I'm registered for an October 4th marathon (Twin Cities). I started the following program this week. The cross-training day will consist of one hour of cycling. I also considered Higdon's Intermediate 1 program, but since I've never run more than 15 miles, I don't know how I'll recover from those longer runs. The extra days off in the Novice 2 plan may be needed. For now, I'm planning on 3:55:00 or so. It won't be the end of the world if I don't hit that, but an 8:55-9:00 pace feels very easy to me at this point. My main concern is that the Novice 2 program peaks at 35 miles. Is that enough?
http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices2.htm
Pond View
I will say, though, that I bonked @ mile 24 and finished in an absolute daze. I was honestly worried that the police were going to take me somewhere and spent about 10 minutes hiding from anyone who looked like an official. Looking back that was pretty weird.
If I were giving myself advice back then, knowing what I know now, I would suggest adding at least one more day of easy running and would stretch out one of the mid-day runs to 90 minutes. My second marathon was where I discovered LHR and really found a little mojo. If you truly take it easy, then you should be able to handle the additional miles w/o injury. If you're shooting for 3:55, then I'd suggest easing the pace back to 9:15-9:30 (or use a HRM to ensure an easy level) or more. I'm now in the 3:20 range and keep my easy/long runs in the 8:30-8:45 range and that's probably considered aggressive in this group. I'd suggest that a steady diet of 40 mpw is what I would consider a minimum level of training to run and actually enjoy the race.
Looks like you've already got the backgrond to handle this mileage. The Novice program is for people like I was, who were really weak.
Thanks. I may add an easy 3 miler and I like the idea of the 90 minute mid-week run. I know I can handle more milage, just not sure how I will recover from 15+ mile runs. I need to make it to race day in one piece, but I don't want to be under-trained.
Aaack!
SC and Flower have some good advice that you should seriously consider.
Let me challenge you to think outside the box and drop the "plan in a can" programs. Here is why I think this might be best. Using LHR you can build miles slowly and easily and miles is what you need. However, these need to be done to allow for training without injury. So get the HRM and set your MAF (180-39 = 141) and run below this for your 12 weeks and create a base that gives you 40+ miles per week while building your long runs. It also gives you 4 weeks prior to your marathon for adding some faster work and a last long run 20-22 and a taper. I did this last fall and ran a 3:48 with only one 20 miler.
What I've noticed is that most coaches advocate a increase in long run miles in week 1 and week 2 and a cut back in week 3. So for instance, your longest recent run to date would be a 12 from your log. So this is your baseline. So long run week 1 is 12 and week two is 14 and cut back the following week to 10. Then start the cycle over 14 16 11, 16 18 13, 18 20 15....... Adjust your other days based on how you feel but certainly add one longer midweek run (90 minutes is excellent advice). From there you should be able to build a schedule you can manage in your head that is based on you instead of being tied to someone else's (albeit from very good coaches) schedule that does not know you.
By all means read and research all of the schedule from Higdon, Mittleman, McMillan, Pfitzinger, Daniels, Henderson and so on but take the best of these and create your own wrapped neatly around LHR.
Good luck.
I'd strongly second most of the thoughts from CarmelRunner - you always know yourself better than a coach you've never met. My only qualification would be that if this is your first marathon having a schedule as your "security blanket" can help your confidence come race day. A middle road for your first marathon might be to take the Higdon plan for the weekly runs and then shuffle them around day to day according to how you feel. For instance - assuming you're like the many who usually go long on the weekend, you'll run 8 on Saturday, cross Sunday, rest Monday, and go 3 on Tuesday. But maybe after your 8 you'd rather have a day off (indulge the hypothetical). No problem, swap Sunday and Monday, and hit the 3 on Tuesday. Moving things day to day gives you the benefits of a schedule but the freedom of listening to your body.
Is 35 miles a week enough? It can be, if you're smart and careful. My highest weekly mileage for my spring marathon was less than 35 (but not by much). Keeping your daily runs solidly in the LHR range will help. If you need an extra day off to recover from a long run, take it. You get vastly more marathon-specific training from doing long runs well rested and recovered than you do from running 5 miles on a Tuesday when you're tired just because Hal said so. Focus on the long runs and protect them with adequate recovery, then focus on getting in as many miles as your body can handle within the limits of your recovery ability and your next long run.
The most important thing is to have a training strategy that you believe in and that you can execute with confidence without overtraining or injury. To me, being positive, upbeat, and confident about your training on race day (without also being injured or overtrained) is the key to a solid performance.
SC,CR, & GM.
Good advice guys. Thanks. I think I may just concentrate on building the long run and getting in one 90 minute run, mid-week. I'll fill in the rest with short, very easy recovery runs. If I feel the need to take an extra day off, I'll either bike or do nothing. I may even run/walk some of the runs.
