I’m 12 wks out from my goal marathon and wanting to add some intensity. Should I add tempo, race pace or both? Adding both in one week seems like a little much. And how much is too much (i.e. 10 miles of tempo or 15-20 miles at goal race pace). Any experiences/suggestions would be great.
FWIW–I’ve been following the 1:2:3 (6x week) plan since October. This week was 4,10,4,8,4,0,16
Thanks–
You could try adding both in small doses and build them (intensity)up as your mileage steadies.
Take that 10, warm-up 2 miles, hit some 800’s and faster than race pace w/ active recovery of normal pace for 4-800 and repeat. Cool-down 1-2 miles. That’s only 3 miles of effort; 6 of “workout”; 3-4 of warm-up/cool-down.
Take that 8 miler and make it a strong negative split on an out and back or a good tempo run; either one at slightly faster than race-pace.
Take your long runs and creep them down :05-:10/mile each week faster than the previous week. E.g. 16 miles at 8:30/mile then the next week 18 at 8:20/mile. Mix and match all of these for a great formula. Increase them slowly for your 8-10 weeks before taper.
Tried and true formula (3:08 off the bike)! Let me know your mileage building up and your pace if you want more specifics. This is just one suggestion and many others should have great ones to follow as well. Keep on eye on your body (injury history), immune system, weight, diet, etc.
Way too little information to give a decent answer but I have two thoughts nonetheless.
I believe (!) that if you aren’t faster than 3:30, simply running does the job. You just need more endurance.
If you are faster, I (!) like tempo runs of 20-40 mins at one hour race pace and marathon pace runs of 8 building to 15 miles. I (!) would also add a track workout with reps summing up to about 5k at 5k pace.
None of what I say may be useful for you given that we have almost zero information on you.
happy running
uli
I would suggest adding some good hill running to the mix. It’s priceless come race day.
I’d suggest adding some tempo work instead of MP runs, or you can alternate then every week if you’d like. Some other possibilities are adding some MP miles into your long runs or instead of a standard steady-state tempo run, doing a progressive tempo run instead. After warming up, you can do something like 2 miles @MP, 2 @HMP, & 2 @10K pace, with 2-4 minutes easy running in between. I personally don’t do much MP running until a month or so before a marathon, mostly just to get a feel for the pace.
Thanks for the responses. Great ideas.
A little more info. I’m 43 yo (162#) and still trying for that illusive BQ qualifying time of 3:20. Went 3:22 in my last attempt. I’m just wondering if my lack of speed work cost me in the end. In my most recent half, 5 wks ago, (pancake flat) I went 1:40.
I’m hoping to drop another 5-10 lbs in the next 12 weeks. This always helps. My IM race weight is right at 150 but never seem to get there during my marathon training. Oh, usually about ~3:45 off the bike.
So, is 15 mi the maximum recommended distance of race pace work? I do like the idea of slowly dropping my long runs times instead of jumping right in attempting race pace (~7:38) for 16 miles.
And at about 6 wks I plan on starting some form of track work as well. Again, I want the speed but I’m not willing to risk injury.
What has your overall mileage been like? Personally, total mileage has made the biggest difference for me, though I’ll mix a tempo run or fartlek in from time to time. Never been much for speed work myself.
How long ago was your 3:22 marathon and how fit were you for the 1:40 half? I’m a bit skeptical of hitting a 3:20 marathon based on that half time, though losing some weight will certainly help as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of your workouts.
15 miles is probably the longest I would suggest at running MP pace. There is an 25K race around here that is usually 3-4 weeks out from most major fall marathons that I use as a dry run at MP. I’d still suggest keeping the majority of your long runs relatively slow and if you want to add in long sections at MP do so every 3 or 4 weeks. I also try to negative split all of my runs, especially long runs.
My goal time at Snickers Marathon in Albany GA (march 6) is a little slower than yours (mine is 3:23, ie 7:45/mi). My MP workout will top out at 2 halfs at goal pace. I’ve done one (St. Jude, at 1:43) and I have another in Jackson MS (Blues Mary and half mary) I’ll crank down a little tighter 1:37. So as far as longest distance at MP thats it. I do integrate shorter MP workouts during the week, and do Yassos every 4 week cycle for more speed.
I do another thing that I flat out love, and I believe it helps. Every long run (LSD), I do the last 20 - 25 % (depending on the course I use, hills etc) at my MP. For instance my long yesterday was 15 miles, so I did 1-11 at 8:45 (my LSD pace) and 11-14 at 7:45 (my MP), then back to 845 for the last mile as cool down. I like it because it negative splits my workout, and gets me used to putting a 22 mile Smile on 
ie I’m used to upping the effort at that critical 22 mile mark (or 20 if thats your critical motivation slump). Hope this helps. . …
You really need to do both. Marathon pace runs prepare your body to run the distance at the pace you want to run it at. Threshold runs are a bit faster. these are efforts that are at a pace you can run for 1 hour. Threshold training is a key part of any program from middle distances up. The intensities which you run the tempo’s vary.
I would do your long run 1 week i.e 18-20 miles then second week you could do a warmup of 215-20 minutes then 4-4 -5 minuteswith 1 minute recovery then 1 hour easy then finish with another set. It is 2 hour run with varied intensity. week 3 due a Marathon pace run of 10-12 miles. Both are tempo’s but of varied heart rate one may have heart 85% and up while the marathon pace run might be at 80%.