Hey everyone, seems like everyone is wicked busy as summer rolls right along. Hope everyone's season is going as planned.
I'm training for MDI Marathon again this year and would like some feedback on my training plan. I've use Pfitz's 18/55 plan, but i've tweaked it to fit more into what i'm looking at running. I peaked at around 55 miles last year and i felt pretty good through the whole thing. I sort of followed a runnersworld plan ( just by plugging in a 10k race time). At times i thought it was too easy and other times a bit hard, but i got through it and finished my first Marathon sub 3. Soon after (like 2 weeks) i was back at it and plugging away just fine ( i won a November race, and got in some nice long runs) but come the first of the year i fell apart pretty fast. I spiraled into a 4.5 month injury spout with achilles tendinitis, and Osgood slaughters (don't ask..haha). Now i'm back up on the horse getting in a good last couple of months. Sorry for being long winded...
Spark notes: I think my plan is very achievable but also demanding at the same time. If you don't mind, your feedback would be much appreciated on my MDI Marathon plan, thanks!
good luck in training all.
Eric-
I will be running my first marathon in Portland 2 weeks before you, so this isn't really advice...more like sharing notes. From what all the experienced marathoners tell me, there are 3 key things that you have to nail to have a shot at a good marathon.
1) You gotta get the miles in. I've spent the last 3 months building from mid-60s to 80-85mpw and I'll probably hit 90 the week before my taper. I hope you are doing much more than 55mpw?
2) You gotta get the long, hard workouts in. For me that means one every two weeks with long-easy (what i call time on foot runs) every other week. For the hard stuff, I treat the run like a marathon - I fuel, dress, etc the way I plan to on race day. The other runs I will not use carbohydrate, only water.
3) You gotta taper at the right time, and it's different for everyone. I'll try 3 weeks to see how I feel. One guy I respect says he does the "75%" rule where he will decrease mileage to 75% of the previous weeks level during his taper.
Anyway, the best advice I ever got was that you have to teach your legs to run at your goal marathon pace and faster when tired. This was my last long run - 18 total...8 miles of warming up...4 miles building up speed...6 miles starting at goal pace and building until I hammered the last 1/4-1/2 mile like I would in a race.
Let me know if you are doing any races down my way this summer. Stay healthy...
Goals for 2013: sub 18 5K; stay healthy