hello,
i am looking into doing a marathon in the last week of september and i did see programs posted here made by hal higodon and a runnersworld UK program, anyone tried either schedules?
First marathon or have you done some already? Any specific goal for it?
If it is your first and you are just looking to finish while running, then one of the Hal Higdon Intermediate plans works well.
If you are looking to do a great run and have a specific time goal (such as BQ’ing) or if you are simply looking to run your best race, then I would highly recommend Pfitzinger-Douglas’ Advanced Marathoning.
first open run in more than 10-13 years already, first one i ran with no program and finished less tha 4hrs.
no target time but just to finish strong. i`ll check that one out. thanks!
I pretty much swear by the Hal method. I do make some changes that I think would better suit me. I personally need and benefit from more tempo runs.
Higdon’s plans worked great for me.
I agree you can’t go wrong with Higdon’s plans. However, I’ve had good results with the Brooks-Hansons Distance Project plan, too. The key difference from the Higdon plan is spreading mileage out more evenly through the training week, eliminating a progressively longer long run in favor of more frequent mid-distance runs. The weekly “long” run alternates between 10 and 16 milers every other week, with no run longer than 16. If you’ve already got a good running base, this might be an alternative to consider. Otherwise, if you need to build your mileage up more slowly, then the Higdon plan might be the way to go.
Sorry…forgot to add a URL for the Brooks-Hansons plan…here you go:
http://www.hansons-running.com/images/trainingplans/advanced.pdf
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Thanks for the link 
i`ll check out both as i still have 24 weeks till that race so i can still build and this year is a first for me to be able to run consistently. the higdon plan does have longer long runs vs the other plan. thanks again for the inputs!
I really like this Brooks-Hansons plan, but I’m wondering about the Tuesday SPEED/STRENGTH sessions. The plan says:
SPEED AND STRENGTH WORKOUTS ARE DONE AS GROUP AT DODGE PARK IN
STERLINGS HTS ON TUESDAYS AT 6:30 PM. SPEED WORKOUTS SHOULD BE
DONE AT CURRENT 5K PACE. STRENGTH WORKOUTS SHOULD BE DONE AT 10
SECONDS PER MILE FASTER THAN MARATHON GOAL PACE.
How long are these runs distance-wise? Are they reps or interval-based runs? It seems like the Speed workouts will be reps up to 1 mile, and the Strength workouts would be much longer distances.
not hal hidgon or anything from runners world.
read jack daniels and modify using his principles.
When using this plan in the past, I’ve ignored mileage for these workouts and instead focused on interval sets based on time and intensity. I typically did something like the following on the track:
Warmup
5 x 6min intervals @ 10K pace or HR on 90 sec recovery
Cooldown
I started with 30 min of intervals and increased weekly, topping out at around an hour of work intervals. I also mixed up reps and duration, but stuck to the 4:1 work to recovery ratio. So, week 2 might be 4 x 8min intervals on 2 min recovery, etc.
Hope that’s helpful.
thanks! ill check his book as well. im not really aiming for a smoking time just to finish in the mid-3 hr range and running is the least of the 3 sports i i like but running fits my schedule perfectly this year. i noticed that the hansons-brook program has another run after the long run plus 2 more runs after the weekends long run while higdons program has a cross which i can change to a rest day based on how i feel. i do feel that no program will cut it if you dont do it consistently prior to the race hopefully for the next 6 week i`ll be more consistent than ever. i held back on the 100/100 from running 6-7x a week at the start until feb wherein i had to look back at my year wherein i was injured and couldnt run consistently so cut back to 4-5runs now for the past 3-4 weeks so far so good.
thanks! i have the intermediate II already saved.
I’ve used the Hal Higdon program as well as the one found on the Boston Marathon website. I modified both for my needs.
No matter the program, I’d base my pacing and race strategy off of McMillian. His run calculator has proven to be very accurate for me. Just be mindful that you can’t extrapolate a 5k to a marathon. If you base your marathon run off a recent 1/2 mary or maybe a 10 mile run, you’ll be much closer.
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm
I am not a super fast runner…but all my best have been following his plans
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thanks! have the calculator as well and i have been basing my runs on my 21k time in training which is a slow 1:50 (no open halves) this was my run split from a half before.
maybe it was the consistency that made you finish fast?
x2
again
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I know you have gotten a lot of glowing reports on Higdon’s plans, but I didn’t have much luck with the plan I used. I used the 16-week intermediate marathon plan last year and realized two weeks before my marathon that I wasn’t prepared. I did my last long run, a 21 miler, and was completely spent at the end. I had to walk the last three miles fighting calf cramps and virtually collapsed on the floor after my shower. My prior running experience consisted of anywhere from 10-20 miles per week for about a year and a half before starting the program. I will add that I followed the plan virtually to the letter, rarely missing a day throughout the entire program. FWIW, I was 52 YO at the time. Maybe my age should have disqualified me from an off-the-shelf plan, but I had completed a half mary before and my other running experience fit the profile for the intermediate plan.
I was suspicious of the plan almost from the start. Suspicious that there simply weren’t enough miles called for. Every Tuesday called for a track workout that I came to feel was virtually useless in preparation for a marathon. Nevertheless, I did every track session faithfully. Wednesdays were usually just an ‘easy run’ that seemed to be too short and Thursdays were another ‘easy run’ that was a little longer. Some of the runs had strides at the end. Also, the instructions for many of the workouts didn’t make sense and sometimes contained conflicting information. I really loved it when they would tell you to run the session at marathon pace, when you had NO CLUE what your marathon pace was since you hadn’t done one yet. Saturdays were always the long run of the week. In the early part of the program, these runs just weren’t long enough and by the time I got to the last 4 weeks of the program, I was struggling with the distances without calf cramps forcing me to walk. Every Sunday was set aside for cross training of your choice. Since I was missing riding my bike, I usually rode for an hour or two. Some days, I ran some extra miles. I wish I had just run every Sunday. I think the maximum planned miles towards the end of the program was only about 35 for one week.
When my race day came, I switched to the half instead of the full since my last long run had been so miserable and I didn’t feel like I really completed it. I figured I would have more fun with the half because I would be able to ‘race’ it instead of just survive. Wrong. After four months of following the plan right to the letter, my calves cramped up on mile 11 after running the previous miles at an easy training pace. I ditched the idea of racing because it was 23 degrees that day and thee course was hilly even though I had trained plenty on hills. So, after four months of the Higdon marathon plan, I did a half marathon at a slower pace than I had done six months earlier and got debillitating cramps in my calves one mile sooner than the previous half. I got so pissed off that I haven’t run but one time since for an easy five miler. Instead, I bought a Powertap hub and a new set of wheels for my bike and I have been riding the shit out of it getting faster every week.
So, for my n=1 experience, Higdon didn’t do me one bit of good.
Greg