Example training plan
I began coaching AH in October 2003. In 2003 she was then 33, had been running only 3 years but for 2 of them had been running regularly 50mpw, and up to 70mpw, and had PBs of c. 40.30 for 10k, 65.30 for 10miles, 87 for ½ marathon and 3.13 for the full marathon. The following is a detailed overview of how I structured her training program, together with the reasoning behind it.
BACKGROUND
Initial discussion and observation indicated she was clearly both physically and mentally suited to long distances. I agreed with her that though she was maybe now at a stage where she could run 2 marathons a year, evenly spread, she would need to spend significant parts of the year in non-marathon training to improve at shorter distances, which would make her better positioned to improve at marathon, for which her progress has been as follows:
April 04 FLM - 2.59.30
Oct 04 Abingdon - 2.56.50 (1st)
April 05 FLM - 2.56.12
Oct 05 Eindhoven - 2.52.25 (4th)
June 06 Edinburgh - 2.51.30 (1st)
Nov 06 San Sebastian - 2.49.35 (1st)
April 07 FLM - 2.49.57 (21st, 1st team)
When we started we agreed that over time she could get well under 3 hours and that by doing so she could place highly in some decent level races (which she has achieved many times now), and a further goal which we’re still aiming for – for her to earn a Scotland vest at some stage.
Every marathon race has yielded a PB except FLM 07 where on a hot day she ran 20 secs slower than her PB set in ideal conditions, so I assessed FLM 07 as her best ever actual performance. Her PBs have come down to 36.31 10k; 60.06 10 miles; 79.02 ½ Marathon. Also a 2.06.07 in the Finchley 20miles in March 06, arguably very slightly better than her marathon PB.
THE TRAINING
Roughly, we split the year into 2 macrocycles, broken down as follows:
Mesocycle 1A – 2 weeks recovery from marathon
Mesocycle 1B – 2 weeks Transition – easy reintroduction to daily running
Mesocycles 2 and 3 – General Endurance Training
Mesocycle 4, 5 and 6 – 11-12 weeks of event specific training
Mesocycle 7 - 2 weeks taper and the marathon race itself. I haven’t separated the marathon as a competition phase, as it’s 1 block of sub 3 hours, not as series of events done over time at a peak.
Below, I have set out a detailed sample of a microcycle within each mesocycle breakdown . Each microcycle is 14 days, and my rationale for this includes the following:-
We broadly follow the ‘5 pace’ principle, and it needs about 14 days to accommodate 5 harder sessions with balance of easy days; steady days; rest day; and strength and conditioning.
Fortnightly is the closest to an ‘average’ period between races although this is an average, not a strict rule.
It offers more flexibility around ‘ritual’ weekly structures overly reliant on ‘Tuesday track – Friday rest – Sunday long run’ structure. We often end up with that when it suits both physically and in rest-of-life structure but don’t start with it as a given.
In terms of volume, it gives some balance to any particularly high or low amounts
The focuses in each mesocycle are as follows:-
Mesocycle 1A – 2 weeks recovery from marathon
Physically – get over the brutal muscle damage that is inflicted during the last few miles of a marathon.
Mentally – relax, enjoy the fact that not running is now the best way to start future progress.
Intellectually – review how the race and build up went; lessons learned to repeat or avoid in future.
Mesocycle 1B – 2 weeks Transition – easy reintroduction to daily running
Some flexibility on exact duration and content, But in the 4th week post marathon (ie week 2 of cycle 1B) the athlete will usually be running daily, maybe up to 80/90 mins max, and some relaxed faster running may be accomplished, with the guideline being to ease back just before the stage when it starts to get very hard work in any single run. At this stage, without introducing a hard daily grind but taking advantage of the balance between being well recovered but only lightly challenged by the running, I encourage focus on:-
Starting back into strength and conditioning;
Short relaxed strides with full recovery to develop and embed running technique and economy;
Stretching, both static and dynamic, using relevant drills, to restore optimum range of movement.
Mesocycles 2 and 3 – General Endurance Training
The key training factors addressed are:-
aerobic capacity, by building up steady running in the 70-80% MHR zone
lactate threshold – running at about 85/90% MHR zone, varying between 10k and Marathon pace
aerobic power/V02 max – running at about 95-100% MHR, approx 3k-5k race pace
aerobic development – recovery running in the 60-70% MHR zone
strength and conditioning – as per 1B, I balance this with the running demands. Maybe 2 weekly sessions in cycle 2 and 1 in cycle 3
general strength endurance, using Oregon circuits or similar to develop strength endurance, with less strength emphasis than on circuits done without any running and thus with no significant aerobic element
short relaxed strides with full recovery to develop and embed running technique and economy
+ Hills for a combination of the above (and possibly a slight anaerobic element depending on the detail of the session) depending on the following factors: length of hill/gradient of hill/ number of reps up the hill/duration of recovery/nature of recovery. I will structure the hill session so that the physiological challenge does not overly duplicate any other sessions carried out in the preceding or succeeding few days.
During this General Endurance phase, I don’t really distinguish between athletes training with 3k/5k as a target distance and those looking at a marathon. As Peter Thompson (ex UKA) says ‘In general training we aren’t 1500m runners or marathoners, we are all just distance runners’.
Race choices will be relatively flexible in this phase though I steer towards one or two 5ks and strongly advise 'against' anything over 10miles, so as to focus on longer races once the specific training has been undertaken.
A sample 14 day microcycle at the beginning of Mesocycle 2 may be:
Sun am 90/95 run, start easy, finish steady
Mon am (early) basic S+C, non-aerobic, in her home, nearly all using bodyweight as resistance – c 25-30 mins of activity, something like 3 sets of 8 or 9 drills, each drill for 30-50 seconds pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue relaxed track session done by time rather than distance eg 15-20 min w/up run, drills and strides. Infinite variety of sessions, but an e.g at this stage is 7 mins at c 10k pace (90 secs jog) 5 x 2 mins at c 3k/5k pace (60 sec jog) – (90 sec jog) 7 mins at c 10k pace – w/down incl 2 or 3 x 30-40secs at 10k pace at outset to help disperse raised lactate
Wed 45/50 mins easy run
Thu 50/55 mins steady run, maybe Marathon pace + 30 secs per mile
Fri 40 mins easy run
Sat Something around Lactate threshold, either as sustained run or longish reps, but total duration at LT at this stage will be quite modest eg 15 min w/u – 35 mins at approx Marathon pace OR say 3 x 11 mins at c ½ Marathon pace (2 min jog) – 10 min w/d
Sun am 90/95 run, start easy, finish steady
Mon am (early) basic S+C, non-aerobic, in her home, nearly all using bodyweight as resistance – c 25-30 mins of activity, something like 3 sets of 8 or 9 drills, each drill for 30-50 seconds pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue Track session – maybe something more uniform than previous week eg 5-6 x 1200 at 5k pace on a 6 min cycle (ie c 1 min 40 jog recovery)
Wed 45/50 easy run
Thu 50/55 mins steady run, maybe Marathon pace + 30 secs per mile
Fri Rest
Sat As last Saturday, something around LT – the broad pattern would be alternate weeks of longer reps with a harder sustained run
NB If a race (or possibly 2) is included in a 14 day cycle, that is treated within the planning cycle as a session at the relevant race pace
A sample 14 microcyle at the end of Mesocycle 3 may be:-
Sun 1hr 50/55 easy/steady
Mon pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue Track session eg 8 x 1000 at c 5k race pace on a 5 min cycle (ie c 90 sec jog rec)
Wed 60 easy run or maybe 2 runs totaling 70/75 minutes
Thu am 35 easy pm 55 steady
Fri Hills eg w/u – 15 x 30 secs up, jog back, end with 60 secs stride on flat at c 10k pace Lactate dispersal) – w/d Optional 35 mins easy 2nd run
Sat 45/50 easy
Sun 1hr 50/55 easy/steady
Mon pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue Track session eg 7 mins at 10k pace (90 sec jog)- 8 x 600 at 3k pace (60 sec jog) 90 sec jog – 7 mins at 10k pace
Wed 65/70 easy run or 2 runs totaling 70-75 mins (whichever option wasn’t done previous Weds)
Thu am 35 easy pm 50-55 steady
Fri Rest
Sat Hills eg 2 x 9 x 30 secs up, jog back, 2. 5mins between sets end with 60 secs stride on flat at c 10k pace Lactate dispersal) w/d Optional 35 mins easy 2nd run
Mesocycle 4, 5 and 6 – 11-12 weeks of event specific training
Key evolving changes in these cycles are:-
The long run becomes longer and by virtue of DOMS and the glycogen depletion that occurs, more demanding, and the need to recover from this becomes more precisely evaluated
Running at about LT, either in sustained runs or in long reps (2.5 to 4k) with short recovery, takes higher precedence with greater volume at this pace – again requiring careful management of recovery and fitting in the rest of the microcycle.
The specific hill sessions are dropped in favour of the above emphasis on event specifics
S+C takes a back seat, maybe fortnightly maintenance, so as not to be the straw that breaks the camels back. My rationale is that you spend the general pre phase building up strength and then take that strength (hopefully slightly advanced from the same point in the previous macrocycle) to better handle an event-specific phase.
Races are more precisely targeted for distance and how they fit into the cycle ie caution on excess longer races as the recovery, if raced at 100%, compromises training progress for several days later; caution on excess shorter races as the demands, although intense, may reduce capacity and opportunities to do the key sessions at closer to marathon pace. In this 11-12 week period, will tackle maybe 1 x ½ marathon early on; 2 10ks during the phase; and a key ½ marathon 4 weeks pre-marathon, using this as a ‘full on’ race and as a reliable indicator of what sort of marathon target pace looks likely 4 weeks later.
A 14 day microcycle in this phase might look like this:-
Sun 21 mile easy/steady run
Mon am (early) basic S+C, non-aerobic, in her home, nearly all using bodyweight as resistance – c 25-30 mins of activity, something like 3 sets of 8 or 9 drills, each drill for 30-50 seconds pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue Track session – eg 10 x 800 on a 4 min cycle at c 5k race pace ie 2.48ish, so 70 sec recovery jog
Wed Either am 35 mins easy pm 55 mins easy or 90 mins easy – we still debate the merits of a 2nd mid-long (but actually long time on feet) run just 3 days after a real long effort and day after a hard track session
Thu am 35 pm easy 55/60 steady, about 30/40 secs per mile slower than marathon pace
Fri am 45 easy
Sat am w/u – 4 x 13-14 mins at c ½ marathon pace (2 mins jog) w/d pm – possibly 30 mins easy if AH finds this helps recovery (she does – I used to find it just junk miles slowing down recovery)
Sun 22/23 miles easy/steady
Mon pm 40 mins easy run, with 6-8 x 15-20 sec strides at c 1500m race pace
Tue pm Track session eg 8 mins at 10k pace (90 secs jog) – 12 x 400 at 3k pace on 2 min cycle (ie 40 secs recovery) (90 secs) – 8 mins at 10k pace
Wed am 35/40 easy pm 50/55 easy or 1 longer run. Usually alternate weeks of 2 runs totaling 90 mins with 1 run of c 90 mins
Thu am 30 easy pm 15 easy – 15-20 at between LT and MP – 10-15 mins easy
Fri am 35 v easy
Sat Rest
Sun 1/2 marathon race
NB Where the long run on Sunday is to include some harder pace running, the Friday session will be something harder, with Saturday an easier day so there is some recovery time
Mesocycle 7 - 2 weeks taper and the marathon race itself
Over the years, I have gradually arrived at a 2 week taper which I am confident is a good balance of maintaining fitness without either overtraining at too late a stage, or conversely having a detraining effect. Without being complacent, I think that if a runner has a bad marathon after this taper, then they can probably look elsewhere than their last 2 weeks training for the causes.
Sun 16 miles with middle 12-13 miles slightly slower than marathon pace
Mon 35 mins easy
Tue Track session – last very hard training effort – maybe total of 11 or 12k at approx 10k race pace eg 9/10 x 1200 with c 70 sec recovery. Can be done by time efforts, rather than distance, away from the track tho’ the track offers precision that can be useful at this stage
Wed 45 easy
Thu 50 mins steady run
Fri Rest
Sat 10-15 w/u – 20 mins at c 10k race pace – 10 mins easy
NB This weeks volume is about 35% lower than the peak volume during the build up ie about 52 miles, from a peak of 85/90
Sun 75 mins with middle 55 mins at just slower than marathon pace
Mon 30 mins easy incl 6 x 15 secs strides
Tue 10-15 easy – 4 x 1k or 3.5 mins at c 5k pace (90 sec jog) – 10 easy
Wed 30 mins easy
Thu 10-15 mins easy – 6-7 minutes at marathon pace – 10 mins easy
Fri 15 min jog or rest
Sat Rest
NB This weeks volume is a further reduction and is about 30-35% of the peak volume. I stress the nature of the taper more clearly by advising the runner that in the last 4 days pre-marathon they’ll have run only about 10 miles. AH has been able to stick to this taper routine when racing overseas as she has stayed within easy flying distance of the UK.
DC