Pre-marathon training plan (Read 1962 times)

Ah yeah. 

 

Lots of good books to read out there, too, that will explain things well. I like Hudson's Run Faster. He's good about putting things in ordinary language. I think NaderAlfie has had some recent succes with this book. Maybe he's got some thoughts.

Yep, I read Hudson's book. The thing with his book is -- and this may be just me -- you’ve really got to read it through to the end for the beginning to click. 

I liked the training plans in the back, but they really need to be consulted in conjunction with the book itself. 

The man likes quality and will have you doing quite a bit. That’s why with his plan -- moreso than, say, Pfitzinger’s -- you cannot just follow it like an automaton. In fact he does not want you to follow it to the “t.”  His is a principles-based approach which he calls “adaptive running.” This is why, I think Run Faster is a great book for someone who also has someone looking over her/his shoulder, as I did.

Unlike Pfitzinger, he emphasizes hills.

Unlike Lydiard (whom he respects), he prefers “non-linear periodization.”

You can get a flavor here. 

I’m excited to see how your training goes.

Yep, I read Hudson's book. The thing with his book is -- and this may be just me -- you’ve really got to read it through to the end for the beginning to click. 

I liked the training plans in the back, but they really need to be consulted in conjunction with the book itself. 

The man likes quality and will have you doing quite a bit. That’s why with his plan -- moreso than, say, Pfitzinger’s -- you cannot just follow it like an automaton. In fact he does not want you to follow it to the “t.”  His is a principles-based approach which he calls “adaptive running.” This is why, I think Run Faster is a great book for someone who also has someone looking over her/his shoulder, as I did.

Unlike Pfitzinger, he emphasizes hills.

Unlike Lydiard (whom he respects), he prefers “non-linear periodization.”

You can get a flavor here. 

I’m excited to see how your training goes.

You should NEVER just simply jump to the schedule without reading the entire book and grasping what the author is trying to get at (I'm not saying you did or you do but, as you know, many do).  That goes with any running book.  They usually add the schedule because the publisher demands it; not necessarily the author's intent.

I would not necessarily agree that Pfitz "de-emphasize", or put less emphasize, hills.  He learnt to do that before 1984 Olympic Trial and that brought results.  Perhaps it's not that he doesn't emphasize hills but Hudson is a bit more forceful sale man of that short sharp alactic hill sprint.  Some people even think he invented it because of that but, as you probably know, he "took that idea" from Canova who, he himself told me, got that idea when he went to visit Finland back in 1970s.  It's always been around; it's just Hudson got the name for popularizing it.

Hudson MAY BE talking more about non-linear but that's probably because he's talking about today's elite situation???  I don't know; but it's just that most people today don't have enough time to build-up.  Everything is "instant" or micro-wave cooking.  I get a bag of green beans and it says cook 5 minutes at high.  I usually cook it longer (8 to 9 minutes) at lower strength--you know vegetable cooks better and sweeter if you take longer to cook?  Elite runners probably take non-linear approach because (1) they have built much better base from years and years of running to begin with (think of Kenyans) and (2) big prize money races are all over the place throughout the year--they want to race at top level year around.  But that does NOT mean recreational beginning runners would also take that approach.  I don't know what Hudson's stand on this particular topic but I would not take such an advice for face value if you don't quite understand the background of that thinking.  That, to me, is the same approach when people see some guy who's been running years and years and went out and did something like Tabata sprints and improve his time; well, that's quite different from someone who's starting out, without that "years and years of running" part to start out with Tabata sprint type of training.  Doing the same thing, totally different background, totally different results.