Milo and the Calf

Help Me Choose My Marathon Plan

So I am trying to come up with a solid marathon plan and have been looking around at various plans online as well as in Hal Higdon’s book. Right now, I am leaning heavily towards the plan on the New York Road Runners site for the “basic marathoner”. I like this program because it has some serious miles, but no speed work and for this marathon I really just want to concentrate on getting in the miles. What do you think? Does this seem like a reasonable plan for someone with my base level of miles or am I shooting too high? Should I rethink the idea of including speed work?

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  1. lindsay

    i think a basic, beginner plan would be a good start. it would help keep you from getting in over your head and (potentially) burnt out.

    if you are feeling the need for speed occasionally during your training, you could do fartlek runs on some of your runs to get in some informal speed work.

    are you used to running 5-6 days a week? i know you have done a number of 10 milers, so i would think the long runs would be manageable. the 4-20+ mile runs though, most beginner programs have 2 i think? although, when you get to some of those weeks if you think you need to cut it back a little 17-18 miles would still be sufficient.

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    1. seanv2

      Currently, I am running at least six days a week (that is as long as I don’t slack like I did last week) and would like to keep up that schedule. The four 20 milers is a lot, but I like the idea that I will be more than prepared come race day… maybe I am being overly ambitious to compensate for my poor showing in my first marathon and should cut back to a more basic program.

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  2. Glenn Jones

    What she said ^.

    Seems more than one or two 20 milers is a little agressive for a basic marathon plan. You might look at some of Hal Higdon’s plans at http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm

    The “right” plan is really upto you. Decide what you want to accomplish and what you are willing to put into training (days/miles, etc.). There are many many plans out there.

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  3. seanv2

    Thanks for the thoughts, Glenn. I’m considering the Higdon plans as well, though I’m not sure if I’m up for the tempo runs he suggests. Have you used Higdon?

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  4. runnerinsight

    You have an interesting way of planning your runs I believe. I would want to consider the Higdon plans as well. : )

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  5. tgorourke

    I think I did one 21-miler and I still finished in under 5 hours. 4 hours and 51 minutes and 38 seconds to be exact. I only ran 3 days per week but I did some serious cross-training on an exercise bike 2 days a week also. I did do speedwork – I found as I spread the miles out further and further and further, I was running slower and slower and slower until it seemed like a 10 minute mile was killing me. The biking and speedwork seemed to help a lot.

    I could email you the speedwork that they have us do every week, or give you some workouts based on the FIRST training plan. I’d listen to Lindsay and some of the more experienced folks commenting too – I only have one marathon under my belt. 🙂

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