Marathon Running Prog

sensei4

Any advice for this problem I have been running for about 12 months running about 3 times per week which includes 1 long run at this stage about 16 miles the short runs are between 5 and 7 miles I also change to do some interval and fartleg type training on other days I do 50minsweights in the gym. I am thinking of running the Dunlin City marathon using a running program should I reduce my long run to slot into this program or whats the best advice also most programs appear to only go up to 20miles for the long run I am a bit worried about this as I have nebver ran a marathon before and feel that it might be better for my confidence if I ran a distance nearer to 26miles Any advice would be greatfully appreciated.

ecoli

sensei4 wrote: »

Any advice for this problem I have been running for about 12 months running about 3 times per week which includes 1 long run at this stage about 16 miles the short runs are between 5 and 7 miles I also change to do some interval and fartleg type training on other days I do 50minsweights in the gym. I am thinking of running the Dunlin City marathon using a running program should I reduce my long run to slot into this program or whats the best advice also most programs appear to only go up to 20miles for the long run I am a bit worried about this as I have nebver ran a marathon before and feel that it might be better for my confidence if I ran a distance nearer to 26miles Any advice would be greatfully appreciated.

My advice would be to maintain the long run you are doing. The plans here are designed with lower mileage LSR to allow for the build up but you seem to be at that level of fitness already. If you struggle with some of the increase of mileage in your other runs however you can cut this back a bit.
Most marathon plans go to 22 miles max for a few reasons the most important being that after 18 miles your glycogen stores in the muscles begin to deplete and doing this too often will leave you too fatigued and produce erratic performances. Dont worry about the final few miles as between the taper and the nerves and excitement they will provide the energy to get through the rest of your marathon.
Best of luck with your plan do you have a time in mind or just out to set a marker?

sensei4

Thanks for that I am hoping to do 4.30 I have done my first half marathon at 2.08

Krusty_Clown

It sounds like you're in good shape for an October (Dublin) marathon. I would recommend finding a training program that fits your current mileage and number of weekly work-outs, and sticking to it as closely as possible. A program will give you the balance of increasing your mileage at a gradual rate, while also minimizing the risk of injury through rest/recovery days and the all important taper. Perhaps have a look at Hal Higdon's Intermediate II program as it sounds like you could drop straight into it. For their first marathon, very few people would stretch beyond the 20 mile mark. Good luck!

sensei4

In the Hal Hidgons program one of the days the run is 6M pace and the next day just a 6m run what is meant by ppace

RayCun

Pace is Planned Marathon Pace.
You're aiming for a 4.30 marathon, so that's a little faster than 10 minutes per mile.

Krusty_Clown

sensei4 wrote: »

In the Hal Hidgons program one of the days the run is 6M pace and the next day just a 6m run what is meant by ppace

If you click on the hyperlink for the week number, Hal describes the week's sessions. Pace means race pace. So if you're planning to do the marathon in 4:30, you would do the miles at 10:17/mile (approx). Long runs should be done slower than that.

Week 15 is tough, as you have 10 miles at planned marathon pace on Saturday followed by a long run on the Sunday, but it'll condition you well for your first marathon.

sensei4

Thanks lads Im new to running but have trained in other sports for years I have dine 5m at 39.30 and 6m at 54.54 my Kildare Half marathon time was 2.08 at the half way stage my time was bang on for a 2.0 hour finish but Ifound the last two miles very hard I think because I stayed with the 2 hour pacemaker most of the way which taught me a lesson. Im not very good at working out expected times

Krusty_Clown

If you ran 2:08 for the half then 4:25-4:30 sounds about right. I believe there are 4:30 pacers for Dublin marathon, so you could stick with them for the first 23 miles, and push-on if you feel like you have the legs.

sensei4

Using Hal Hidgons intermediate schedule 2 there are five days running if it was necessary to cut out one day which day would be least disruptive. I assume you must keep the long run and the slightly shorter run before the long run. Also can one of the short runs be done as interval training or fartleg type run

Krusty_Clown

It's your training program, so you can do whatever you like, however, the way the HH program is structured is that the long run on Sunday is never longer than the three runs mid-week, so would be losing some value by dropping a session.

If you want to add the additional stress of fartlegs, then you could do them on a Tuesday. Intervals take more out of you so you want to have a build-up run the day before (possibly with fartlegs / strides iand some kind of rest or recovery day the day after. Based on the fact that it's your first marathon, speed should be a secondary concern after endurance/finishing/enjoying the race. Also your Kildare experience suggests that your focus should be on endurance. I would give the intervals a miss this time around.