Keith And Kevin Hanson - Hansons Half-Marathon Method: Run Your Best Half-Marathon the Hansons Way

Copyright 2014 by Luke Humphrey

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by VeloPress, a division of Competitor Group, Inc.

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Distributed in the United States and Canada by Ingram Publisher Services

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Humphrey, Luke, 1981

Hansons half-marathon method : run your best half-marathon the Hansons way / Luke Humphrey, with Keith and Kevin Hanson.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-937715-19-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-937716-53-0 (e-book)

1. Long-distance runningTraining. I. Hanson, Keith. II. Hanson, Kevin. III. Title.

GV1065.H77 2014

796.42'5dc23

2013050470

For information on purchasing VeloPress books, please call (800) 811-4210, ext. 2138, or visit www.velopress.com.

Cover design by Ozzie Thoreson

Interior design by Vicki Hopewell

Composition by Jessica Xavier

Illustrations by Visual Health Information and Nicole Kaufman

adapted with permission from Monique Ryan, Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, 3rd ed. (Boulder, CO: VeloPress, 2012).

Version 3.1

Congratulations! In your hands you have the ultimate guide to adventure. Sure, its also a guide to your best half-marathon yet, and the following pages will give you the training plans, graphs, numbers, and science you need to get to your goals. But it is so much more than that. While I cant be sure that youll run your fastestthat part is up to youI can tell you that your adventure begins as soon as you lace up your running shoes. In this book you are the captain of your own adventure; you decide where, when, and how far you wish to go.

In your hands you also have the ultimate self-help book. Thumb through the pages and you may not see exercises on self-esteem building or the keys to happiness. But I dare you to head out the door, log some miles, and not feel like you made you a better you. Just try and go for a run and not let your mind wander to those places that havent gotten the proper attention. Youll likely find that every mile and every workout is a perfect opportunity to spend some time on yourself, and I suspect you will learn a lot about you in the process.

Ive been fortunate enough to get to run all over the United States, as well as in Japan, Europe, and the Middle East; its been an amazing adventure. But the truth is that some of the best runs I have taken involved getting lost just a few miles from home and stumbling upon that hidden coffee shopthe one Id never see from the main roador getting lost in a conversation during a run and forgetting its 34 degrees and raining. Ive run races that people said awed them, and yet Ive discovered the most gratifying running moments when nobody was watching. Yes, Id be the first to admit that theres something incredibly painful about heading out for a 5:00 a.m. run, but when you crest that final hill and see an amazing sunrise, it is all worthwhile. You earned a sunrise that the sleepy world is missing out on. And there is something therapeutic about losing track of your pace while sorting through a days problems. Or, better yet, forgetting your problems by getting caught up in your pace.

So, yes, congratulations! Youve stumbled upon the ultimate adventure and maybe the key to happiness; all it requires is for you to get out the front door and make it happen. I wish you the best of luck meeting all of your running goals and running your fastest half-marathon ever. I cant promise you will hit every goal, but I can promise you this: the journey along the way will be worth it.

So as you chase your goals, remember to enjoy the journey because the process of becoming a faster you is often far more satisfying than just being a faster you.

DESIREE LINDEN
2012 U.S. Olympic marathoner

I owe the world to Kevin and Keith Hanson for giving me the reins on this project and letting me make it my own. I have learned much of what I know from their talent, dedication, and coaching. To talk with them not only about the what and how of their programs but also the why is like being able to open an encyclopedia and find the answer to almost any training question imaginable.

I must also thank Casey Blaine at VeloPress for her passion for this projectand for never getting too mad at me for missing a deadline. She enthusiastically tweaked the manuscript into a comprehensible form, making sure that the idea I was trying to convey was never lost.

Since the release of our first book, Hansons Marathon Method, my coaching business has expanded beyond my wildest dreams. In fact, it grew so quickly, I was blindsided a bit and we had to scramble to ensure our quality wasnt lost in the growth. For that, I thank Corey Kubatzky, my director of operations, who ended up doing a lot of small, thankless projects so I could continue to coach, write, and keep my sanity.

Last but not least, I am so grateful to my wife for supporting me through this task of writing a book. There were lots of late nights reading and writing material for this book. My daughter, Josephine, also deserves some credit for helping daddy type, because, well, she likes technology. Big thanks to my girls.

In 1999, brothers Kevin and Keith Hanson were successful coaches and running-store owners in the Detroit metropolitan area. But they had a visionto change the course of American distance runningand with the help of Brooks Sports started the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, an Olympic training program for postcollegiate athletes. Fifteen years later, the program has a voice and presence at the most elite level of the sport, producing Olympians and World Championship qualifiers at the half- and full marathon distances.

Over the years, the brothers showed that they can train world-class runners, but around Michigan, they have always been best known for helping everyday runners to achieve their best performances. Thats where I (Luke) fit in. In 2004, I joined the program as a fairly decent young runner but have since matured into a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier and sub-1:04:00 half-marathoner with Kevin and Keith as my mentors. Aside from being able to run pretty far at a solid pace, I also have a masters degree in exercise science and began teaching the Hansons Method to our running groups in 2006. As the elite program gained success, this renegade training approach began attracting more and more attention. People started asking questions, wanting to know more, and magazine articles, although they were terrific for exposure, couldnt provide the full picture. In 2012, we were given an avenue to provide the world with the comprehensive knowledge of the Hansons Method for the marathon.

When our first book, Hansons Marathon Method, was released, the response was wonderful; almost immediately, however, people were asking, How do I adapt this for a half-marathon? This perhaps is not a surprising question if you look at the numbers. According to Running USA, each year, the half-marathon has hundreds of thousands more participants than the marathon. In 2012, the number of half-marathon finishers totaled about 1.85 million, compared with about 487,000 in the marathon. And that number is only growing.