Looking for advice on the amount and type of run racing to do in 3 months leading up to an A-race marathon effort (Paris on April 5th). Background is I feel like I have a pretty solid base (40-50 miles a week through Nov + Dec) and ran a pretty good beach/trail/road half marathon last weekend (Egemond- 1:31), though I was still not full recovered by this weekend. My current plan is to race a half marathon on 3/14 (City Pier City) 3 weeks before the marathon using it as a final gauge of where I am at, then taper from there. Hoping to run the marathon in 3:00 so I was figuring a 1:25 half (same terrain as marathon - flat) would be a good gauge if that is in the cards. Between now and then I am thinking 3 hard weeks (50 miles a week with fair amount at tempo or marathon pace), 1 recovery week (ending with a 10k trail race), and then 3 hard weeks, then easy week leading up to the half marathon. Will also ride a couple times a week as well. Coming from doing only tri-racing/training the last 5 years, I am curious to hear from those with marathon experience if this sounds about in the ballpark, too much or not enough.
thanks,
Jack
I believe the cornerstone of marathon training is the long run, but you don’t mention anything about it. Your weekly mileage totals don’t tell what your long runs are (or will be), nor does “3 hard weeks, 1 recovery week, etc.”.
Not saying you can’t do a TT 1/2 marathon 3 weeks out, but for me, that’s always when I do my last long run.
Your 1/2 marathon is about 7:00 min/mile pace. You might want to consider including a progressive build up of long runs around 8:15 - 9:00 min/mile pace, working up to ~22 miles 3 weeks from your A marathon. (The exact distance is up for debate, ranging from 18 to 26+ miles for your last long run).
Keep motivated, and good luck to you.
Thanks for the your counsel! Right now my long run is about 2:30 / 18 miles. My plan was not to really increase the time/distance much (or increase weekly volume/mileage) over these next 7 weeks but to hit a 18-19 mile long run 6 of the next 7 weeks and gradually increase the amount of marathon pace + tempo pace in it. The half marathon I just did had about 5 miles on a beach in sand against a really major headwind and then some hills (and it was freeezing) whereas the March half marathon + Paris Marathon courses look pretty flat. Totally not sure if its realistic, but I am hoping all that stuff means I have a shot at holding a slightly faster pace at the marathon with solid training over the next 2 1/2 months.
kick that long run up to 20/22 miles.
You might have the cardio fitness to meet your goals but your legs, feet, and back probably don’t have the toughness to last.
racing that half should be fine, maybe you can run another 6 miles after =)
The long run is important but (in my opinion) overrated. Consistent weekly mileage is what makes you strong, not the one day a week you go out and do half your mileage. That’s actually a bad, idea, IMHO. No one run should ever be that high a percentage of your weekly mileage. I am not saying you should not do long runs. I am just saying you should never sacrifice weekly mileage just to get in one long run. If your long runs are such a big portion of your mileage that you need to take off a day before and after, they are too much.
If I were you, I would consider bumping up the weekly mileage to 60-70 EASY miles. Hold it for 2-3 weeks, then cut back significantly for one week to recover, maybe down to 30-40. Then repeat the cycle. Don’t worry about going hard. Get 2 hard days a week, at least one of which at your goal marathon pace. The remaining days, go easy.
I know it sounds counter intuitive. I know that everyone thinks that one long run on lower mileage does magical things. It will not do anything nearly so magical for you as what just getting out there more frequently and for more miles.