Marathon training schedule, does anyone know about this one

Sara83

Hi
Ive been following the Noel Carroll 6month marathon training schedule which was published in the fit4life booklet by Athletics Ireland which was given out at many races this year. It involved running 6 days a week and it has built up to
mon 40mins
tues 1hr 30mins
wed 40 mins
thurs 1hr 30mins
fri 40mins
sat 2hrs
sun rest
This continues for a few weeks as above and the next level tuesdays run is reduced to 1hr and saturdays run is 2hr 30mins. From then it winds down for two weeks to marathon day.

Ive become highly concerned as my 2hr run only covers 10miles, people are talking on this section about doing multiple 18mile plus runs, hence my worry!!

Has anyone else any experience with this training schedule, I picked it because it was published by Athletics Ireland but Im now afraid Ive made a mistake.

tunguska

Sara83 wrote: »

Hi
Ive been following the Noel Carroll 6month marathon training schedule which was published in the fit4life booklet by Athletics Ireland which was given out at many races this year. It involved running 6 days a week and it has built up to
mon 40mins
tues 1hr 30mins
wed 40 mins
thurs 1hr 30mins
fri 40mins
sat 2hrs
sun rest
This continues for a few weeks as above and the next level tuesdays run is reduced to 1hr and saturdays run is 2hr 30mins. From then it winds down for two weeks to marathon day.

Ive become highly concerned as my 2hr run only covers 10miles, people are talking on this section about doing multiple 18mile plus runs, hence my worry!!

Has anyone else any experience with this training schedule, I picked it because it was published by Athletics Ireland but Im now afraid Ive made a mistake.

This is what I dont like about following prescribed programs, you get in so deep that you cant see the woods for the trees. What I mean by that is you follow someone elses method and trust it but its not suited to you as an individual but you dont see this immediately because you believe this program is the way to train properly.
I said it before, everybody has to work out their own training program for themselves. By all means use other programs like the Noel carroll one as a guide but ultimately you gotta go by what you feel is the best way to do things. You may make mistakes(actually theres no "may" about it, you'll make mistakes)but you'll never know what you're truly made of unless you find things out for yourself. One mans limit is another mans warm-up.
Take a step back and have a look at things(which in fairness you seem to be doing). If you plan to run 26 miles it stands to reason that your training will closely mimic that distance. Running 10 miles wont do it. It doesnt matter if it takes you 4hrs to run 20 miles in training, this is what you gotta do. It might take you 4hrs one time but the next time you'll do it in 3:50. Certainly use pace as a factor in your training but also use distance. Your body will adapt, and quickly. But as a basic rule of thumb your training should, as closely as possible match race conditions.

Irishrm

You going to put up a quick post on this. If 10 miles is the max distance you have covered at this stage it is not enough. Check out www.halhigdon.com and read his novice or intermediate training programs, myself and my friends have used these and they have served us well. Good practical training programs for various levels of athlete with good descriptions of how you should train during each week. I'm not familiar with the Noel Carroll program but maybe compare the two and see if there is a much of a difference...