Syracuse Half Marathon Training Program

We want you to join our Syracuse Half Marathon Program! Whether you are a first-timer or a returning part of the Fleet Feet fam, a full or half-marathoner, or just looking for some group camaraderie, we have a great program for you!

Important Information:

• Dates: January 8th through March 23rd, 2025
• Goal Race: Syracuse Half Marathon on Sunday, March 23rd
• Workout Days: Wednesday at 5:45 pm from Willow Bay at Onondaga Lake Park, and Sundays at 8 am from Fleet Feet Dewitt
• Cost: Early bird rate: $175. Price increase to $190 on January 1st, 2025. 

Our Group Training Schedule:

• Wednesdays at 5:45 pm - Willow Bay at Onondaga Lake Park - Workout Varies (intervals, fartleks, hill repeats, etc.)
• Sundays at 8 am - Fleet Feet Dewitt - Long Run. Multiple mileage options each week, as mileage will vary depending on time of season and goal race.

REGISTER NOW!

 As a participant you will receive:

• Weekly emails with training tips and workout information
• Full training plan for the Syracuse Half Marathon
• Safe and organized weekly group long runs with pre-planned routes, water/aid stations, and coach led pace groups
• Coached weekday workouts including interval training, hill repeats, and fartleks 
• Online support through a private Facebook page
• Extra sessions and clinics to go through training principles and topics
• Support from our partners in footwear, nutrition, strength training and more!

REGISTER NOW!

What to expect at Wednesday Workouts:

The focus of the weeknight workouts is to work on our speed and power when running. Whether you’re looking to finish your first distance race or you fastest distance race - building a speed workout into your training is important. You work different muscle groups (fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscles), build endurance in your legs and lungs, and it helps keep our workouts from getting stale. We’ll cover a variety of workouts such as interval training, speed repeats, hill repeats, fartleks (Swedish for ‘speed play’), tempo runs, etc. We focus on pace and effort during these workouts.The workouts will last about an hour throughout the 12 week training period. Below is an example workout:

• Welcome/announcements/find your pace groups
• 10 min warmup easy jogging
• Pyramid workout: 1 min hard effort/30 sec easy + 3 min hard/1 min 30 sec easy + 5 min moderately hard/2 min 30 sec easy + 7 min tempo/3 min 30 sec easy + 5 min moderately hard/2 min 30 sec easy + 3 min hard/1 min 30 sec easy + 1 min hard/30 sec easy
• 10 min cool down easy jogging
• Stretching with your group
• Overall, you’ll have done 3-5 miles of speed work, but with recovery included in the workout

What to expect at Sunday Long Runs:

The Sunday long run focus is on time on your feet. We use the long run to build up our endurance so that we can finish our distance races healthy and happy! Overall, these long runs should be at a very easy pace. We don’t want to race through the long runs because it will feel like we’ve ‘raced’ every weekend - our bodies will be tired and it increases the likelihood of injury. Each group will be led by experienced coaches who will help guide and support you. A sample route can be found here. We run both loops and out & backs from our strarting point so that we can have access to water/bathrooms/coaches. 

Pace Groups:

Our groups are open to anyone! Yes, anyone. We group everyone based on a timed mile at the beginning of the season (don’t worry it’s not your gym class mile from middle school) and use that to help match you with similarly paced people. Your coaches will help give you suggested training paces once in your group! A general breakdown of our groups are as follows:

• Sub 9:00: LR (long run) pace 
• 9:00 - 10:00 LR pace
• 10:00 - 11:00 LR pace
• 11:00 - 12:00 LR pace
• 12:00 - 13:00 LR pace
• 13:00 - 15:00 LR pace (includes Run/Walk Interval Group)

We recommend coming into the training being able to run or run/walk 4 miles.

Run/Walk Interval Running:

There are many benefits to using a run/walk method in your training. We encourage beginning runners to start using a Run/Walk interval in our No Boundaries Beginner 5K training programs. But using a Run/Walk interval is not just for beginners - it’s an excellent tool to help you build endurance and help you cross the finish line of your distance race. Our interval coaches will help to modify the workouts to support our interval runners - they will assist with pacing, workouts, racing strategies, and much more. Some of the benefits include:

• Decreased chance of injury. The run-walk method causes less wear and tear on the body, decreasing the chance of injuries. Continuous use of muscle will result in fatigue much quicker. This method will allow a runner to go farther and/or longer before fatigue sets in.
• Quicker recovery. With less wear and tear on the body it’s also easier to recover after a run. 
• Breaks up distances into manageable units. Running is as much mental as it is physical – especially when you get into the distance races. Using the run-walk intervals will help with those long distances. Running 13.1 miles seems impossible, but by breaking it down by running for a set number of minutes, it’s much more manageable. 
• Motivating for new runners. This method allows just about anyone to run any race they want. It doesn’t matter your age, weight, gender, or physical ability, you can be a runner! As you start off slow, you can work your way up to running for a longer amount of time and having fewer walk breaks.

 REFUNDS

• A full refund will be given to anyone up to midnight of the first day of the session if a valid reason is given for needing to cancel a membership.
• A refund of 75% will be given for those that provide a valid canceling reason up to two weeks into any 10-week program such as No Boundaries and FFXT or up to three weeks for any program that is more than 10 weeks long such as the distance or triathlon programs.
• After the two or three-week period, depending on the length of the program, no refund will be given if a member needs to stop participating in the programs for any reason.

TRANSFERS

• A participant can transfer their program entry fee, in its full amount, to a future program if a valid transfer reason is provided within the first three weeks of the program.
• Fleet Feet will provide a 50% transfer value of the program entry fee if a transfer is necessary within the first five weeks of the program.
• After the five-week period, no transfers will be allowed if a member needs to stop participating in the programs for any reason