Article

Amman run

Your winning formula for winning the Amman’s marathon. Or, training to finish the 10k run without fainting. You choose
Issue: Sep, 2009
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 On its 100th anniversary the city of Amman is going all out: year-round concerts, exhibitions, conferences and even a float parade – and Amman will also be joining cities like Boston and London by having it own international marathon. And not only will NOX be sponsoring the event, we will be running it too. Of course, moving from the 12-hour-a-day on a computer plus six more in front of a TV lifestyle to a 42km run could be a life-threatening adventure. So we decided to wimp out and settle for the 10k fun run this year, and maybe wait till next year before we challenge Haile Gebreselassie. 

But running for 60-90 minutes straight requires its own preparation. Mohammad Marie, a former collegiate track star and a personal trainer at Fitness First Platinum, was kind of enough to assess our deputy editor’s (and runner of choice) fitness level and put him on an intense six-week training programme. “Amman mayor Omar Maani is going to run in the event and I am going to be his fitness trainer for the event,” said Mohammad, adding a dash of confidence to his programme. 
 
 
Weeks 1-4: Build-up stage 
Monday: 30 minutes running/jogging with one minute walking breaks every six minutes. 
Tuesday: 20 minutes running/jogging with 30 second walking breaks every 10 minutes. 
Wednesday: Rest. 
Thursday: Tempo-run: five minute warm-up jog, hard for six minutes, then jog for four minutes Cool down run for five minutes.  Repeat again.  
Friday: 25 minutes running/jogging with at least 15-20 minutes of hill running. 
Saturday: The "long run"  45 minutes (for weeks 3 and 4 increase run to 50 min. and 55 min. 
Sunday: Rest. 
 
Weeks 5-6: Focus on endurance and overall stamina
Monday: 30-45 minutes run 
Tuesday: Four repeat of 1km speed runs with four-minute rest between intervals. Increase repeats by one repeat every other week. 
Wednesday: Hill repeats: 6-8 repeats if time to climb hill is about 40 seconds to 50 seconds at hard pace.
Thursday: Tempo run 45 min: 10 minutes hard, then 5 minutes jog at moderate pace.  
Friday: Speedwork. Best run on a track, but a flat grassy area would suffice. 4x800m at hard pace. 
Saturday: Long run. 60 minutes at least. 
Sunday: Rest.