Answers/

General Running

Steph N.
Steph N. Sendmail

Marathon Runners: Best use of extra 6 wks before marathon?

asked 3 months ago | Report

Hi all,

In November, I began Hal Higdon's Novice 1 marathon training without having first picked out a race. I finally committed myself to a marathon on May 5th, but I will be finishing Higdon's training with an extra 6 weeks before the day of the race. In your experience, how should I make the best use of that time? Initially, I was planning the following for the long runs on Saturday (I'd keep Higdon's weekday formula the same: 1/2 LR Wed, 1/4 LR Tues & Thurs):

2/18 - 18m
2/25 - 14m
3/3 - 20m (last long run of HH training, taper moved to 4/21)
3/10 - 16m
3/17 - 22m
3/24 - 18m
3/31 - 24m
4/7 - 20m
4/14 - 26m
4/21 - 12m
4/28 - 8m
5/5 - Race Day

...thoughts? Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated. :)

UPDATE: Sorry, guys, I didn't realize if you post as a question instead of discussion, you cannot reply to your own thread. I greatly appreciate the feedback, and will message you with a response.

Answer

4 answers

scroll to bottom
  • Branson S.
    Branson S. Sendmail

    does this extra time include your tapering time. Most plans have a 3week taper period of where you reduce you milage to race day. If so do 3 more weeks of high mileage then do 3weeks of taper

    answered 3 months ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Ryan
    Ryan Sendmail

    It looks like your plan includes what Branson was saying - 3 weeks of high mileage and 3 weeks of taper. That makes sense in many ways, but I'd make sure to stay flexible in mileage between the dates of 3/17 through 4/14. The idea of keeping the mileage up is good - nothing wrong with LSD runs to improve the base.

    Doing week after week of runs in the 18-26 mile range, with only 7 days of rest in between, might be a bit much unless you know from personal experience that your body can handle it. After the last long run of the original plan (3/3) - the last thing you want to do is over stress something and get yourself injured. Keeping in mind that many of the benefits of the long runs stay with you for several weeks, I might do something a little more conservative to ensure you show up on race day without any issues:

    3/3 - 20m (last long run of HH training, taper moved to 4/21)
    3/10 - 10m
    3/17 - 15m
    3/24 - 23m
    3/31 - 10m
    4/7 - 15m
    4/14 - 26m (only if you really feel you can do this distance without issue, otherwise do 20m or 23m instead)
    4/21 - 12m
    4/28 - 8m
    5/5 - Race Day

    Something like that, because you'll notice that once the higdon program gets to 16 miles for the long run, the following week's long run is reduced, so I'd be concerned going with 16, then 22, 18, 24, 20 then 26 all back to back. The long runs take time to recover from - regardless of pace, it's just a lot of pounding for your body to deal with.

    Best of luck!

    answered 3 months ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Paul
    Paul Sendmail

    How has your training been going, how have you been adapting to the increased milage each week? what was your training like before starting.

    If things are all good and your coping well, Id do the extension out to 22 miles, but no more than that.

    after that you can think about adding some finishes to your long runs at your goal Marathon Pace.

    But dont worry too much, just repeating those last few high volume weeks would also be fine.

    answered 3 months ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Ryan
    Ryan Sendmail

    After thinking about it - I am finding myself agreeing with Paul's suggestion of 22 miles to extend to. Whether you do that distance once or twice during that 6 week period all depends on how well you recover, and how the answers to Paul's questions factor in to whether to be more conservative or not.

    answered 3 months ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down

Similar Questions in Running - General Running