After consulting the sages at running ahead* I am starting to piece together my plan for running for the rest of the year. In a sentence, what I plan to do is slow down my runs slightly, increase my weekly mileage significantly, and race more. I hope that by doing these three things I can accomplish a new 5k PR at some point this summer and break four hours in the marathon this fall in Philadelphia.

Taking It Easy.

The first step to getting faster is running more. The first step to running more is slowing down. It is pretty clear that my “easy pace” of roughly 8:50 is too damn fast. If I am going to increase my mileage without getting hurt, I need to take this pace up to around 9:30.

You’d think that would be easy, but man, when I get out there, especially on the roads, it is hard to slow down. I want to push the tempo. I want to breathe hard. But I have to keep the breaks on. I have a long way to go.

Upping the mileage

It seems pretty clear that if I want to break four hours the most important thing that I need to do, more than speed work, more than tempo work, more than anything, is increase my mileage. My goal here is, after taking a week or two to recover from this marathon, begin increasing my mileage to fifty miles per week and eventually peak in my next training cycle somewhere around 65 miles per week.

Right now, this seems like a lot of running, but I think I can do it. In my last marathon cycle I maxed out at 48 miles. I know I can do that without injury, so if I take it slow, and listen to my body, I see no reason I cannot consistently make fifty to sixty miles a week happen.

Racing More and Loving the Training

One of the more experienced runners on Running Ahead said this in response to my question about breaking four hours:

Don’t focus on the far off future, best case scenario.  You are bound to be disappointed in the short-term.  The common theme I see with runners who make huge strides in improvement is that they revel in the short-term goals and going through the process.

I take this to mean focusing on a race five months away is silly. I need tangible goals between now and then to keep myself focused and motivated and to better track my fitness. What exactly those goals are going to be, I’m not sure, but I know I need to race more. With that in mind I am hoping to find some short races over the summer and am definitely going to do the Hartford Half in the early fall. Setting some new PRs through the summer and early fall should keep me motivated to get in the miles and stay focused in my training.

As I move into the early fall, I may add in some tempo or speed work if my body feels up to it, but for now, it is going to a trial of miles, miles of trials kind of situation. As I have been told over and over again, there is no secret; it is all about putting in the time.

*btw if you’re not reading the message boards at running ahead, you are missing one of the great running resources on the net.