Hanson's Marathon Project (Read 2083 times)

20% of my projected 60 mpw that I'm planning on would only be a 12 miler!

 

Also that was the first I heard that the long runs should be MP + 5%.  For me that's 30 to 45 seconds per mile faster than I was planning on running them.

 

Lots more to this plan that the little chart in the runnersworld article.  I may have to break down and buy the book.

Ha! Very true.  Poor math skills today apparently

1 of the things I found interesting is the easy paces they say teach the body to burn fat for fuel.  They say that at the prescribed paces of 1 - 2 minutes slower than MP you will burn 70% energy from fat and 30% energy from stored glycogen.  Faster and you will increase the glycogen consumption.  This pace window is meant to teach us to burn fat for energy in order to save and extend the glycogen depletion.

Another thing they talk about is how the body stores glycogen in the muscles and how the muscles can't "borrow" from other muscles once they are depleted.  The leg muscles will store so much but once that is used they cannot borrow from the biceps.

1 of the things I found interesting is the easy paces they say teach the body to burn fat for fuel.  They say that at the prescribed paces of 1 - 2 minutes slower than MP you will burn 70% energy from fat and 30% energy from stored glycogen.  Faster and you will increase the glycogen consumption.  This pace window is meant to teach us to burn fat for energy in order to save and extend the glycogen depletion.

 

Another thing they talk about is how the body stores glycogen in the muscles and how the muscles can't "borrow" from other muscles once they are depleted.  The leg muscles will store so much but once that is used they cannot borrow from the biceps.

Well, a only a little bit of glycogen is stored in the muscle...a couple percent by weight.  Your liver will store close to 10% by weight.  While it is true that muscle glycogen is not shared, all that glycogen in your liver is.

It is worthy to try and up your fat burning % a little....think crashing at mile 24 instead of 21-22 if you go out too fast.  But that's hardly the primary purpose of long aerobic runs.

FWIW I did my best marathon effort (second best marathon) with no decent long run over 16 miles.  I did do a couple 20-milers, but it was brutally hot and I walked parts of both to avoid heat stroke in the last 3-4 miles.

Interesting discussion.  I have the book but I have not finished reading it.

I don't worry much about the lack of LRs because I've done marathons out of 16 milers (with a sporadic 18 miler) before.  My worry is whether I can improve as much or better as a regular plan with 20-22 milers.

Asked for book for Christmas. Really intrigued by these training philosophies. Really considering doing it for my fall marathon.

I added the plan to my RA.  If anyone else wants to save time entering it, here's the link:

 

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/db670d77527a4bcfb0f003c1a980d6da/plans/d51e8ffbcdee4abeadc56eca32ad9b04

 

(hope this works).

Thanks for posting this. I copied and put in my log. Can't wait to read this book.

Not having read the book yet what is philosophy behind tune-up races? usually for a marathon cycle i like to run a Hm to see where my fitness is at anywhere from 6-8 weeks out from full. Not doing true tempos by GMP tempos makes me think you are not getting enough in. Like i said I have not read book yet so I am missing something here.

I plan on doing a tune up race (or a couple).  He does address this. I can't remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of how to adjust the schedule to accomodate these races.  I can check the book tonight.

 

In addition to the GMP tempos there are also "strength" intervals which are done at GMP minus 10 seconds per mile.  Which according to Hansons is pretty close to HMP (or LT pace).  You're thinking there's not enough true tempo as in 10k-15k paced work?

I think that covers that then. Thanks! Really need to read book.