Awesome - thanks for that. Remembered the layout of 321, but missing all of the info of when to add in tempo, etc. FWIW, have had massive running improvements using Barry P a decade ago, so keen to go back to it while building up the mileage. For anyone interested, here is a link to improvements seen by slowtwitchers using the Barry P run plan.
Itās the only way Iāve been conducting my run training for the last 7 years. Iām 56 now. I still manage to make the occasional podium in local races. The only change Iāve made this year is to insert a rest day after 4-5 days instead of after 6.
Iāve got a question with regards to Marathon training, if my regular long runs are at 16-18 miles and I am doing the ultra long run method, should I keep the rest of the week easy and just avoid tempo runs and race pace runs for this race? Obviously if Iām needing to use the ultra long runs I wonāt have an aerobic base big enough to have 21 mile long runs for the last half of the program. Iāve done multiple half Ironmans and a full Ironman last year but this is my first attempt at a stand alone marathon for context.
FWIW, itās been a long time since Iāve been involve din run training:
But according to my plan, which seemed to work for a lot of people, youād still run the workouts as normal with one caveat: if you feel that you need the rest, take the rest.
So, lets say that your normal long run is 12 miles and you do an ultra long run week with a 16 miler, the idea is that youāve added 4 miles to the weekly load that your body has been accustomed to. So those miles need to be paid back in the next day or two. But, yes, you can usually do the other workouts as normal.
Additional note to all of this: I read Running with the Buffaloes, and one thing that jumped out at me is that the coach would often pull kids out of the workouts and have them, instead, do light work on a grassy field, or go for a bike ride. So he might say, āToday we are doing mile repeats, except for Fred. Fred, I want you to jog 4 miles easy on the grassy field.ā
The idea is, if you need the rest, take the rest. However, if you find you are needing to take days off often, then you need to reassess your weekly plan and back it off.
See my thinking is - and itās probably wrong, Iām sure - if youāre accustomed to doing 12, and one day you decide to do 16 (or, if youāre like me and decide one day āletās see where this street goes? Iām pretty sure I know where it comes outā whereupon you become lost in a labyrinth of roundabouts & cup-de-sacs in a suburban South Jersey neighborhood, and when you finally DO find your way out & back home, your 12 has become 18, and youāre back in the house nearly an hour later than expected, to be welcomed by āwhere the fuck have you been?ā)
Anyway, if you can handle the bump from 12 to 16, and youāve been doing 12 for long enough that maybe itās getting a little stale, perhaps 16 should be your regular for a while?
I remember one time when I ran a 10 mile loop but wanted to do 12, so I headed down a country road that Iād probably run 100 times before. I started to day dream and my body went on autopilot. The next thing I knew, I was 3 miles down the road. So that 12 became 16!
Now, had I done that today, I would have walked back.
As a posted a couple of years ago, when I first shared this story ⦠Why didnāt I just turn back around when I realized I didnāt know where I was?
I was confident I could find my way out if I just kept going forward
Even when turned around, the development still looked the same, so I could see myself just running around in circles like an idiot = āThere he goes againā which mustāve been hilarious to the āspectatorsā and I am not above giving complete strangers a story to tell, at my own expense;
āhey, remember that guy who ran around here for almost an hour?ā
"Yeah, I wonder why he never came back?