If it isn't building at all and you have been training for more than 6-9mo at a consistent level.... then better to skip the first few weeks and build the training plan from there, personally I have never followed much of a off the shelf plan, always built my own on a spreadsheet to make it fit my schedule and fitness/goals.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Hi Pedro

    Did this change? I'm on Week 5 and still have only done Easy Runs...

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to rosec2

    When did you start to get variety? I'm on Week 5 and have still only done Easy Runs... all at the same pace....