Forums >General Running>28 Week Marathon Plan
Trust Me, Im an Engineer
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.
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.
Ooo Ooo! I have that book on my Nook! I'm about halfway through it, I just know I need a plan otherwise I won't get out and run, maybe I just need to start making weekly goals/plans
Not all those who wander are lost - JRR Tolkien
What I did for my first and only marathon with good results was follow Pfitzinger's 18/55 plan. Before I started I was running around 30-35 miles per week. I plan to use the same plan for Boston but with more hills.
If you are able to run 18+ mile long runs off a base of 35 MPW, you are far more athletic than I ever was. When my base was 30 MPW, I could do 10 mile long runs. The 20 milers had to wait until my base was 40 to 50 miles per week.
A 10 to 12 mile midweek medium will likely be more benefit than 3 miles of speedwork.
Proboscis Colossus
Well, I have to ask, then...why aren't you considering one of the plans at the back of that book?
"God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people
That is a great question and I have no idea why I didn't think of that!
They're pretty good plans, though they're not 28 weeks long, and even though I prefer Hansons, Pfitz did very well for me!
Yeah, I looked over them and I am sticking to the 17-week up-to-55 Mile plan, so now my goal is to ramp up my MPW (safely and patiently) until 17 weeks before!
+1
or get Higdon for free on the internet...decent starting point then you can figure out what direction you want to go in for future races.
marathon pr - 3:16