Hansons Method

dirkmeister

Less than 3 weeks out from Edinburgh now and I had my last 16 mile run yesterday morning.

Starting to feel very confident now, I’ve been hitting my targets in the tempo runs pretty comfortably. I find the hardest part is not getting carried away near the end of the run to push things harder.

My first marathon last year came in at 4:05 after the wheels came off in spectacular fashion after 18 miles.

I followed this up with a 1:38 in the Waterford half last December which gave my confidence a huge boost.

If things go well I am hopeful of 3:45.

Edit: My tempo runs are being run at 5:00 per km and I’m hitting them all along with strength runs but I think I’m still a bit nervous after the last marathon that it could all go belly up.

I think I said it on this thread before but one thing I have noticed with this block in contrast to my last marathon effort is I am running my easy runs much slower than I did last year and I find it definitely helps me to hit the strength/ tempo work hard.

As it turned out I was in Limerick over the weekend for a family event so ended up doing my run around the city.

Well done to all who raced in that heat. It looked to have caught out quite a few.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103175#Comment_122103175

All the best. Why 5:00/k tempo though? These are supposed to be at marathon pace.

dirkmeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103988#Comment_122103988

Thanks, Murph. I think 3:30 is doable but I’d need a lot to go right. That’s why I’ve been using that pace.

For example on my first 16k tempo last week my 2k splits were 5:03,4:59,4:56,5:00,4:59,5:04,4:58 and 4:55.

I felt great after it.

3:45 could be ridiculously conservative. It could just be the fear of blowing up again.

In all honesty, training has gone great. I have only missed 5km from one 13km run over the whole block whereas last year we had a newborn to contend with and training suffered near the end.

Writing this post, I think the biggest obstacle to contend could be my head.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122104257#Comment_122104257

Well I suppose the crucial question is whether 3:30 marathon pace is sustainable, and your recent HM time suggests it is, so it was a well chosen and slightly conservative training pace. All the best in Edinburgh.

Outside

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster on this thread but I had to pop in to report another Hanson success story at the Limerick Marathon this weekend. My last couple of marathons didn't go great, just dying a death in the second half. Last year's Dublin marathon bonk was probably my own nutrition mistakes rather than the plan I was following. But for the Limerick block this year, inspired by this thread I said I might as well give it a go. I ended up following the last 12 weeks of the Advanced Marathon plan without any modifications or issues luckily. Goal was 2:59. Went through first half in 1:28:45 (54th place) and went on to finish 2:57:56 (38th place). Absolutely delighted. A slight positive split but I'll take that considering the 2nd half this year. Every hill I felt like I was backing off pace and taking it easy but still found myself going faster than others beside me. I always felt I had an extra gear. A very stage experience. The plan works for sure. Even though I had my doubts, I stuck to the 16 mile long run and 10 day easy run taper. Thanks to all the all the regular posters here, this thread is a nice Hanson faq trove of information.

MooShop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105250#Comment_122105250

Out of interest what sort of weekly mileage were you doing before starting the advanced plan? Well done on your time, a great achievement, ran Limerick as well on Sunday, found the second half quite tough, especially the last 5 miles but I came away with an 11 min PB to dip under 3:14, targeting 3:15!

Sandwell

Currently mulling over plans for the Frankfurt marathon this autumn and wondering whether following Hanson for a third year in a row is a good idea or not. I've had great success with it but I'm a bit concerned that three times in a row might lead to a lack of motivation, particularly given the repetitive nature of the plan. It does suit my schedule particularly well, however, so switching to something like Pfitz or JD might be counter-productive.

chabsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105919#Comment_122105919

To me that's a no-brainer. Proven track record of it working for you? Fits your routine well? I'd be doing a third Hansons no question. Maybe if you're running Frankfurt without a time in mind then I'd mix it up, but if you're aiming for a time then why mess with the winning formula?

Outside

Hey MooShop, well done on the PB! They were hard earned on Sunday for sure! Especially an 11 min one!

I didn't do a whole pile after Dublin marathon 2023 (3:05:19). I ended up spraining my ankle the start of November so took a few weeks to get back again but then it was winter/holiday season so backed off anyway.

I wanted to start into again in January but ended up getting COVID then the middle of January so weeks were as follows:

Week 6 05.02 - 11.02 6x 85,8 km

Week 5 29.01 - 04.02 5x 45,7 km

Week 4 22.01 - 28.01 2x 14,0 km

Week 3 15.01 - 21.01 2x 20,9 km

Week 2 08.01 - 14.01 4x 50,1 km

Week 1 01.01 - 07.01 5x 64,2 km

Week 6 was the start of the 12 week Hanson block so I had to ramp it up a little fast. Ideally I would have gradually built it up from 18 weeks out for sure, especially the Thursday’s. The first few weeks of the Thursday tempo runs were very difficult.

What I really liked about the Thursday tempo was you had a good weekly pace/heart rate/effort level to gauge how things were progressing. It takes a few weeks but you can really see it improving after 6/7 weeks of those sessions. That was the only session I wore a HR monitor for. Easy was always easy and never pushed a pace for these. They ended up being anything from 5:00/km to 5:45/km. I felt that was very important to make sure I was getting full active recovery to be ready for the next session. I see too many people with “Easy” pace being 30/40s/km slower than their planned MP which makes no sense to me.

MooShop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122107249#Comment_122107249

Thanks for the great reply - I've read half of the Hanson's book before, must start reading it again. I currently have a coach and it's working well for me but would like to try Hanson's at some stage in the future.

dirkmeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122103175#Comment_122103175

Got home in 3:31 today.

Absolutely delighted with that.

Bit of a hairy final 10k when the sun decided to make an appearance but really felt strong for the majority.

Sandwell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122187220#Comment_122187220

Super stuff, congratulations. That goal time of 3:45 was clearly selling yourself short.

dirkmeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122187355#Comment_122187355

Thanks, Sandwell.

I was confident from pretty early on that I’d get extremely close to 3:30.

I will definitely be using the plan for my next shot at a marathon.

But for now it’s time to relax and spend some time with the family!

Sean Quagmire

Hi All, would anyone have the Hansen excel sheet for 2024 DCM? I've searched through the forum and no joy.

Mitch Buchannon

While not strictly exel, the link below is very handy for plans. It has Hansons as well as a few others. It will adjust the schedule based on your marathon date. Hopefully it's of some help to you.

https://www.expl.space/plan

Sandwell

Just a heads up about this. The Advanced plan doesn't tally exactly with the version in the book (2nd edition). There are fairly substantial differences in total weekly mileage but the main issue is that the book prescribes a steady long run every second week whereas the calendar version just lists every Sunday as a long run.

I've just started Hanson Advanced for a third year in a row as I prepare for the Frankfurt marathon. I'm jumping in on week 3 and will be adding a good bit of extra mileage on the easy days but will stick to the workouts as set out in the book. Already dreading the Thursday tempos!

Sean Quagmire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357844#Comment_122357844

thanks for that!

I have the 2023 excel version from this forum. life saver. Was hoping someone updated it for 2024

Sean Quagmire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122358444#Comment_122358444

I'm an idiot.

It was the hal higdon method I followed. that was the one I was looking for 2024.