Today's run was a hilly 14 miler, with miles 5-13 at marathon pace. I'm going to do an ever increasing marathon pace run every week.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Good for you with the MP stuff. Too many people think they can do shorter races at much faster paces and that's enough but simply practicing running at the pace you will race at is huge.

One alternative to simply running more and more consecutive miles at that pace is to break it up into blocks. Like 2 x 3 miles or 3 x 3 miles (or even 2x4 miles / 3x4 miles) at goal MP with just a couple of minutes easy running in between each block. If nothing else it can be a mental help to break it up that way

1. Me

2. Moab Trail Marathon on 11/5

3. A butt load of trail running, as much as possible at altitude. Super hilly 6 miles on Thursday AM's, Long runs Sat/Sun, medium distance (8-14 miles) on Wed. Avg is up to about 40mpw right now.

4. Ran from Happy Isles trailhead, up the mist falls steps to the cables at the top of Half Dome on Saturday. This Sunday we head to Tahoe National Forest for 14 miles at 7500 ft.. Gonna make Moab a piece of cake.

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Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach

1. I do
2. California International Dec 4th - fast and perfect weather.
3. The "run a buttload, don't get injured and try to get in sub 2:20 shape" plan
4. Pretty good. Ran 95 last week and starting to feel strong. Ask me again after ITU Du worlds.

If you are able to run 13 miles near your HM PR 9 times in the fall while doing a tempo run every week and 16-20 miles at marathon pace, I'm guessing you're HM PR is pretty soft. You might want to try running a HM soon and readjust your marathon goals this fall. Your fitness is likely a lot better than you think at this point.

Yesterday was 11 miles at race pace, and my first of three 20 milers today. Quite happy with it- loop one easy (75 seconds above goal pace) and sped up for second loop (55 seconds above), felt fresh at the end. My plan is telling me to shoot for these times, and I'm really learning how to slow down enough on the longer stuff so my other runs throughout the week aren't screwed up. It's been quite an adjustment switching to one sport for a while.

I signed up for Philly yesterday. Today I started marathon training with a 15.3 mile run at 7:30 pace in my brand new Nike Frees (nice way to break in new shoes!). I did 58 miles this week so I need to bump that up. Plan is to race a half-marathon on Oct. 2 and another one on Oct. 16th for some hard speed tempo and then do lots of speedwork with my daughter and the rest of the xc team that I coach through Sept./Oct and hit 80+ miles/week a couple of times. Goal is to beat my Boston time from 2 years ago.

Im doing Philly Marathon end of November. Just finished up my Tri season last week. This will be my first marathon and looking for a good program. Based on McMillian calculator my goal time is 2.41.

Can someone please make some suggestions for a good plan to follow?

Thanks so much

Buy Daniel's Running Formula or Pfitzinger's marathon book, figure out your current fitness level and build a plan around it.

If you're trying to go 2:41, there aren't a whole lot of cookie cutter plans out there for you, but those two books are the best.

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Portside Athletics Blog

what one would you suggest if you had to pick of the two? Found the both on Amazon and will order one or the other. Thanks for the advice.

Daniels.

Take a recent race time, use it to figure out what he calls your "VDOT" number. Pick a training plan from the book, and use your VDOT number to figure out your various training paces (interval, tempo, long, etc.).

His pace correlations are scary accurate, for me, race times have been within seconds of what he "predicts" at distances ranging from 5k-marathon. In 10 years of training or racing, I'd say Daniels' book has had a bigger impact for me than any other thing.

I just did an 18 miler on the treadmill this morning thanks to Hurricane Irene, the first 4 miles and last 3 miles of which were at tempo pace. It's now ~5pm and I'm on glass of wine number 2 watching a movie with the wife :-)

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Portside Athletics Blog

Ordering now. Thanks for the advice.
I, unlike you, used Irene as an excuse to sleep in . . and take a afternoon nap.

No problem, good luck to you.

My PR is a 2:45 but I think I have a 2:42ish in me if training keeps going well. I am running the Bay State Marathon in October. Check in after your race and let us know how it goes!

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Portside Athletics Blog

Maine marathon the first weekend of October, doing a half three weeks before that.
Training is loosely guided by Daniels, also ride a few times a week so double up on my run days and the quality of the tempo day suffers.
Longest run was 20 miles yesterday and enjoyed it, so things are on track. Injury free, running comfortably, 50-60 mpw.
Now to replace my broken down Kinvaras and Lunaracers, which means a search of the endless shoe debate threads.

Chicago on 10/9. Training is going well so far. Today was a moderately paced 22 miler in some warmer conditions. That makes 140 miles for the week. Yeah bitches, 140, and all of them in 5oz racing flats. Admittedly, that ain't for everyone.

I just finished my 3rd week of a 4 week volume build after racing my last tri on 8/6. The first 3 weeks consisted of 7, 6 & 7 runs each week, totalling 70, 64, 77 miles respectively. That's the biggest running block of my life.

Here's my log:

http://www.workoutlog.com/...cfm?report=multiweek

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Wow, that is a lot of miles. Would you mind posting your week breakdown and what is your goal time for Chicago?

I signed up for Phili last weekend and did my biggest mileage week ever at 79 this week. Looking for a 2:45.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

For those shooting for the 2:45 mark, what pace are you doing on your long runs? I have been doing them at race pace, but am wondering if I should slow this down and opt for other "speed" work during the week.

My 15 miler today was at 7:30/mile pace. I hope to be under 2:45.

I think you'll be hard pressed to find a running coach that recommends marathon pace for your long runs. Most recommend ~:45-1:15 slower. This week's long run was only 14 miles, but I did the first 10.5 at just over 7m/m and closed out the last 3.5 at M pace (6:50 average total). I'll probably follow that pattern for the entire build, just making each segment of the run longer as the calendar progresses.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

I've been reading as much as I can on marathon training these last several weeks. What I'm seeing is the need to do three things during your training:

1. Build your endurance
2. Raise your lactate threshold
3. Get comfortable with running at your marathon pace.

I'm building my endurance by adding more runs and more miles each week. Most of those miles are at 1 minute/mile over my marathon pace.

I'm rasing my lactate threshold by doing a weekly run with multiple 3 mile sets at 10k-HM pace.

And finally, I do one run each week at marathon pace. Plus, I insert some MP miles during my long run every other week or so.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Sure, here you go:

Mon am 12 easy, pm 8 easy w last 4 moderate
Tue am 12 easy w last 6 hard, pm 3 easy
Wed am 13 easy w last 5 moderate, pm 8 easy
Thu am 12 easy, pm 9 moderate
Fri am 13 easy w last 6 hard, pm 8 easy
Sat am 8 easy, pm 10 easy
Sun 22 moderate w last 6 at race pace, 2 mile cool down

No track work. I'll throw in some fartleks and intervals this starting this week. I alternate one week very high miles of mostly aerobic work and the next week much lower mileage but higher intensity. It works for me and keeps me healthy. I'm 42 yo.

Chicago goal time is anything in the 2:40 area. Despie the mileage I'm not that hard core about the racing and am getting too old to keep the volume high for many weeks in a row, which, if I could do it, might get me under 2:30 if younger. These days, mostly I just like to get out and run.

1. Who has a fall marathon on their schedule? First one. Previous races: a couple of Half Marys and 70.3s
2. Which marathon are you doing? Dallas White Rock Marathon
3. What kind of training plan are you going with this year? Looked to an 18 week Higdon Intermediate2/Advanced1 plan, but just going with my normal run volume with increased long runs.
4. How's your training going? Texas heat sucks! But I run at 6am so I get to enjoy 86degrees!


Should be interesting. This is the main decider on when I move to my first 140.6.

After my last Triathlon on 8/6/11, I've been in full marathon training mode. The past 4 weeks' mileages have been 70, 64, 77, 94.

Here's last week's Log (with a quick trip to Boston thrown in on Tuesday and Wednesday):

Monday: 10 miles easy (7:40)
Tuesday: AM: 10.5 with 2x3 miles at HM pace (6:25 - 6:35), (Noon flight) PM: 5.5 easy (7:40)
Wednesday: 7 miles easy (7:45) (Afternoon flight)
Thursday: 15.1 miles with 13.1 at marathon pace (6:44)
Friday: 10 miles easy (7:40)
Saturday: 14 miles at General Conditioning pace (7:14)
Sunday: 22 at Long Run pace (7:30)

I'm headed up to the Jersey shore this week and will test things out at the Brielle 10k on Saturday.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

I stepped back the volume last week after waking up on Tuesday with sore hip. I rested it on Tuesday and again on Wednesday when I drove up to N.J. It turned out to be just a really tight piriformus muscle.

I slowly got back into it by the weekend and ran the Brielle 10K on Saturday. It was a hilly race with 285 feet of climbing. I managed to get 5th place overall and was the first old guy. A young girl from upstate New York was the overall winner. She was the first female overall winner of the race in it's 31 year history.

Weekly totals: 7 runs, 60 miles.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699