My Best Bet... (Read 720 times)

Well, I feel like a thread whore because I have started more threads in the past week that I think I have since CR changed and I became an RA'er. Anyways, found here: This is my recent thread where there was a consensus that I am capable of doing much better in a marathon by ramping up my miles. My spring marathon is the Country Music on April 25, giving me approximately 26 weeks from Saturday. Meaning, for a standard training program of 18 weeks, I have 8 weeks to base build to 50 mpw to make sure I hit out a good marathon program. So, my question: Is my best bet to up my mileage to 50 mpw in the next eight weeks, and then do an 18 week training program that runs 45+ mpw and peaks around 60 mpw? or... Is my best bet to up my mileage to 50 mpw in the next fourteen weeks, run 50-60 mpw consistently, occasionally doing some light speedwork at MP, and then hitting out a 12 week program after I have a guaranteed solid base in order to perform? My rookie running ability hinders me in the decision making scheme; thus, I find myself with RA'ers who are faster and smarter than I am.

Ive been sitting at 30 mpw w/out a long run each week.

I averaged 31.0 mpw prior to tapering for my Oct 11th marathon, so I'm at pretty much the same base. Ramp up to 50 in 8 weeks? ok

I'm kind of with mikey in that when my training program "started" is a bit nebulous. I called my start date for portland June 16th only because I had a goal HM that weekend so that seemed like a good time to refocus. I like to ramp early and hold it for a longer time. Or ramp very slowly over a very long time. Ramp up comfortably fast, pay attention to your body as you do so, curtail speedwork if need be, do what you need to do to get to ~ 50 injury free. Then adjust your marathon training program accordingly. I dont usually drop my mileage back down at the beginning of an official training period just because some program starts lower than where I have been. I'll just merge in to the program. I might drop my mileage 10% or so if I am incorporating more pace specific work .

Did you follow any specific program or did you just keep the miles 50+ for 18 weeks and fit plenty of MP runs during long runs...etc?

I didn't follow a specific program per se but I don't think it's a bad idea if you're new to the marathon game to read Pfitzinger or Daniels etc and get an idea how they structure a plan. In my case I've done it enough times that I understand the basic concepts and also my own strengths and weaknesses, how I respond to training, what my non-running life looks like etc and so I'm always able to plan out a rough outline of the next several months. A lot of my weeks look very similar. I ran Boston in April, then after taking May to recover and get my mileage back up to 70, I focussed on shorter stuff, a lot of 300s and 1000s early in the summer, culminating in a pretty good 4-mile race on July 4th. Then I started to do more longer stuff and add some longer long runs as the summer went along. In August and September I added a few long MP runs and a couple of tune up races at Half Marathon and 30K. The differences were not that major. My highest mileage week during my marathon buildup was 81 and I had been running 70's since the 2nd week of May so it didn't really feel that different.

another mere mortal here. I'm with dgb2n on this one..If your mileage is around 30 now and this will be your first time with an extended stretch of 50 mile weeks, use caution with the speedwork load of a canned program. While some people can ramp mileage and add speedwork at the same time, many of us find ourselves benched. Do the mileage and look at the different programs for speedwork ideas, but if the mileage is taxing, cut back the targeted work. I think in order of importance I would say (?) 1) miles 2) race pace work 3) hills (depending on your race this could be #2 - and maybe it should be #2 anyway) 4) long tempos 5) long intervals/fartleks or other speedwork

Looks like next week we make the jump from 30 mpw to 38 or so, just by adding a long run and a sixth day. Will obviously slow down my runs to a good, easy, pace. Will also listen to my body. Of course, I don't anticipate 38 being too much of a jump, because I've hit 34 miles recently one week, and again, that's lacking a good long run and did speed work.

You have alot of time, don't try to jump to fast. I'm sure you can handle 38 miles next week but then you have to keep repeating that 38 mile week. It's the cumulative thing that could bite you 8, 10 16 weeks down the road. how many weeks until the Maratrhon? Sort of like a marathon sure you can run an 8 min mile but can you string 26 together? Same thing with weekly mileage increase slowly.

So, put it into a spreadsheet, my projected "ramping up" of the miles. Would greatly appreciate some feedback so I don't look dumb or hurt myself. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p1CsMqVRpvevhUREFn3EISA