Marathon plans - How did you run yours?

ecoli

We always have people asking about x y and z training plans so I thought while it is still fresh in peoples minds;

What plan did you use?

What were the pro's and cons you found in the plan?

Did you hit your target?

Did you follow to the letter or deviate? If so how much did you deviate?

ThePiedPiper

I saw this thread last night and was going to wait until somebody replied who had actually used a commercial training plan.

I've more or less developed my own training plan, based on following a Lydiard approach initially, but for this year's more aggressive time goal, taking the Canova approach of having a high % of mileage at MP +-10%. The 'plan' this year called for consistently high mileage in June/July with MP+60 seconds being easy pace, but having a progressively increasing number of miles per week in the MP range. From August onwards, that focus changed to targeting the MP miles, and working that around the mileage. Mileage stayed relatively modest, in the 50-65 range, but three times per week, I was running MP.

The pros of the plan are:
1. It made me really comfortable with my goal pace. The first few times hitting it were a mess, I was either too fast or too slow, it came naturally.
2. The base phase in July/August was not set in stone. When my body said I needed a recovery run, I did that. Different days, if I felt good on a planned easy run, I changed the focus mid-run to make a better session out of it.
3. The long running streak I had was a huge motivation. There were days I went out for a 10-13 mile just to keep a streak going.
4. Regular racing from late June until early August sharpened me a lot.

Cons of the plan:
1. High risk increase in mileage in June. I wouldn't advise what I did as a template.
2. The philosophy of looking for MP miles every week caused a bit of an injury scare back in July for a few days. I should never have been doing MP miles after physical work for hours.
3. Lack of real speed work led to another injury scare after a 3,000m race. Fitness was there, but in racing at a pace well beyond MP, it put strain on my body.
4. Relative length of the plan. I think by early September, I was really wishing the marathon to be upon me. Got very edgy as I had been more or less ready for the race since early August.

Did I hit my target? Very nearly, but not quite. The absolute target was a stretch goal, and I missed it by 50 seconds. But, in so many ways, that 50 seconds is completely irrelevant.

Following it to the letter? Well, my plan is not written down anywhere. I suppose in June/July, the less structured nature of it was especially good. There were times when I stuck too rigidly to my planned sessions in August/September, and times when I did sessions with much less quality than I would have planned.

Probably totally useless post as I don't follow a plan, but then, I believe my no specific plan approach is an excellent option.

ThePiedPiper

I saw this thread last night and was going to wait until somebody replied who had actually used a commercial training plan.

I've more or less developed my own training plan, based on following a Lydiard approach initially, but for this year's more aggressive time goal, taking the Canova approach of having a high % of mileage at MP +-10%. The 'plan' this year called for consistently high mileage (75-90) in June/July with MP+60 seconds being easy pace, but having a progressively increasing number of miles per week in the MP range. From August onwards, that focus changed to targeting the MP miles, and working that around the mileage. Mileage stayed relatively modest, in the 50-65 range, but three times per week, I was running MP.

The pros of the plan are:
1. It made me really comfortable with my goal pace. The first few times hitting it were a mess, I was either too fast or too slow, after a while it came naturally.
2. The base phase in June/July was not set in stone. When my body said I needed a recovery run, I did that. Different days, if I felt good on a planned easy run, I changed the focus mid-run to make a better session out of it.
3. The long running streak I had was a huge motivation. There were days I went out for a 10-13 mile just to keep a streak going.
4. Regular racing from late June until early August sharpened me a lot.

Cons of the plan:
1. High risk increase in mileage in June. I wouldn't advise what I did as a template.
2. The philosophy of looking for MP miles every week caused a bit of an injury scare back in July for a few days. I should never have been doing MP miles after physical work for hours.
3. Lack of real speed work led to another injury scare after a 3,000m race. Fitness was there, but in racing at a pace well beyond MP, it put strain on my body.
4. Relative length of the plan. I think by early September, I was really wishing the marathon to be upon me. Got very edgy as I had been more or less ready for the race since early August.

Did I hit my target? Very nearly, but not quite. The absolute target was a stretch goal, and I missed it by 50 seconds. But, in so many ways, that 50 seconds is completely irrelevant.

Following it to the letter? Well, my plan is not written down anywhere. I suppose in June/July, the less structured nature of it was especially good. There were times when I stuck too rigidly to my planned sessions in August/September, and times when I did sessions with much less quality than I would have planned.

Probably totally useless post as I don't follow a plan, but then, I believe my no specific plan approach is an excellent option.

woody1

intermediate 1. is stuck to my whiteboard so technically i followed that

pros.. 2 days rest and it just suited me from where i was starting or so i thought !!

cons .. not the plans fault but 5 days running a week is hard to do with 2 kids and better half working odd hours and weekend

no, i had a vague idea of 4.20 something to 4.30 , as a time i could live with rather than a target.. finished 4.42..

no didnt follow to the letter at all, 18 week plan, i did 13 or 14, only did 4 days a week, injury and sickness made a mess of last 3 weeks.. but i thought i had gotten away with it.. just did a quick tott there and theres over 900km in that plan , i have just 900 done for the whole year ! so i followed it in the sense that i occasionaly looked at it and used it as a reference for long runs..! cant be surprised it didnt work !

RayCun

RunForestRun wrote: »

4. Relative length of the plan. I think by early September, I was really wishing the marathon to be upon me. Got very edgy as I had been more or less ready for the race since early August.

If you were doing it again, would you leave it later to focus on MP miles?

ThePiedPiper

RayCun wrote: »

If you were doing it again, would you leave it later to focus on MP miles?

No, I don't think so RayCun. I suppose I found it a bit psychologically hard to try and maintain the momentum, physically I don't think it was a problem. But then, it was as much the stress of starting a new job in September that made it seem harder to maintain where I was.

For me, it was the perfect training cycle. If I was to do it all again, I would choose a mid-late September marathon. I certainly think that I could have run 2:48-49 in September, but its really fine margins, and hard to really make that judgement.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Followed the 1 long run plan (copyrighted by JB) and paced the 3.20 group home. :rolleyes:

I actually had my running club follow an adapted JD plan with my own twist/sessions included. It was a 5k/10k specific 8 week plan leading into a 14 week marathon specific. People felt it was demanding enough but the majority got the result they worked for. I will follow a similar plan myself with slightly higher mileage than i prescribed when i race my next one.

Trampas

I followed P&D 55 12 week plan started around week 4 of it but was clocking up miles before then so just wanted a bit more structure.

Just missed #1 goal by 3 mins. Hoped 3.45 and got 3.47.59 but over 30 mins better than last year and ran every inch this year.

Only thing I don't like about plans is it can take away the enjoyment of running as you have to run today x distance at x pace but plus side it gives you a structure or running.

Didn't follow it to law but pretty much close enough.

On day I find it a benefit to have someone to run with to help you through the rough patch and helps miles go faster

ooter

i followed the HH novice 1 programme and did all 72 training runs.to be honest i found it very easy to follow,i was already running 3 days a week so adding 1 extra day on wasn't too difficult.i did struggle with the last few LSR's but that was understandable seeing as the furthest i'd run before the programme was 10k.
i was on target up to mile 20 but then the wheels fell off,i did manage to come in well under my plan b time so i was more than happy with that.
the one thing that disappointed me was that my average pace per mile for the marathon was almost identical to my LSR pace,i was running them at 1 min per mile slower than my PMP.

MisterDrak

Initially I had intended to follow the Hal Higdon Advance Plan 2, and didfor first 2 weeks in July. I quickly dropped that in favour of what would bebest described as a "club hand me down plan"!!!

Main reason being that I was running with a group that had a goal timesimilar to my own (Sub 3:10), with the "group coach" targeting asub 3. This was the first time that I specifically trained with a group for anyrace.

Our week probably looked similar to most other plans, but I felt that therewas a bigger focus on MP miles than most of the commercial plans I seediscussed here.

• Sunday, LSR (Steady or MP)
• Monday, Easy
• Tuesday, Tempo
• Wednesday, Easy
• Thursday, MLR - Steady pace with hills. (Bast*rd of a session)
• Friday, Rest
• Saturday, Track (initially 400's with an increase to mile reps closer to Marathon day.

Most of our LSR's would be conducted at 7:2X pace, with two (20milers) at7:16, 7:14 respectively, usually with the last 5-6 miles being the fastest.

What worked for me:

1. Running in a group. I found the Thursday MLR hills difficult, and wouldusually drop off the pace from say mile 10, however with 5-6 ahead of me Iwould still push on hard.

2. Lots MP miles. On Marathon Monday I was 90% confident I could hit my target time,simply because (we) trained for months at those paces on the longer Sundaymiles.

3. A parkrun and a blowout (2*2 mile) 2 and 1 week before the Marathon.

4. Augmented the running with 2 days of gym work and core. Felt it gave meadded strength.

5. The LSR, loved these.

6. Training with faster runners.

What did not:

1. I missed some of the track sessions or the mile reps that could haveadded some additional speed effort.

Did I hit my Target,

Yes 3:07:24. Also In pretty good shape after the race considering my age:P:P:P

statss

I followed the P & D 18/55 to get a 3.17 after using Hal Higdon Novice II to get 3.38 for my first.

I really enjoyed the P & D plan, especially the focus on heart rate zones. However as the plan progressed I got anxious about paces (I was running to the "correct" heart rate zones initially but getting no where near the paces I wanted) so towards the later stages I ditched running to heart rate zones in favour of trying to nail the goal paces. Going by HR LSR's were around 8.45-9.00 but going by paces I was running them around 8.15-8.30. I wonder had I stuck to HR zones what would have happened, who knows.


I struggled with the MP runs and LT sessions, rarely hitting my targets, but, they brought me on nonetheless and got easier as the plan went on. I found the focus on easy running greatly improved my overall fitness. I would use the plan again as I'd hope to be able to execute the sessions more efficiently at the second attempt. I would have much preferred to follow the club marathon plan & train with that group but couldn't commit to their schedule, but P & D was a good substitute I feel. Sometimes, at the beginning, I would swap out an LT session for a club speed session. This was an error in hindsight as I missed the progressive benefits of repeat attempts at the LT sessions.

I was 2 minutes outside my target in the end but happy with the outcome as the target was a fluid one, originally it was 3.20, then I had designs on 3.10, but settled on a 3.15 attempt after 2 x 91 minutes half's.

I'd certainly recommend it for a second time marathoner.