I’m continuing with the topics that I presented in the previous post. These are all common themes in the life of a runner but I have included details that are specific to my goal for the WMM 2021.
2. Training Plan
To escape the guys in the dark hats, they’re about to leap off a high cliff into whitewater far below and Butch Cassidy is busting a gut because Sundance doesn’t want to jump given that he can’t swim.
“Why you crazy?” laughs Butch, “The fall’ll probably kill ya!”
It’s a bit like that with marathons. The race itself is a challenge certainly. But a runner may not even get through the training part of it intact.
This is because runners injure themselves. Estimates vary but the general idea is that something like half to three-quarters of us will be injured at some point each year.
Training for a marathon is especially fraught with concern given the length of time required to prepare for the race (3 to 4 months) and the mileage covered in the process (typically 500 to 700 miles). To be successful one must avoid injury. Failure to do so risks scratching from the race, a painful outcome on at least two levels. Besides the discomfort from the injury there is that helplessness from investing so much time and effort only to end up sidelined on race day.
Overtraining is a common concern. Running either too fast or too far or ramping up one’s mileage too quickly often leads to incapacitation.
Now, I grew up in the “No Pain, No Gain” era and vividly recall my high school coaches constantly urging their charges to push themselves harder. In those days, the suggestion to train at anything other than maximum effort was anathema.
We are in a kinder, gentler age now. Most running coaches acknowledge the high risk of overtraining injuries and their training plans are constructed so as to mitigate the risk.
For my first marathon and ever since I have been using a 16 week plan crafted by Runner’s World (RW) that I believe is based on Jack Daniels’ (the coach not the distiller) running formula. I don’t recall exactly why I chose this one but most likely because it was free to download from the web.
RW has made available several training plans each of which targets the experience level of the runner and their goal. I chose the one based on the goal of running a marathon within the range of three and a half to four and a half hours. Over the 16 weeks it prescribes weekly run totals starting at about 30 miles and peaking to about 50 miles before tapering back down to 30 miles the week before the race. Over the course of the 16 weeks the plan calls for putting in something like 620 miles.
The overtraining avoidance features of this plan are similar to that of many marathon training plans:
- Rest days are included in the plan. I’ve chosen to rest two days each week. That is, I am only running 5 days per week.
- Nearly half of the total miles are to be run slowly, meaning, the target pace is one to two minutes slower than the goal race pace. For example, if the goal is to run the marathon in four hours (9:09 per mile race pace), these slower training days are run at a 10 to 11 minute per mile pace.
- A single long run is planned each week and is one of the slow-paced runs.
- Weekly mileage totals increase gradually, typically by less than 10% per week until week 13 and then taper off for the three final weeks of the plan.
Each week there are at most three days whereby the workout involves strength or speed training: intervals, hill repeats, fartlek, or tempo runs. RW includes a pace calculator that tells a runner how fast to run during each of these workouts based upon the runner’s target race day goal. I have found this information to be impressively accurate. During training, I performed at close to the pace targets provided and the finish time for my first marathon was within 4 minutes of my goal.
Readers of this blog know that my current goal is to run five of the World Marathon Majors in six weeks. This particular challenge is not covered in RW’s training plan. I have had to make some modifications because as effective as it has been for me, it does not address running more than one marathon in such a short period of time.
Furthermore, the challenge that keeps me up at night is running the Chicago Marathon and the Boston Marathon on consecutive days. Turns out, running back to back marathons is a thing nowadays and one can find compelling articles on-line describing how folks manage to do this. My research indicates that if you want to run marathons on consecutive days then run them slowly.
Makes sense.
But I think that there should also be an element of practicing longer distances on consecutive days. So now instead of a single long run per week I am doing two. I am ramping up the distances so that in two weeks I will do two 20-milers on consecutive days. I figure that if I survive that then I am in pretty good shape for Chicago and Boston.
Survival is not a slam dunk. Last week I did a 20 mile run followed by 10 miles the next day. After that 10 mile run I was pretty much out of commission the rest of the day and did not feel well until the next day.
Really looking forward to those back-to-back 20-milers.
3. Rest
It has become very clear to me that my strongest feature as a runner is that I am retired.
This took some luck and a fair bit of planning but it has served me well. Retirement bestows dominion over one’s time. I am thoroughly impressed by marathoners who manage to fit in their training while also holding down a full time job whether that be a career or raising a family.
More to the point, I don’t see how anyone who has such time-consuming responsibilities would be able to pull off a marathon. I certainly could not have. Hats off to them.
For example, consider my post-run routine.
I begin with a ten to fifteen minute walk so that my legs don’t stiffen up. Then I apply ice to my knees for about 30 minutes. My knees are my weakest link so I ice them proactively to minimize pain. While icing I upload my Garmin run data to Strava and review it looking for trends and clues as to how I did and what to pay attention to. Meanwhile I’m also eating and drinking to replenish my body. When all this is done I am very likely to take a nap for a half hour to an hour because, frankly, I’m tired after the workout.
Including the run, all this may take 3 hours or so even for low-mileage days. Who has time for this when working full time or taking care of children? I know that I didn’t. Back in the day, it was all I could do to sneak in a 30 minute run and a quick shower before heading back to work.
Also, there are times when I overdo it during my run and I am a basket case for the rest of the day. On those days I just zone out and/or sleep for hours. Who can afford that when bosses (youth and adult) are demanding attention?
Anyone can manage the one or two rest days per week. But I so much rely on the mid-day breaks that retirement grants and I take full advantage. I highly recommend it.
Here’s an interesting tidbit: It is very likely that a typical runner will run more than 26.2 miles in a certified marathon.
The certified marathon course must be laid out such that all participants run at least 26.2 miles. But if the course has twists and turns in it then the savvy runner might choose to plot her path along the inside tangents so as to minimize the total distance covered. Certification requires that this “path of least distance” must be at least 26.2 miles. By definition, all other routes would be longer by some amount.
Most runners will not be taking this least distance path. They’ll meander through the course as the flow of humanity allows and as personal comfort dictates thus adding a few steps here and there. For the three in-person marathons that I have done to date my GPS watch recorded an average of about one-quarter mile longer than the standard marathon distance.
Of course, the official finish time knows nothing of the details of the route that a runner took in getting from the start to the finish. Therefore, if a runner has a finish time goal he would be wise to account for this extra distance in computing a target race pace.
As you may already know I am a charity runner in the London, Boston, and New York marathons this year. If you share the passion that the Michael J Fox Foundation and I have for finding a Parkinson’s cure please consider contributing to any of the WMM I am running in as a member of Team Fox (links below). All donations are meaningful and greatly appreciated.
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/boston-marathon-2021/joesgottarun
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/londonmarathon2021/joesgottarun
fundraise.michaeljfox.org/tcs-nyc-marathon-2021/joesgottarun
