Advanced Marathoning

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The major benefit of a running coach is the personalized attention, both to training, your lifestyle and your recovery. The training schedule can be tailored about your work-life schedule. When I used the Advanced Marathon training plan, you’ll notice that I made tweaks throughout. I consulted a few running friends but sometimes I was just guessing. With a coach, the guess work is taken away. I shared in this post when and why you might consider hiring a running coach.

A second thing that distinguishes Pfitz is the mid-week medium long run. Every marathon training plan has a long run on the weekend. But some divide the rest of the mileage into pretty evenly divided, manageable bits on the weekdays. Pfitz always includes a medium long run in the middle of the week. He also tends to spread the miles across fewer days of the week – so you’ll run fewer days, but longer than in other plans with comparable weekly mileage. Keep your resistance workouts to a minimum in the last 10 days before a marathon and eliminate them in the last few days. It’s OK to continue gentle versions of core training and cross training until a few days before the race. Flexibility training is fine to do right up until race day, but go overboard. If you’re used to a few 10-minute stretching sessions per week, don’t suddenly devote an hour a day to it in the week before your marathon. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels Initial Ramp (mileage increase/week from start to 16): You need to be doing 16+ mile plans regularly before considering this plan. The final schedule starts at 80 miles and peaks at 107 miles. You’ll double quite a bit on this plan, averaging 9 to 10 runs per week.

Advanced Marathoning was written by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. Pete ran in two summer Olympics, and won the 1984 U.S. marathon team trials (beating Alberto Salazer). He later became an exercise physiologist so the guy knows his stuff. Scott Douglas is contributing editor for Runner’s World and a co-author for many running books, including Meb for Mortals (which is another great running book). Okay, so let’s dive into the advanced marathon training plans in the book.

Rapid mileage increases. Week 1 is pretty mild in each plan, and if you believe Pete’s advice that you’re “ready” for the plan if you’re ready for week 1 – well you might not really be ready. I’d suggest you be a little bit more conservative and look ahead. If the peak weeks look daunting, you might want to opt for the next tier down in terms of mileage. Novice: A first time marathon runner, or someone who not run a marathon for some time, but has some experience of speedwork or racing at shorter distances. Cost: This is obviously the most affordable! At most, you’ll have to pay for a Runner’s World Magazine subscription or borrow one from a friend. Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 30 minutes, alternating between 30 seconds at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace and 30 seconds at goal marathon race pace. Cool down with 5 minutes at an easy pace.Tuesday – Standard warm up. Run 4 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace. Jog easy for 800 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging. By tapering for a marathon this way, you’ll reach the start line feeling fully prepared. Then, all that remains is the little matter of covering 26.2 miles as fast as you can. Tapering your other training

Don’t believe just me? Runner’s World quotes coach Pete Pfitzinger, author of Advanced Marathoning, as saying:Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 20 minutes, alternating between 30 seconds at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace and 30 seconds at goal marathon race pace. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. To give you an idea of what this plan looks like, here’s a look at week 5 from the 54 to 70 mile plan: There’s built in recovery, and there aren’t too many workouts. The 18 week plans include two recovery weeks to help you manage the stress. And in any given week, you’re probably only dealing with one strenuous workout. There is a lot of mileage – but you aren’t going to be beat into the ground by multiple workouts. Cons of a Pete Pfitzinger Marathon Plan Note: This post focuses on marathon training. Here’s an overview of the Pfitz half marathon training plans. Where Can I Learn About Pete Pfitzinger Marathon Training? Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 6 x 800 meter repeats at 5 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace. Run 8 x 400 meter repeats at 15 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Jog for 800 meters between the two sets. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.

Easy runs in this advanced marathon training plan should be run at a pace that feels fairly comfortable. You should be breathing hard, but should be able to carry on a conversation. If you are breathing so hard that you cannot talk, you are running too hard. If you can sing, you are running too easily. Rest Days/Week and Easy Days. To keep Training Monotony low and get the best recovery, running 3-4 days/week is probably optimal. If you prefer to run more frequently, then it is critical to keep the easy days as easy as possible. Tapering has many benefits. It corrects the wear and tear caused by training. The taper period is when your body fully recovers and adapts to training. It provides time for the microcellular muscle damage caused by training to be repaired. Plus, it allows the glycogen stores to be fully replenished. But the best way to build endurance is by running long. Which is why you’ll never see a quality marathon training program without a weekly long run. So what’s the next best endurance builder? The medium long run. Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 20 minutes, alternating between 30 seconds at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace and 30 seconds at an easy pace.

Life

More information can be found on tapering in our blog post from May 2018, Tapering your programme to improve performance for competition. How long should you taper for? In an effort to keep the thread tidy, there are some broad topic categories inside the thread, listed as bolded comments, where you can post your experiences, ideas, and questions. There will also be a comment for your past week of training. Just like the previous incarnation of the weekly training thread, feel free to let everyone know how things have been going in your own training. This applies to some of the longer regular runs, as well as the medium long runs and long runs. They’re not all out workouts – but they’re not easy either. And you might find yourself running on a fine line trying not to run too hard. The Galloway plan could reduce your training stress significantly, but if you're not used to Walking Breaks you will have to ease into this gently. While walking may seem trivial compared with running, the transition between the two states can cause some unexpected stress. While I didn’t touch on running nutrition in this post, it’s SUPER important. In fact, other than running, your pre and post run fueling is one of the most important aspects in marathon training. Read more about my marathon training diet here!