The Long Run

In my opinion one should never train by a day-to-day program. You should have a basic idea of what you are trying to do, and have weekly and even daily mileage goals, but even those should always be adjusted either up or down depending on how you feel. I believe you should always get out to train pretty much regardless of how you feel, but you should never force a speed workout on a day when your body is telling you it is not ready for speed. In your situation right now I would drop all speed altogether for two reasons - one is that you are on the verge of injury, and two, your aerobic potential is still very untapped, so you have quite a bit of room to improve from pure aerobic training.

I'm not always very clear on my writing but today's run was not a speed workout. The program that I had wanted to follow did have today scheduled for a speed workout but due to be at least partially injured I decided against it. So, I think I kept in line with your idea that planned runs should be adjusted up or down based on how one feels.

I have read your recommendation against running plans from books or magazines and understand your idea on running a little bit each day and gradually increasing until running 6 days a week, 10 miles per day and adding one long run. For my first marathon I followed Hal Higdon's beginning marathon plan which took me from someone who ran 3 times per week 12-15 miles total to a peak week of 40 miles, followed by a taper and successfully completing my first marathon. Hal Higdon's beginner marathon plan was 4 days per week, no speed work and no specific paces, just some general advice to run a little bit faster on one of the shorter runs but run very slow and easy on the long runs. There was a gradual progression up to 20 miles about 4 weeks before the actual marathon. After running that 20 miles I had the confidence that I could complete the marathon. Confidence in knowing that you can do something is a huge plus of course.

So for Chicago, what do you recommend? I could go week to week with a goal of six runs and gradually increasing the mileage as time went by. I may be misinterpreting things, but I'm afraid if I follow that plan my longest run won't be very long. 14 weeks from now I would be running lots of 8, 9, and 10 mile runs but nothing close to the marathon distance. If I wasn't already signed up for the Chicago marathon I might not be so worried about not getting in any longer runs. No doubt I would be in great aerobic shape, but would I have adapted my body to the marathon distance?

I don't really care that much about the speed work. I'm just looking for a plan that will make the most of the time between now and Oct. 7 without injuring myself since hopefully Oct. 7 is just one of many marathons I'd like to run.

As always I do appreciate your review of my blog as well as all your other hard work in running this blog and sharing your expertise with others.

Mark:

Lots of 10 miles runs is much better for the marathon than an occasional 20 mile run with the rest of the runs being in the 5 mile range. Of course, it would be nice if you could go a bit longer than 10 once a week, but if going long knocks you out so much that your weekly mileage drops, then you are going too long.

Any training is beneficial only to the extent that you are fit to do it and able to properly recover from. A guy who runs 4-5 miles a day, in my opinion, is not fit to run 20 miles once a week productively. He can of course finish the distance. If he were to make a bet, he could probably even run a full marathon once a week. But he would keep getting slower because the stress on his body would exceed his capability to recover.

I've tried training for a marathon in a number of different ways. What I found is that once my weekly mileage reaches a certain level, and I sustain it for a while, then I can handle a very long long run with no adverse effects, but I do not have to go longer than 20, or even 18 to be fit for the marathon, and be able to maintain a decent pace even when I am in the territory past the length of my longest run. On the other hand, when I tried to focus on the long run, I crashed terribly.

In addition to myself, I've also seen a similar pattern with other runners. The more anxious they get about running long in one run, the more likely they are to crash in the marathon. On the other hand, the guys with a more moderate approach in a long run, but with a sustained weekly mileage over 80 hold their ground just fine in the race, and recover much quicker afterwards.

I guess it is kind of like when you are dating and trying to impress a girl. If you try too hard, you make a fool of yourself. If you just act normally and try to be your decent self day after day, the right girl falls in love with you.