OT: Marathon Training

essex-commuter

Just wondered if any runners had thoughts on this...

A member of my running club is currently regularly running 15 miles at a decent pace at the weekends. She is doing the London marathon in April and wants to go under 4 hours. She says she has downloaded a plan to follow...which starts in the middle of December with 3 mile runs.

My opinion is that if she is already doing 15's why would she suddenly go back to running 3's. Obviously if the plan calls for speedwork or hill reps etc then that is fine, but would you go back to square one and start with 3 mile regular runs for a few weeks when you can comfortably run 15's?

I know what I would do but I've been doing this marathon lark for many years and maybe I stick with what I know.

asprilla

I wouldn't.

I'd be doing one reasonable pace 15km a week, one 10km with either hills or sprint intervals and a weekend run that slowly extends to from her current distance to 35km and then tapers before the event.

clarkey cat

I used this when I did it and found it really useful.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Experts-Guide-M ... 1842229400

dhope

Have only done a few 1/2 marathons but I'd certainly not consider going back to 3 mile runs if I started training for a full marathon.
If it were me I'd likely look at the plan and guestimate whereabouts I was, then join it at that point, maybe taking a bit longer on each step so that it still finishes around the same point.

kelsen

Sounds like she's downloaded a beginner's training plan whereas she should really be starting at intermediate level.

essex-commuter

dhope wrote:

If it were me I'd likely look at the plan and guestimate whereabouts I was, then join it at that point, maybe taking a bit longer on each step so that it still finishes around the same point.

Exactly.

Gussio

The Runner's World training plans are pretty good. Perhaps she could use those as a cross reference? They are available free to download online.

Shorter runs are great for speedwork and other quality miles, as you point out. Just running 15 miles at a good pace, regularly or otherwise, is not necessarily an indication of being able to run a good marathon. Keeping the weekly miles total up in a sensible manner is perhaps the most important thing, especially when it comes to avoiding injury. I like to follow a plan, but am prepared to back off if muscles start to complain. Different things for different people.

vorsprung

cougie

Shes got the wrong schedule.

Tell her to go on the runners world forums - they will help her out. Theres clearly no need to go back to 3 miles as your long run, but not every run should be long either. She needs a mix of nice easy steady miles that build to over 20 miles, some speedwork - so shorter and harder intervals, and some race paced miles too.

ex-pat scot

+1 on the RW forums.
Their schedules are really good and presume a basic level of fitness before starting the 16 / 18 week programmes.
NB these are designed to get you to the point where you are running long slow runs (note the SLOW) peaking at 20m, 3 or 4 weeks before the marathon.
If she's already at steady 15 mile LSR then I'd advise the more advanced approach of "5 longest runs at least 100 miles", as advocated by Bruce Fordyce and others.
Basic plan is to take her current 15m LSR up to 20m over a few weeks of gradual progression. Then maintain a pattern of 20m / 20m / 12m / 20m / 20m / 12m on consecutive weekends, if she can manage it.

The other element of a successful training plan is consistent efforts for the rest of the week.
Recovery 4m Mon or rest
Fast 4-5m Tues (intervals, fartlek or general mara pace)
Recovery 4m Wed
Fast 5-6m Thurs (tempo middle section @ 10k pace)
Rest Fri
Steady 6-7m Sat
Sun LSR - working towards 20m regularly. And SLOWLY. Biggest marathon training mistake is doing LSR too fast.

It doesn't have to be any more complicated really.
For a sub 4 goal then speedwork plays little role really. That's 9 minute miles, which doesn't constitute "speedwork" at all.
of course it's a separate question as to whether 4hrs is realistic, whether they are ready for a marathon at all, how they can cope with potential increased schedule etc.

bigmat

She should just keep doing what she is doing, if she can already run 15 miles she'll be fine. I had never run further than 15 miles when I started the marathon and I clocked under 4 hours.