Forums >General Running>28 Week Marathon Plan
Trust Me, Im an Engineer
Hey guys, so I just wrote up a training plan for my second Marathon, it's the OKC Marathon so it's not till April so I'm just getting my body ready for training (lots of miles and miles and miles) but here's my race plan (attached) what do y'all think?
Not all those who wander are lost - JRR Tolkien
1. There is not context for this. Can you make your current running log public?
2. Looks like a typical "just finish" program.
3. CT = Cross Training? What does this mean to you?
And we run because we like itThrough the broad bright land
To Parklife's point, Pfizinger, for example, combines rest/cross-training into a single day. So using two days for these makes it more like a "get it done" program.
"If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus
I keep a pen and paper running log, along with Nike's, I also forget to write things down haha
I had an injury a few months ago that kept me from running the OKC last April, I am getting back into training pretty much fresh, that being said I have exactly 10 months to train, so plenty of time to bounce back and do well. And yeah, CT is cross training, to me that's upper body exercises as well as light lower body (light squats, rowing, calf raises). The injury was in my ankle, so I'm trying to strengthen it.
I wouldn't say my goal on this Marathon is to just finish it, my first was and I did so I'm happy! I had a time of 4:45, also on an injury, same ankle, I need new shoes haha. So the goal of this Marathon is to get under 4:00 injury free.
I have a long time until the marathon so I intend to adjust accordingly, which basically means take my average miles per week that I am running at the time and adjusting the plan accordingly.
The general question here is whether or not the rest, CT, run intervals look appropriate, as well as what days the long runs and such are.
Thanks for your time and help guys!
Whoops, forgot to answer this, REST and CT are interchangeable, more than likely they will be CT days all the time.
I do not think rest and CT are interchangeable. On a rest day I might walk or core or weights. When I used to do a lot of Eliptical, CT day was tougher than a lot of my running days.
CT = long impact on body, while getting work done.
Rest = Rest to help recovery and get ready for next workout
If you do some speed Monday and Wednesday, this might make sense ~ Specially if running 30-40 MPW seems to be higher mileage to you. This program (as long as there is 1 speed workout a week) seems adequate to get to a sub 4 goal, along with giving you a better chance at staying injury free.
If you keep down the path of marathons, the next program I would run 5 days a week ~ But all in good time.
Long dead ... But my stench lingers !
Fight The Future
I don't agree with a 23 mile run in a week where the total mileage is 42, especially if you have had injuries in the past. I think you would be better off with more days of running, a bit more miles per day, and cut back a little on the longest long runs. Maybe cut back on some of the paces, if that frequency of running would make you stressed. Have you considered the Hal Higdon or the Running-Wizard plans?
If there is one thing I'd change it'd be the Fri-Sat mix. Try running longer on Friday, and correspondingly shorten the Sat run, while keeping the weekly mileage about where it is. Second may also try to distribute a couple of that weekend miles to Wednesday after about week 15. I know first hand that it's tough to come with more than an hour in the middle of the week, but if you can somehow get those 10-12 milers in midweek I think that will de-stress the long run quite a bit both mentally and physically.
Ok, so I have changed it now that rather than rest on Tuesdays I run a fast speed workout of 3 miles, and deducted 1-2 miles from my long runs, which inadvertently increases my MPW and shortens the long runs as well as incorporates speedwork.
EDIT:
Up until taper time (last three weeks), then sticks to CT
EDIT 2:
Geez didn't look at how awful the mileage is during taper time, droped the LR down to easy 3's
right on - I missed that one.
Is it possible to run on the Rest days? Even for half an hour.
Personally, I would see the long run in terms of time, not distance. And limit that to 3 hours.
If I had 28 weeks to get ready for a marathon I'd spend a couple of months becoming an every day runner and getting my mileage up. A marathon on 4 days a week of running and thirty-something miles a week seems a bit crazy to me.
Runners run
I have a lot more than 28 weeks to get ready haha the race isn't until April 27th of 2014, this plan stars 11/3/2013 so a few months.
I have become, once again after a 3 month break, an everyday runner.
I just don't know what the norm is for MPW, as I have heard that it is pretty much the indicator on how well you will do along with your ability to do a long run.
I am more than happy to run on the rest days, I just don't want to injure myself again, but if 30 minutes of light jogging/running would be beneficial then I will do it. I would like to leave Sundays as a rest day however and, so I can just make Thursdays all CT days instead of rest days.
Updated plan, just realized I can actually copy and paste excel documents!
Rather than writing a plan in a vacuum and tweaking it based on comments from the forum, I would suggest you learn the fundamentals of marathon training. You have plenty of time between now and your race.
I normally don't like to answer questions with "buy such and such book" but I think you should pick up a copy of Advanced Marathoning by Pfitzinger and Douglas and read it cover to cover before looking at any of the schedules. There are other good training books out there, but that's a really good one and lots and lots and lots of people on this board have had success with it.
28 weeks is a long, long time to focus on one race. If you build a solid base you can train for a marathon in much less than that. Pfitz has 18 and 12 week plans. Personally I find 12 weeks is plenty.