I have the Denver Rock N’ Roll Marathon October 17 and need to find a good program to follow these upcoming months. I only average about 15-25 MPW as of late since I mix in biking as well. The McMillan running calculator projected my marathon time to be 3:26:29 (7:52 pace) based on my 10k pace. That seems difficult right now but I guess that’s why I am posting this right now. I need training program suggestions/opinions.
Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks!
I found these at Runners World.
Check out this website for some good info. Lots of free plans available if you want to save a buck. Good luck
If you can, you should start upping the volume now.
I’m doing NYC in Nov and I looked at Higdon’s Advanced I plan. If I was just doing the mary I’d use it but I’m also doing SOS in Sept so I need to continue riding and swimming. I’m going to incorporate cross training by using some of the FIRST workouts:
http://www.furman.edu/first/fmtp.htm. I’ll likely replace the saturday run with a 2-3 hour bike ride and just add some swims.
I’ve used FIRST before and while it generally won’t get the same results as a run only plan it works from x-training/triathlon perspective.
Good luck.
This is just my n=1, but I ran my first marathon last year (MCM) in late October. I read Hal Higdon’s book and used his beginner program but I felt significantly unprepared for the marathon. As with you, I popped in my 10 miler time and it spit out a 3:32 or something as my projected marathon time. I followed the program to a T (with a few mid-week runs missed here and there) and through mile 19 I was on pace for a 3:38 (my wife was getting updates every 5k via text messages) and completely fell apart. I tapered, paced properly (I felt like I did at least), started WAY slower than I thought I needed to, took in enough fluids, temps were in low 60’s, ate plenty, but my fitness wasn’t there. Walk/ran the final 5-6 miles and was in complete misery and came in at 3:52.
My recommendation is like the above, start ramping your mileage up now. Use an intermediate/advanced program if you want the best shot at hitting that goal time, IMHO of course.
i am using this one http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=4432&PageNum=1
Hidgon wasn’t enough prep for me.
the pfitz one is a bit tough but i am not really doing much biking or swimming at all right now
“Novice” marathon runners dont run a sub 4 hour marathon. If you want to run sub 4, you need to look at the intermediate or advanced marathon plans. Be sure to get more than one 20 mile run in. I did the novice plan with only one 20 miler for my first marathon and SUFFERED the final 6 miles. Get those longer base runs in and you’ll be able to hit your goal.
Hey, I did my first marathon in 3:43 – it’s possible to go sub-4 on your first one. Plus, I was young and dumb, so I just ran 8-minute miles all the time – 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon … So in my mary, I ran 8-minute miles for the first 20, and 10 minute miles for the next 6+. That was in 1985. Last month (25 years later and 38 marathons later), I ran a 3:13! WOO HOO! High mileage works, if you can stay injury-free, for maintaining your pace in the last 6 or 8 miles. Miles past 20 get progressively uglier, and don’t let anyone tell you different!!! Just be ready for it. Even when you don’t cr@p out at the end, the last few miles are a battle between mind and body.
I kind of like the marathon training programs from the BAA website. There are a couple of options, for novice and “veteran”, with varying mileages. Whatever you do, mix it up, do quite a bit of LSD (long slow distance) now, then add some speed and tempo runs. Also do a couple of medium-long runs when you are dog-tired – those runs are miserable but mentally and physically strength-building. And it doesn’t matter how slow you do them. I did lots of 10-minute miles on my way to my sub-7:30 marathon pace! I did not believe it would work until I did it.
Good luck with your training, and don’t be a slave to the schedule (I have been there done that many times, and it will frustrate you). Good training schedules assume that you will miss some of the workouts. JUST DO THE BEST YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!
if you want a conservative plan, do higdon
if you want a more advanced and IMO difficult plan, do pfitz
having done both, the pfitz was much more effective for me.
I can’t tell you what plan to choose but I can give you a few guidelines which I’ve found help tremendously. I am not going to claim these are universal or work for everyone, but they certainly have worked for those I’ve recommended them to and they worked wonders for me. I had to learn most of them by painful trial and error. None of them is anything new or earth shattering, just common sense but sometimes in the middle of marathon training, common sense isn’t so common.
Consistent weekly volume matters most for the marathon. More than speed workouts, more than number of long runs or long run distance. That doesn’t mean you don’t do speed workouts and long runs. It just means you should not be letting your weekly volume suffer just to get in that long run or killer speed workout. In the very least, not regularly. Consistent weekly volume – EASY volume – is what will give you the strength you need.
Following on that, do as many weekly miles as you can sustain for a few weeks in a row without a) getting injured, b) getting sick of running or c) getting completely burned out. The last danger, however is more a function of intensity than volume so most of those miles should be easy.
Build up mileage in blocks. Three to five weeks “on” in which you sustain a high level (whatever “high level” is for you) followed by 1 week “off” - a cutback week - in which you drop the mileage to anywhere from 40% to 70% of the “on” mileage. Don’t skip the cutback weeks no matter how good you are feeling. Each time you start a block, pick a goal weekly mileage you think you can sustain for those 3 to 5 weeks. The highest weekly average should probably come in your next to last block.
Don’t generally run hard more than 2 days per week. All other days should be EASY (are you sensing a theme here?). Not necessarily slow, mind you. Just easy. Some of these days will be at a normal, easy pace, call it “X”. Other days will be at X + 1 minute per mile or more. Pace doesn’t matter on these days. Getting in volume while recovering does.
Part of your speed should be practicing your goal pace. You need to get used to it. In the early stages of your training, try to do it once every other week. As things progress, try to do it once per week. Start off with 4 to 6 mile blocks at goal pace. By the time you are about 3 weeks out, you should be able to do 10 to 12 miles (as part of a longer run) at goal marathon pace and feel as if you could have gone farther if you needed to.
Pay very close attention to new aches and pains. Don’t do that thing we all tend to do in which you think you’ll just “run it out”. If something persists for more than a day, be proactive. Sometimes just taking a day or two off now can save you a couple of weeks later.
If you do miss a few days of training, do not try to “make up” what you have missed. You can’t. Most likely you’ll just aggravate something, particularly if it was an injury that caused you to miss training in the first place. Instead, try to resume your training as if you had already done what you’d planned to do and go from there. You’ll feel fresher than normal and that’s not a bad thing.
I hope some of this is useful to you. I think these can help you while using any training plan really.
If you only plan to run 15 to 25 miles per week then you will have to adjust your goals. The McMillan running calculator assumes that you will be putting in the appropriate training to to run that pace.
While you most likely will be able to complete the marathon with that run volume you may be happier with your results if you were to run 30 to 40 a week…if that is possible with your current schedule.
If you are looking at plans you may also want to look at Daniels Running Formula’s marathon plans in the back of his book. Earlier in the book it will tell you how to shorten the plan. I don’t have my copy with me now so I can’t look it up.
jaretj
Daniel’s also has a section for people just trying to complete the marathon.
You have plenty of time to start increasing the mileage. If you have a good base, you can finish a marathon now off just running 15 - 25 MPW, but might not finish in the predicted time. Set some goals. Do you want to run a 3:26 or faster? If you plan to mainly train for the marathon, plan your swims and bikes rides around your run training. Getting 3 - 6 longs runs between 18 - 22 is important. If this is your first marathon, two runs of 18 and two 20 milers will be fine. Make sure you are getting some of the shorter interval based runs, too. Depending on running hx and goals, plan to build anywhere between 30 - 55 MPW. 55 may even be on the high side for you, but again it depends on goals and past running hx.
There are lots of great online and free plans. I like Runners World and Cool Running. Of the many free 12 - 18 weeks plans that are online, many actually very little. Most have you building for 3 weeks and then going easy. Plan them around you goals. I like Runner’s World as they have you running 4 days a week which give you plenty of other days to cross train. Swimming is a good recovery for post long or hard run days.
If schedule allows, you can train specifically for a marathon - and still cross train with swimming and biking. If you can swim in the morning and run in the evening or do shorter runs in the am and either bike or swim at lunch or pm.
What is your running background as a 3:26 might be a little fast? Have you run 1/2 marathon?
Again, you have plenty of time.
Yes you are right…I forgot about that 
jaretj
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Listen to JoeO.