“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers should laugh at him.” – Luke 14:28-29
I’ve always been a planner. The more detailed, the better. If I can see the road ahead, no matter how long it is, I can usually stay motivated to keep moving forward along that path. That has been put to the test the past few months as I’ve struggled to come back from injury. I was hardly able to plan even one week out as it was highly dependent on how I felt. The past couple weeks, however, have changed that and the sub-3 hour marathon goal is on!
My body has finally started to feel “normal” again on a consistent basis. So what’s the natural next step? Make a training plan, of course! I love make training plans – it’s a big reason why I love coaching. Moving workouts, changing them, progressing them – and there’s nothing better (okay, let’s be honest, there’s lots of things better) than when it all comes together in one glorious masterpiece!
Of course, I’m the first one to admit that there’s no perfect training plan. In fact, one of my training principles is to coach to the athlete, not to the system. But even while I may end up changing a training plan a hundred times over the course of a cycle, it’s the transformation that’s the appealing part. The possibility that if I progress from A to B then B to C and onward, I’ll eventually end up at the goal – in this case, the sub-3 hour marathon. Here’s a look inside my planning process and how I lay out my training plan at a high level.
Start at the Finish
First, the goal – the only non-negotiable: running a marathon in under 3 hours, a 6:52/mile pace. I’m taking my shot on September 8th in Geneva, IL at the Last Chance BQ.2 Marathon. This will be one of the last weekends to qualify for the 2019 Boston Marathon, so it will give me the most amount of time possible to train!
Fill in Other Races
I like to have some secondary races leading up to the peak race. In my mind, this performs two tasks. First, if they are timed right, I can use them as tests of fitness. Second, they provide opportunities to get familiar with the race day atmosphere and also the ability to suffer! I’ve come to learn in the power of the mind when it comes to racing and sometimes, you just have to teach your brain that it’s okay to hurt.
In my case, I’ve chosen the Chicago Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon in July. It’s about 7 weeks out from my goal race, which will be perfect to use as an all-out race or part of a long run. I am REALLY looking forward to this one already, even though I know it will probably be a scorcher! Backing up further from that, I am hoping to do at least a couple smaller 5k races locally. The thought behind this is that early on, my training will be geared more towards speed development, almost identical to 5k training. As it progresses, I will get further into strength and strength endurance work which is more conducive to the half marathon.
The Phases
After this, I like to go back to the peak race and just start counting backwards. Here’s the key phases of training I want to hit that will tap into all the major aspects of marathon training. I believe firmly in mixed periodization, which supports the idea that variety should be present in your training at ALL times. It’s just a matter of what you are emphasizing. In the final 6-8 weeks, for example, I don’t plan on doing much work at 5k pace, but I will use something like strides (15-20 sec bursts at the end of a run or shorter less intense fartleks to maintain any speed gains I’ve made.
Here’s a general idea of how I plan to shift the focus in each segment, including where the focus is for strength exercises:
- 2 week taper
- 6 week race-coordination or race specific phase
- PRIMARY FOCUS: Race-specific long runs
- SECONDARY FOCUS: Recovery/not overtraining (something I struggled with last year)
- MAINTAIN: Tempo efforts (usually broken up), light speed
- STRENGTH FOCUS: Plyometric exercises
- 4 weeks anaerobic support
- PRIMARY FOCUS: Stronger Tempo efforts (usually uninterrupted)
- SECONDARY FOCUS: Moderate long runs
- MAINTAIN: Speed, Strength
- STRENGTH FOCUS: Power exercises
- 4 weeks of hills and strength
- PRIMARY FOCUS: Strength/Hills/General Endurance
- SECONDARY FOCUS: Introducing Tempo pace
- MAINTAIN: Speed
- STRENGTH FOCUS: Strength through hill running/General Strength
- 5 weeks of aerobic base building
- PRIMARY FOCUS: Building Mileage/General Endurance
- SECONDARY FOCUS: 5k speed
- MAINTAIN: Any previous aerobic gains
- STRENGTH FOCUS: General Strength
As you can see, the pace focus starts out very fast (5k speed) and gradually slows down to sub-3 marathon pace in the specific phase. Something similar will happen with the long run focus, which will gradually speed up to include more and more marathon pace in the end. Once again, this is one of the ideas behind mixed periodization.
The Mileage
It’s helpful to have a general idea of what mileage you want to hit at your peak and see if it’s realistic to achieve that based on your present volume. My mileage has not been where I wanted it to be at this point, so I already know I won’t be hitting any crazy mileage heights this year. As I’ve said elsewhere, it is not wise to build both mileage and intensity over and over.
Ideally, you want to hit your mileage peak about 8-12 weeks out from your race so you are able to handle the load as you ramp up the intensity.
The Workouts
For me, this is the most fun part! Putting pen to paper – the nuts and bolts! I won’t get into the nitty gritty of my actual workouts yet, but will share over time. Here’s some of my thought process though about how I plan workouts.
Once again, when designing workouts, you want to start at the end! What’s the very last BIG race-specific workout you want to do before your race? Slot it in 14-21 days out from the race. This way you are sure to accomplish it and not plan other races around it or sabotage it in other ways.
From there, I recommend putting in similar race-specific work about every 2-3 weeks prior to that until you reach the beginning of the training plan. Then you can see what sort of progression you’ll need to make.
You can do this similar exercise with the other supporting workouts (think speed, tempo, aerobic endurance, etc.). Plug in the most difficult workout for that category in where it’s the focus (see above) and work backward. You’ll also have to work forward to maintain it. Maintenance workouts can be less frequent (every 2-4 weeks) and obviously will be less intense allowing you to go harder on the focused workouts.
Easy Days
After the workouts are set, I plug in easy runs to get to the right weekly mileage that I’ve previously set. No major science to this process as long as the easy days don’t end up being too long! If they do, I may adjust the overall mileage slightly to balance it out.
Be Flexible and Adjust
Now the fun begins! As much as I’d like to believe I will follow my plan perfectly, I know adjustments will need to be made. Sickness, family conflicts, injuries (fingers crossed!), and minor aches and pains will likely come up from time to time. When that happens, I’ll adjust accordingly, prioritize, and move forward.
Now that I have a road map laid out, sub-3 seems much more achievable. The inspiration and motivation has always been there – but now I have the step by step process. Here’s to a good cycle and another goal accomplished! Cheers!
Hey! Hope you found this article useful! If you want to continue to follow my journey, consider subscribing to my weekly email list. You will get articles sent directly to your inbox as well as other valuable content not seen on the website.
