The 2023 Graduates Thread - What's Next?

Bungy Girl · 18-03-2024 7:49pm

I extended Week 6 by a day to get my long run in earlier today (a nice 10 miler in the Phoenix Park). Took a detour into the War Memorial Park which I'd never set foot in before despite living in Dublin for a million years. Got both sessions done this week as well, go me. Found myself thinking about marathon training now again, must be the extra daylight 😂. I had a look at both the beginners and the intermediate grad plans and can't see much between them at all, maybe just a bit more intensity in the speed sessions on the intermediate plan ? Anyway, loads of time to decide.

Just over 26 miles for the (8 day) week. An improvement on the last couple of weeks anyway so hopefully back on track.

Mr. Guappa · 19-03-2024 4:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121907452#Comment_121907452

Nice going on the consistency there, and I think you've hit the nail on the head regarding the long run distance. I'm not entirely sure of your easy pace, but honestly, not matter what it is, a 90 minute long run is plenty for now while you build things back up. Once you've established that distance as part of a weekly routine, then you could look to add a little to it, but even then, I'd probably add to one of the midweek 5k's before adding to the long run. It can be tempting to ramp things up too quickly on a return from a layoff, but a bit of restraint will usually pay off in the long term.

Mr. Guappa · 19-03-2024 8:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909862#Comment_121909862

It's never too early to be looking at marathon plans!! The Wednesday session of the Intermediate plan has a bit more bite to it compared to the Beginner plan, but the main difference is the Saturday run. You'll notice the Sunday Long Run alternates every second week between a standard easy run and something a bit tougher. On those weeks with a vanilla easy long run, the Saturday run on the Intermediate plan is usually 60 mins moderate/steady. I usually added a warm-up and cool down to that, which meant I was doing the Long Run on nicely tired legs. Those easy runs on tired legs are great preparation for the marathon, and the feeling of running big distances having run at a decent clip the day before was one of my favourite things about that plan both times I followed it.

bazwaldo · 20-03-2024 7:18pm

Slowly (in more ways than one) I'm getting back into a better routine. Had a few days sick a couple of weeks ago which was a minor blip in upping the weekly KMs. Hit 40km last week with 6 days running, which was mostly easy and then two runs with intervals. I am yet to get around to anything over 10k since the marathon and want to get better at making the time to get a proper long run in each weekend, especially with the weather getting a bit better. Also looking forward to a parkrun but something keeps getting in the way each Sat morning. I'd really like to get back into them as when I was doing them regularly, I could see slight improvements over time, and it's a good way to push yourself that extra bit when surrounded by a few others. I usually squeeze in a strength and conditioning workout and yoga once a week too. For the running plan, I'm still using the Garmin watch suggested runs. It's convenient and simple to follow so does the job for now.

Bungy Girl · 20-03-2024 8:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121914259#Comment_121914259

Ok, cool, thanks @Mr. Guappa . I'll take a closer look at the intermediate plan so. I was half thinking I'd just do the Novices plan again seeing as it worked out well, but it's probably time for me to step it up a notch. I suppose with both the grads plans, with them done by time rather than distance, I was thinking I wouldn't get as many miles in as I did with the Novices given my easy pace is pretty slow (approx 17 miles = 3 hours and 14 miles approx = 2.5 hours).

Mr. Guappa · 25-03-2024 6:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121919282#Comment_121919282

I used similar paces the first time I did the Intermediate plan, 3 hours was 18 miles approx. I did do a 20 miler, and also added a little to some of the other long runs, turning 15/16 miles into 17/18 miles. But, another (maybe better) strategy is to add to your Saturday run instead - there's lots of thought that anything over 3 hours is for little benefit while increasing the injury risk substantially, and so it's better to do maybe 90 mins + on the Saturday, then up to 3 hours on the Sunday which will be on tired legs.

Plenty miles to knock off before then in any case, but no harm to be looking. Given how well you've done with the 5K/10K plan, I'm sure you'd have no issues with the Intermediate plan anyway.

Bungy Girl · 02-04-2024 6:01pm

The Tinman calculator seems to have disappeared, hopefully it's temporary. I've tried the runfastcoach link and going directly to the Tinman site but no luck. Anyone know a good alternative ? I find it very handy to have the range for the different paces to go with the grad plans.