Thursday, June 09, 2005

Marathon II Training

I was looking over my training plan for the next marathon in September last night. I first thought about following about the same plan as the last marathon, running 14K/8.7M every other day and a long run every second Saturday.

With my new interest in weight training (WT) I am thinking more in this direction:
Monday: 14K/8.7M fast run at near marathon pace
Tuesday: WT plus 10-15 min. jog
Wednesday: 14K/8.7M run with some hill climbing.
Thursday: WT plus 10-15 min. jog
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Long run or 18K/11.2M run.
Sunday: WT plus cross-training or 5-10K run.

This works out to between 52-68K (32-42M) a week, depending on the length of the long run. This is a couple KM more per week than what I was running while training for the first marathon, but not a significant change.

My goal for Marathon II is 4:30! I am hoping that my added WT will improve my overall muscle fitness and leave me in better condition before race day. I would love to get up to 80-90K (50-56M) a week, but my wife would throw a fit! Based on several of my half-marathon times I do believe that I could run a marathon in 4 hours or less if I could invest more time for training. However, between my family, job and other hobbies I can’t foresee this happening any time soon.

This kind of leads me back down the road to Marathon I. I finished, which in itself was a major accomplishment which I am overjoyed that I could experience in my lifetime.

My original plan for this year was to run my first marathon in September (not May), following an almost 32 week training cycle. The Mannheim marathon (in May) was a mostly impulsive decision probably made while experiencing a running high or something. Yes I finished, but I know that I cut a lot of corners in my training to get there. For all practical purposes I consolidated 32 weeks training into 17, technically possible, but it just did not work quite as well as I thought it would.

It is interesting for me to note that I finished my long runs as planned (except for the one problem run). However I didn’t finish strong, in other words they pretty much wiped me out. When I think about it this should have been a good indicator to SLOW DOWN during my marathon.

Anyway I am trying to build up my endurance somehow over the next few months so that I am running stronger. My theory is that by running one of my 14K runs a week at near marathon pace (6:00K/9:39M) and incorporating some hill climbs with my second 14K run I can gradually build my endurance. More mileage would probably help more, but time is a major problem.

Well we’ll see what happens, stay tuned!

Comments:
Sounds like a great plan, Jack. One of the (many) reasons why I've never really considered a marathon is the amount of time it would take to train. Those long runs, as they keep getting longer, start to suck up a lot of extra time! What you're planning looks like a reasonable way to do it. I'm going to ask you if you've ever considered fartlek intervals as part of your training? Because you can run shorter distances, but build lots of stamina and endurance. I mean, to consider adding something that wouldn't be too time consuming while still getting lots of benefit. I actually used the technique a couple of times, when I was trying to build up for the half. I had to stop it when I got pregnant though, because you really push hard while you're doing it, but I loved it. Anyway, just a thought!
 
Quite a workout! Are you planning to drop the weights down a bit when the long runs start to get longer? I'd be dying if I lifted three times a week and then did a 20 miler. Heck, I'll be struggling just for the 20 miler! Ugh!

You are going to be one ripped machine by the end of this, Jack. :)
 
Jon with the skimpy weights that I work out with I think I can't drop too much without taking all the weight off. I'm sure your son could out lift me, I'm really a beginner.
 
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