After I found out that the marathon class that I had signed up for at the Y had been canceled, I spent a couple of days sulking and pouting. Then - powered by lemon blueberry cupcakes - I came out of my funk and started poking around the internets to find a marathon training program. I wanted a training schedule that only called for four or five days of running because I want to lift weights at least once a week and do some yoga a couple of times a week, too. I only have so many hours to work out a week, and I don't think it's good for me to spend all of them running. Ultimately I picked a Runner's World program designed for a sub 5 hour marathon. Most weeks it calls for four days of running and at least one day of active rest. Once a month it calls for an additional day of running to do a timed mile. Like many marathon training plans, it is a 16 week program. Since the Chicago Marathon is only 14 weeks away and since I had ran a marathon last month and a 10K less than two weeks ago, I decided to come in at week three of this program. My only doubt about this plan is that it calls for pretty much all of the easy runs - not just the long runs - to be run at a pace that is slower than marathon race pace. I would love some feedback from more experienced runners because I'm not sure I have the patience to run all of my 3-6 milers at around a 12min/mile pace.
I also decided that I want a more tactile journaling experience for logging the miles during this training cycle. So I bought myself a binder and a notebook and have been creating a marathon journal for Chicago. In it I'm keeping track of what my training schedule calls for and what I actually did, of course. What makes this different from just logging my training on daily mile or another program, though, is that I'm also creating motivational collages, jotting down things that inspire me, etc. I think I'll like having everything all in one place this time.
Next week I have a scheduled session with a sports psychologist who is a marathoner to talk over my goals. She specializes in the mental component of training, and I believe that following my training program and working with her on visualization techniques and so forth will allow me to achieve my goal of not only showing up at the start line of Chicago, but completing the race in under 5:00:00.
Week 1 Training Schedule (for simplicity's sake I'm calling this week 1 instead of week 3):
Monday - 4 miles easy
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 4 miles - hillwork
Thursday - active rest (lifting and x-train)
Friday - 4 miles easy
Saturday - 9 miles
Sunday - rest
Are you currently training for a marathon or half-marathon? If so, what kind of training program are you using? What do you see as its pros and cons?
Hey there! I used a book called The Marathon Method by Tom Holland for my last marathon (I ran it in 3:56). He also advocated 4 days per week of running + 2 days of lower body strengthening/core exercise on the days that you didn't run. I felt like it was a really good fit for me. I am not so sure about running all of your runs "slow." He is big on running your long runs 1 to 1-1/2 minutes slower than race pace. On other days, I did some faster runs/hills. I did a hybrid of his plans. I used the mileage of his Intermediate Plan (It peaked at 1- 40 mile week.) with a bit of the speed/hills of his Advanced Plan (which had too much mileage for me at that point in my training).
ReplyDeleteIf your Runner's World plan doesn't work out, I recommend Tom's book. He also does some visualization and self-talk in it.
PS-According to my coach, you need to do at least 2 days per week of lower body/core to make a difference, so I recommend adding another day to your plan if possible.
I'm interested to hear what you'll be learning from the psychologist throughout your training! Or is this a one-time meeting only?
ReplyDeleteLemon blueberry cupcakes? That sounds amazing.
I'm currently training for neither. But I've not heard of a program that calls for ALL of it's runs slower than race pace, but my run coach wants most of our runs, even the short ones, to be slower than race pace. But he does have us to tempo runs and speedwork that gets to race pace for at least portions of runs. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteI never do my long runs at a minute or whatever it calls for slower than marathon pace. I don't have the patience for that either!
ReplyDeleteHey, I ran my first half-marathon in Chicago! I bet the marathon is even more fun :-)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of your marathon journal. In this age of everything digital, I think there is something really fun and wonderful about a journal, chart, list, etc. that you can hold in your hand and mark up with a pen. And you can always take pictures of your journal if you want to share something on the blog!
When I train I use a plan but always customize it for my goals and /or schedule. I am pretty sure you can up that easy pace 30 seconds for those shorter runs and not do any damage. It works for me, not that I am hugely experienced or any thing. Honestly, I have found a huge schism out there for us slower runners. There are many excellent plans for faster runners and precious few good ones for slow people. Some folks seems to think that if it takes you 5 hours to run a race that you are not really competing, by virtue of our slow paces we really are not racing, so we must be out of shape enough to need to go really really slow for our training. I even heard a coach echo this once. My experience is that it is hard to find very competative plans for the slower set. In the long run a live coach, sensitive to your needs, or a customized plan may be your best bet. Good luck! Starting a new training cycle is always an exiting adventure!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the schism for slower runners. I don't feel like I'm out of shape, even though I'm by no means fast.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons that I was really looking forward to the marathon class was to be able to work with a coach, who might be able to help me tailor a program for multiple goals - including generally getting faster as well as my main goal of the sub 5 hour marathon. Right now I'm upping the easy pace by 30-90 seconds on the short easy runs because I don't want to run so slow that I put a PR at my next half marathon out of range.
I'm really excited for it! I think it's going to be an incredible experience and atmosphere!
ReplyDeleteThe shorter easy runs do get faster and some of them call for a couple of miles to be run at race pace, but aside from the timed miles this plan doesn't really call for any speedwork. I think I'm going to try to at least throw some faster intervals into one run a week if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteWe're meeting once a month for about an hour. I'll definitely post about our sessions.
ReplyDeleteThey were divine. I'm going to do a post about them later today.
Thanks so much for your comment and suggestions, Allison! Sometimes I think I get an even better lower body/core workout from yoga than from my weight lifting sessions, but I think you're right about trying to get another day of lower body/core work into the mix.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to talk with a sports psychologist, tell us about your experience after you go! I have a big event in 4 weeks and would love to hear any tips you pass along. Of course, that makes me a total free-rider, so feel free to ignore my request!
ReplyDeleteWell this is strange: at work I use IE and there I can't comment on your blog. At home using Firefox I can. Weird.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow good for you for starting your half marathon training. I'm training for my first half in October and use an online coach program from the Dutch Runners World site. Pro is that it also gives me the paces I should run. Don't have any cons yet only that there might be a little more speedwork/temporun involved but I've added that myself.
My last 2 marathons (but not for my upcoming 50k) I followed Run Less Run Faster plan that has me running 3 days a week. Two days of speed work (one track, one tempo) and my long runs eventually get to mp. Worked well for the first two...all that cross training really made me a stronger athlete!
ReplyDeleteI've picked out my next half marathon (November in NC!) and I already made up a plan. (Work has been slow...) I based my plan on Hal Higdon's intermediate half marathon plan. I would like to PR at this race and am shooting for a 1:55. That said, I generally only run 4-5 times a week. Like you, I like to cross train with yoga and strength and the occasional spin class or swim, and there are not enough hours in the day to do all of that. Four runs a week plus cross training has worked for me in the past, so I'm sticking with it!
ReplyDeleteAs for the shorter runs, I usually do them faster than the plans call for. I usually keep my longer run at the recommended pace. What I really need to focus on this year is speed work. I always intend to do it and I never follow through.
Good luck with your training and your race!
I am training for a half righ tnow. I was going to use Hal Higdon's program, but now I joined this running group and they plan the workouts for you. Most are training for a marathon so I will prob be over prepared (although I would do the exact same workouts as everyone else...)
ReplyDeleteWhen I trained for my marathons, I used Hal Hidgon's plans and he said to run your long runs slower than marathon race pace. But I was not very good about doing that as I was too impatient to go slower!
Let me know how it goes... It sounds like to me you are already headed down the right path!
ReplyDeleteTina, I will definitely post about the experience!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo for already having picked out a NC race in the fall! I look forward to following your training and reading about you crushing your PR!
ReplyDeleteSo, I am training for a half (or 2), but I follow a program from my local running club. Lately I have had no interest in training and I'm injured, so I'm not really sure what to think. The program I'm using has us running 4-5 days a week, which I think might actually be too much. Cross training a few days a week and only running 3 seems like it might be easier on my body.
ReplyDeleteHi, Sarah. I've run several half-marathons, and I never ran more than 4 days a week. For most of my training, I ran three days a week (two short runs and one long run that kept getting longer to get me close to race distance). I also cross-trained with biking and yoga. So I think your idea about running fewer days, especially if you are nursing an injury, is worth trying! I think for some runners, more can be too much.
ReplyDeleteGood luck :-)
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