Question:
I'm hoping to do London next year,
(I've run several half marathons
& ten milers since I started
about 2 & a half years ago).
My question is about frequency vs.
distance in marathon training. I
have been running 30+ miles a week
regularly in four sessions a week
(usually 7, 13, 7, 6).
Most of the
marathon schedules I have read include
at least 6 days running a week,
but usually shorter distances. I
find the four sessions I'm running
at the moment manageable (I tried
5 sessions a little while ago &
suffered from increased tiredness).
With work & family committments
I could probably manage 5 or 6 sessions
to build up for the marathon, but
which is best - fewer longer runs
or more frequent shoerter ones ?
Anybody got any advice ?
Answer:
Hopefully you kept a training log
of both marathons so you can compare/contrast
and make improvements. I'm no expert
but I ran London this year after
just 9 months of training. I also
can only manage 30-35 mpw in 4 sessions.
I think that as long as the speed
is there the key is endurance and
this is developed on the long runs.
I do 1 session of speed intervals
every 2 weeks, but normally 3 x
6mile tempo (1/2 marathon pace,
approx 30sec - 1 min/mile faster
than marathon pace) sessions each
week with the long run (approx 1
min/mile slower than marathon pace)
at the weekend.
Currently
I'm doing the sequence 10, 13, 15,
18 mile every 4 weekends. This seems
to work for me. My times are improving
as is my endurance. 18 isn't a big
issue now compared to earlier this
year. I'll probably increase the
long runs by a couple of miles more
in the new year but probably not
much above 22 miles. The longest
I ran last time was 20 miles but
experience showed that the wall
came at 21-22 so I think this time
I'll train just past that.
Personally,
I'm big on tempo runs as the means
of improving one's times. Always
worked for me. Having started out
as a miler I've always had adequate
leg speed
for the long races so I mainly worked
on endurance. Endurance gained from
tempo
runs will carry you thru the race.
That's my experience.
When training for the marathon I
used to do a weekly 12 mile tempo
run at a pace
somewhat faster than I was hoping
for in the race. And the obligatory
18-20 mile
jog. The other runs would be just
filler runs with a few one-mile
repeats (@10km
pace) here and there to cement in
the gains made on the hard days.
