The "right" half marathon training
Alessia Zwahlen drew up training plans for her Matura thesis.
On Sunday, thousands will once again line up at the start of the SwissCityMarathon in Lucerne. Did everyone train "properly"? In 2018, Alessia Zwahlen from Hünenberg made half-marathon training the subject of her Matura thesis.
Today, Alessia Zwahlen is studying medicine in her first semester. A year ago, she was in the middle of her Matura thesis. "Training methods and their effects on the runner's performance" was the title. An enthusiastic runner herself, the 19-year-old wanted to know why she should train and how: "When I ran my first half marathon in 2017, I didn't specifically prepare for it." After joining the Cham running group, she took a more structured approach to her training. However, she lacked the theoretical knowledge.
Endurance or interval
Alessia Zwahlen delved into the subject of training theory as part of her A-level thesis. How do you get faster, with endurance or interval training? Seven people made themselves available to her for the practical test. They focused on either endurance or interval training for 16 weeks. Alessia Zwahlen wrote the training plans herself using the relevant literature. The field test also included two 10-kilometer test runs. In the final half marathon, two runners ran a personal best. The fact that there were not more is probably mainly due to the fact that it had been four years since some of them last ran a half marathon.
The right mix
Alessia Zwahlen describes the project as a success because she - like all the test subjects - was able to benefit from the experiment. Her most important insight: "There are no run-of-the-mill training plans. If you want to prepare seriously for a run, the plan should be individually tailored." And no training plan contains only endurance or only interval training. "But it was important to set a focus for the experiment. Of course, it depends on the right mix," concludes the medical student. For Sunday, we can only hope that all the runners have trained well and that they achieve their goals. With this in mind: good luck and fast legs to all participants!
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