Does anyone have a decent marathon plan that they’d be willing to share? To give a little background:
I’m doing Marine Corps on October 30 this year. I’ve done two previous marathons (3:40ish and 3:23). This go around I’d like to shoot for my Boston time of 3:10. My last stand alone marathon was about two years ago. My marathons in Ironman races SUCK, so I don’t like to think or write about them!
Right now I’m running about 5:30 a week. I’m doing a few easy days, a day on the track, a tempo day coming off of the bike, and a long day. My long run is right around 2:00 right now. My track work has been pretty good recently, for example this week I did a 1600 at 5:30, 2 x 800 at 2:40, 4 x 400 at 1:14. I seem to be better at going short than long, so of course I’m trying to go long!
I know Runner’s World has a plan, but if you have something that you’d recommend, I’d love to hear about it. I figure I want to end up in the 50+ miles a week once I get going.
For 99.9% of runners there’s a direct correlation between the volume of miles run and marathon times…the more you run the faster you’ll be, its that simple.
Every good marathon plan should have 3 core workouts per week.
The long run, topping out at 20-22 miles
the long MP run. 12-14 miler midweek at goal pace.
An interval or hill repeat workout, mile reps, 1200m reps or 800 reps, whatever tickles your fancy.
In between these core worouts you should run as many slow easy miles as you possibly can. The more you run the stronger you’ll be on race day.
I don’t think you need to look much further than Runner’s World. I have used the intermediate plan for years. I mostly use it to plan my long runs, and follow the weekday plan pretty loosely. My PR is 3:00, and I’ve qualified for Boston 3 times in the last 4 years.
With your footspeed (2x800 in 2:40) you should be able to go under 3:10 assuming the base is there. I like doing multiple 800s in under 3:00. I think Frank Shorter said that 12 800s at a certain pace in minutes:seconds is a good predictor of your marathon time in hours:minutes (so, if you can do 12 of them in 2:50, you could be headed for a 2:50 marathon). Be careful with those track workouts (best way to both get fast and hurt yourself), and GOOD LUCK.
what kind of workout were you doing? 400 in 1’14’'…assuming it is Vo2max is a 19.5km/h or 12.4mph or so…
that would suggest something much faster than your expected time for Boston and definitely faster than what you have done so far…
So either your endurance is really lacking, or your speedwork is way too fast.
The RW plans are woefully light on mileage. I don’t know what they are advocating these days but the last time I looked they had plans for beginners topping out at about 25 miles a week! intermediates less than 50 and advanced no more than a single 60 mile week.
And any publication that lends creedence to Jeff Galloway’s walking nonsense should be filed under comedy at the library, not sports.
do a search for hal higdon on google. he has a free advanced marathon training plan on his website that brought my husbands marathon time down from 3:38 to 3:10:45 (yes he qualified by 14 seconds because you really have to come in in 3:10:59) in about 7 months
I have the RunMaster program that I purchased from Runners World quite a few years ago. It has a feature that will generate a training schedule for you. I plugged in my desired time and availability during the week and it spit out a full 16 week training schedule for me. I followed that to a 3:14 finish at Madison, which qualified me for Boston! I’m sure they have updated the software numerous times since I got it, but it really worked for me. Just a thought!
Disagreement noted. My legs prefer low mileage. 40 miles is a big week for me. Perhaps someday I’ll try higher mileage and attain great new heights, but to go under 3:10 I haven’t found it to be necessary.
When I was running 40 miles a week my marathon times were in the mid threes, when I upped it to 80 with a couple of triple digit weeks thrown in just to see if I could do it, I ran in the mid twos.
An experiment one one I know, but I don’t know a single sub 2:40 guy who doesn’t run 80mpw plus while marathon training. Mileage is the be all and end all of marathon training, no ifs ands or buts. You can’t run 5:25 pace at mile 26 on 40 miles a week.
the Daniel’s Book (forget the name) has very good training plans for 5K, 10K and marathon.
As other have pointed out, there is a very strong correlation between volume and marathon performance and speedwork matters little. I ran PRs or close to them in all distances (3K 9:33, 5 mile 27:18, HM 1:16:15) this Spring while prepping for Boston on higher mileage than I have done in the past, but with little speedwork. I ended up with a PR at Boston and broke 3 hours. The 400 repeats are almost a waste; your 400 time will probably improve more by doing more easy miles, because you will become so much stronger.
Based on my experence you will have to do so 45 - 50 mile weeks to run teh 3:10 you are looking for. I would also recommend at least one hlf marathon, as these are fun, and a great way to work marathon type fitness.
I agree with ehan…hal higdon’s the way to go. (www.halhigdon.com i think) – my first marathon was 4:37; i trained for 2 others (3:43 & 3:38)using various programs before finding the one from coach higdon (i used the “advanced I” schedule). if you’re serious about qualifying, this will get you there. using the program, my fourth marathon was 3:10.
i’ve recommended it to several people since, who all have brought their times to exactly where they need to be using the plan. a few of my friends that i ran the 3:10 with plan on using it again later this year to go sub-3:00
one word of advice: HE’S the coach. follow the plan. i wouldn’t insert or modify the plan “as you see fit”. this is difficult for triathletes because it doesn’t allow much time for the other disciplines. (i suppose theoretically, you could bike or swim on his 3 mile “recovery” days in the beginning; but these quickly build up to 4-6 mile days later in the program).