Good afternoon.

In May I ran my first half-marathon, the result was 2:01:13. In September it was 1:56:16.

1. What is the perfect running volume provided that my goal is to run a sub-1:48 half-marathon?
2. Is it necessary to include a long run in my training plan and how long should it be?

Thank you.

Oleg Sergeevich, good afternoon.

I run half-marathons regularly, my personal record is 1:52:00.

I've finished running season and plan to return to running trainings in spring (in late March or in the beginning of April). I have several questions:

1. What date should I choose for my first marathon's start considering that I plan to return to running trainings in March and let's assume that I'll start to train for a marathon since 1st April? I would like to prepare good, it doesn't mean quickly because my main goal is to run a marathon without injuries.
2. Could you give me some recommendations on training plan: frequency of trainings per week, weekly running volume? How will the weekly running mileage change every month?
3. What's number of speed trainings a week? How many long runs should I do?

Thank you.

Could you tell about your marathon training plan? What was your weekly training volume? Did you use down weeks? For instance, 3 weeks of full training volume and 1 down week. How many kilometers did you run on Sundays and which exercises did you include in your trainig plan?

Thank you in advance.

Good afternoon.

I run 10 km 4 times a week just to be in a good shape and health. My pace is about 6:30 and I want to increase my stamina to run longer without fatigue and short of breath.

What exercises should I do? Do I need do short sprints?

The second question: is abdominal breathing so important? When I practice it I feel dizzy.

There are no parks near my house so I have to run on asphalt or across the field. Besides shock absorbing running shoes what else do I need to protect my knees? Should I use a special running technique in this case?

Thank you.