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T-Minus About 100 Days to a National Record - Part 2 of Hitomi Niiya's Training for a Half Marathon NR



This weekend coach Masato Yokota is publishing half marathon national record holder Hitomi Niiya's complete training diary for the 3 months+ leading up to this past January's Aramco Houston Half Marathon where Niiya ran 1:06:38, at that point the fastest time ever by a woman born outside of Kenya or Ethiopia, for the win. This is part two, covering November, 2019. Read part one, October, here.

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So how did you like the first month of training? I was really happy to see that so many more people than I expected enjoyed reading about it. I read every question that people left in the replies. At some point I'll answer them all, so if you have questions please feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Today is the second of three installments of Niiya's training from after the World Championships, covering Oct. 1, 2019 to setting the Japanese national record at the Houston Half on Jan. 19. This covers November's training. Compared to October it gets more and more brutal. Just remembering it makes me tired.

Please do not reproduce this info without permission. You're more than welcome to give these workouts a go (although I can't guarantee you'll survive - this is way tougher than October).

Notes in advance
・Runs were twice a day except on Friday and Sunday, which were once.
・Strength training every day except Sunday.
・Daily mileage totaled about 30 km. Fridays were 15 km, Sundays 20 km.
・r = recovery. Where the time was written, it was stationary recovery (not jogging to the next one, although there were times when she did jog)

November

 Nov. 1 (Fri.): jog

Nov. 2 (Sat.): 1600x6, r90"
4:59.4 - 4:56.3 - 5:00.7 - 4:56.3 - 4:59.7 - 4:54.3

Nov. 3 (Sun.): jog

Nov. 4 (Mon.): 12000 m pace run
3:52.2 - 3:42.3 - 3:38.1 - 3:38.6 - 3:37.1 - 3:37.9
3:37.6 - 3:36.9 - 3:37.2 - 3:37.2 - 3:36.8 - 3:36.0

Nov. 5 (Tues.): 400x10 to x12, r30" (first 5), r45" (second 5)
73.38 - 70.36 - 73.01 - 70.77 - 70.55
70.76 - 71.36 - 70.33 - 70.97 - 68.75

Nov. 6 (Wed.): jog

Nov. 7 (Thurs.): 1000x1
3:00.0

Nov.8 (Fri.): jog

Nov. 9 (Sat.): jog

Nov. 10 (Sun.): East Japan Women's Ekiden
10 km 30:52 course record

"Playing Tag With Hitomi Niiya" by journalist Akemi Masuda



Nov. 11 (Mon.): jog

Nov. 12 (Tues.): 12000 m pace run
3:44.5 - 3:41.9 - 3:42.6 - 3:41.2 - 3:40.4 - 3:37.5
3:36.7 - 3:38.7 - 3:38.1 - 3:38.2 - 3:38.0 - 3:35.0

Nov. 13 (Wed.): jog

Nov. 14 (Thurs.): 1000 m uphill x7, r1000 m jog (back down)
3:30.7 / 4:00
3:26.9 / 3:51
3:24.8 / 3:54
3:26.5 / 3:53
3:25.3 / 3:54
3:23.2 / 3:51
3:22.3


Nov. 15 (Fri.): jog

Nov. 16 (Sat.): 22 km XC
3:52.0 - 3:55.4 - 3:46.7 - 3:42.0 - 3:40.0 - 3:40.4
3:37.8 - 3:35.8 - 3:36.7 - 3:35.4 - 3:33.3 - 3:32.7
3:34.4 - 3:35.1 - 3:33.5 - 3:35.1 - 3:32.1 - 3:37.0
3:29.3 - 3:33.7 - 3:33.2 - 3:35.2

Nov.17 (Sun.): jog

Nov. 18 (Mon.): 400x16, r30"
74.49 - 74.79 - 73.50 - 74.15 - 73.41 - 72.97
73.39 - 73.03 - 71.87 - 72.92 - 73.39 - 72.08
71.03 - 70.64 - 70.20 - 68.83

Nov. 19 (Tues.): 12000 m pace run
3:46.5 - 3:42.6 - 3:41.5 - 3:37.6 - 3:39.7 - 3:40.7
3:37.1 - 3:40.2 - 3:39.8 - 3:38.8 - 3:37.1 - 3:38.5

Nov. 20 (Wed.): jog

Nov. 21 (Thurs.): 2000 m x5, alternating 6:20/6:10 pace, r2'
3:11.5 - 3:14.3 (6:25.8)
3:11.3 - 3:11.2 (6:22.5)
3:10.1 - 3:10.5 (6:20.5)
3:10.3 - 3:10.4 (6:20.6)
3:09.9 - 3:08.7 (6:18.7)

Nov. 22 (Fri.): jog

Nov. 23 (Sat.): 24 km XC
4:04.2 - 3:44.3 - 3:55.8 - 3:50.4 - 3:48.0 - 3:50.6
3:45.8 - 3:43.7 - 3:48.8 - 3:43.3 - 3:47.5 - 3:46.9
3:41.3 - 3:43.3 - 3:41.5 - 3:42.1 - 3:39.4 - 3:45.0
3:40.6 - 3:44.4 - 3:35.9 - 3:38.9 - 3:39.0 - 3:35.2

Nov. 24 (Sun.): jog

Nov. 25 (Mon.): 400x20, r30"
73.15 - 73.83 - 73.35 - 73.73 - 73.27 - 73.28 - 73.30
73.21 - 72.96 - 73.50 - 73.14 - 73.48 - 73.89 - 73.30
73.66 - 73.47 - 72.85 - 73.49 - 72.94 - 72.19

Nov. 26 (Tues.): 12000 m pace run, meeting with Houston Half pacer
3:42.1 - 3:39.5 - 3:37.5 - 3:37.6 - 3:35.0 - 3:37.0
3:34.0 - 3:34.4 - 3:33.7 - 3:34.3 - 3:31.7 - 3:32.7


Nov. 27 (Wed.): jog

Nov. 28 (Thurs.): 1000 m uphill x8, r1000 m jog (back down)
3:24.3 / 3:58
3:19.3 / 3:57
3:17.6 / 3:57
3:16.2 / 3:58
3:17.3 / 3:58
3:16.5 / 4:02
3:16.6 / 4:00
3:14.1

Nov. 29 (Fri.): jog

Nov. 30 (Sat.): 24 km XC
4:11.3 - 3:56.8 - 3:55.0 - 3:53.8 - 3:46.9 - 3:47.1
3:43.9 - 3:41.5 - 3:37.1 - 3:41.0 - 3:39.8 - 3:42.7
3:38.0 - 3:41.9 - 3:38.3 - 3:36.3 - 3:40.5 - 3:40.2
3:37.4 - 3:39.0 - 3:36.1 - 3:37.7 - 3:37.9 - 3:37.6

Read part three, covering December and January, here.

source article:
https://note.com/twolaps/n/ncdf1a14796a5
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Fascinating training schedule. I love the wide variety of workouts.
Two questions:
How long are the jogs?
Why so many 400m repeats? (I think most runners don't think of 400s as being a necessary part of half marathon training.)
Thank you.
April 5, 2020 at 12:18 PM
Brett Larner said…
Yokota replies:

Jog
She ran 30km a day. Friday 15km , Sunday 20km.
Basically, average millages of her jog was 12km to 15km. Pace was depends on how she felt.

400m
Before I made training menu for her half marathon, she made it by herself for 10k. She insisted on 400m repeats for 10k. I didn't want to make big change from what she did for 10k. Second reason I believe it is important to optimize running mechanics of race pace and a bit faster than race pace. 400s is the best way to repeat the mechanics.
April 5, 2020 at 5:07 PM
Anonymous said…
Really interesting...thx for posting...A couple of questions:

- for the 1k hill repeats, what was the gradient? (Where did she run this?)
- what was her strength training programme?
April 6, 2020 at 7:11 AM
Unknown said…
What was her weekly volume?
Also on session days what were the distance of her other runs?
Before sessions how long was her warm up and cool down post session?
Thanks
Jamie Langley⁸
April 7, 2020 at 4:47 PM
Brett Larner said…
Anonymous-

Yokota says:

Gradient: The hill climbs 70 m in 2 km. (location undisclosed)
Strength Training program:
・every day core training
・plyometrics once or twice a week
・hurdle drills
April 9, 2020 at 3:47 PM
Andrew Armiger said…
Thank you for this! Was there any general range of pace for jogs or was it simply not recorded? Not to use as a guide but as a contextual data reference for what allowed Niiya recovery.

Also, did she tend to train on a 1 km loop?
April 12, 2020 at 3:24 AM
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