I'm following the Hal Higdon (A1) marathon plan, to an extent. I'm adding a few more miles to some of the runs, though, as I feel the mileage for his plans are kind of low overall. I think this plan tops out at 55 miles in a weeks before taper and plan to bump it up closer to 70. That being said, I used the same plan and followed it pretty closely a few years ago, and had good success, BQ'ing my first marathon. Overall, I think it's a good plan.
One of the workouts in the plan is a marathon pace (mp) run, which is usually the day before the long run. What if you consistently run the mp run faster than the pace you intend to run at your marathon? The longest mp run is about 10 miles, so it's not really all that far. Will running an mp run faster than the intended speed help with fitness? I am doing a disservice to myself by not following the mp run to a tee?
FWIW, I'm a 39 yo male with good running fitness and some durability. I ran a 2:54 in 2012 and am targeting a 2:45 (or faster) in March. Marathon pace is ~6:20 min/mi, but I have been running mp closer to 6.
One of the workouts in the plan is a marathon pace (mp) run, which is usually the day before the long run. What if you consistently run the mp run faster than the pace you intend to run at your marathon? The longest mp run is about 10 miles, so it's not really all that far. Will running an mp run faster than the intended speed help with fitness? I am doing a disservice to myself by not following the mp run to a tee?
FWIW, I'm a 39 yo male with good running fitness and some durability. I ran a 2:54 in 2012 and am targeting a 2:45 (or faster) in March. Marathon pace is ~6:20 min/mi, but I have been running mp closer to 6.