How to train for a Half Marathon in a Learning Consultants World!
So I am starting Spring with the longest run I have done in 2 years. On April 3rd I will be running Reading Half Marathon and because I thought ‘it would be fun’ I have also entered Vienna Half Marathon the following week (at least that one is in a beautiful Capital city).
But it got me thinking about how I have been getting to this
point. I know what I need in terms of my training. I know that it’s likely that
I can do the mileage because I am a frequent runner of distances of 6-10 miles,
but psychologically in prep for both of these I needed to break that 10 mile
barrier so I could settle nerves. Plus I knew that my running gait had shifted
and as result was in need of a new pair of trainers, that I run well when I
don’t consume too much caffeine and my weakness is hills,. Once I got the new
trainers, minimised the caffeine, and scheduled in hill training and run over
10 miles I knew I could relax (a little).
So here I am a few days before the first half and have done
all of those areas key training areas and I am now well into the best part of a
running programme, I’m sure runners will agree, tapering.
It got me thinking about my approach to this and how this
actually relates to learning (sorry but we are consultants!). Understanding my
training needs from the beginning and early on allowed me to focus on specifics
that suit me to give a better performance rather than just do a general
programme. If I had followed a generic programme I would have ‘sheep-dipped’
and would have focused on parts of my running that probably didn’t need to
change or wasn’t a weakness of mine. But because early on I understood exactly
what I need as an individual to give a better performance I created a bespoke
approach to tackling what’s ahead.
In terms of the learning relationship we know instances when
learning has been rolled out without actually understanding what learners will
need to improve performance, it is merely just assumed at times. Could you say
for each piece of learning rolled out a thorough training needs analysis has
been conducted? Sheep-dipping learners can be costly and largely inefficient.
Talk to us about training needs analysis in learning if you want to know
more.
And as for me I will let you know whether my TNA for running
was accurate or not next week…
Sophie CannonStrategic Market Analyst
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