After Cork

babalobioddy

Hi.
A bit of advice if possible. I had a good day in Cork yesterday finished in 3.21 a pb for me. Im aiming to do longford in August, im looking for a training schedule that will help me achieve my best I think i have a 3 hr marathon in me or mabye not but Id sure like to try.

Thanks

Krusty_Clown

babalobioddy wrote: »

Hi.
A bit of advice if possible. I had a good day in Cork yesterday finished in 3.21 a pb for me. Im aiming to do longford in August, im looking for a training schedule that will help me achieve my best I think i have a 3 hr marathon in me or mabye not but Id sure like to try.

Thanks

If you take a couple of weeks for rest and recovery (which you should), you'll have 9 weeks to train for Longford, which really isn't enough time to get through a complete marathon program (the shortest are typically 12 weeks). Would you not aim for Dublin Marathon instead?

I would recommend Pfiztinger and Douglas Advanced Marathoning. Great programs for those who have run a couple of marathons and are looking for a decent improvement (I followed these plans with similar goals to yourself: I moved from 3:21 to 3:00, 2:55, 2:48 following these programs). Again though, the shortest program is 12 weeks.

ger664

P & D has schedules for doing multi marathons but it does stress that it is not the best way to achieve a personal time. You would have a better chance of a sub 3 with 2/3 weeks rest and recovery and then start an 18 week schedule for Dublin.

opus

babalobioddy wrote: »

Hi.
A bit of advice if possible. I had a good day in Cork yesterday finished in 3.21 a pb for me. Im aiming to do longford in August, im looking for a training schedule that will help me achieve my best I think i have a 3 hr marathon in me or mabye not but Id sure like to try.

Thanks

I'm not dissimilar to you with my apres-Cork program but am planning a two week break & then starting a 13 week P&D program for the Berlin marathon at the end of Sept (13 weeks cause I've a bit of a holiday in the middle).

I'd agree with the other posters that Aug might be a bit soon as you'd be cutting things very tight for the time gain you're looking for. As it happens I ran a marathon seven weeks before Cork & followed the P&D multi-marathon schedule but didn't feel as 'good' for Cork as the previous one.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

tHE vAGGABOND

Dublin is 21 weeks away I think - so take a week off and head into that..

All the real running nerds never shut up about P & D in terms of serious running plans

Krusty_Clown

ger664 wrote: »

P & D has schedules for doing multi marathons but it does stress that it is not the best way to achieve a personal time. You would have a better chance of a sub 3 with 2/3 weeks rest and recovery and then start an 18 week schedule for Dublin.

Further to Ger's post, you're better off following a normal P&D plan before following one of their multi-marathon plans, as these tend to build on the foundations (building blocks) of the initial plans. I don't think they ever set these out to be run as standalone plans.

Krusty_Clown

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

All the real running nerds never shut up about P & D in terms of serious running plans

Jack Daniel's running formula would be a viable alternative, but it would take you 14 weeks to read and correctly interpret the book.

Woddle

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Jack Daniel's running formula would be a viable alternative, but it would take you 14 weeks to read and correctly interpret the book.

Couldn't agree more, I bought the book a couple of years ago and it's only now finally starting to make sense.

babalobioddy

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I think I will give Longford a miss, I know I could finish in a respectable time but Id hardly achive a new pb. Dublin does sound more possible for a pb. I suppose for the inital few days after a realy satisfying run you feel invincable.