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Ask the Experts: Marathon Training Q&A with Steve Smythe
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Comments
Jamie
I think you should try and cut down very slightly but plenty of marathoners like wine - recall multi London Marathon winner Antonio Pinto had his own vinery - actually visited it courtesy of London Marathon and it was good.
As long as you are sensible with the wine drinking in relation to your long runs and races then it shouldn't be a problem. It probably helps relax you.
Chopper UK - I turn on audio 'announcements' on my iphone app 'Runmeter' and it reads me my speed/pace/distance for every mile or whenever you set it for. You could see if the app you use does the same? Saves looking at your phone every few minutes.
-Kate
Steve, two questions, if you please...
1 Leading up to VLM last year I ran lots of races as my long runs, and in the weeks before, set a 15 year best at 13.1 (1:58), then a 10 mile PB (91), 3x20 mile PBs in 3 weeks (3:24, 3:20, 3:11), 10k PB (50:30) then hit the wall at 17 miles in London, finishing 7 seconds slower than 2010, in 4:57. Does this suggest a classic burn and a plan not to follow this year? Later in the year I ran a couple of XC 15 milers, and then did 3 marathons in 8 weeks, with 4:19 (PB), 4:47, 4:13 (PB).
2 Since that "fun" autumn, I have run through a mild pain in my left hip; it doesn't affect pace (I still managed 1 minute off that 10k PB in November) or endurance (yesterday I ran 10 miles with all splits within 10 seconds of the average). The pain is worse when I'm "cold" or after very hard hillwork. Any advice there?!
Cheers
Jimbo
Hi Steve,
Question on coming back from an injury and returning to marathon training.VLM will be my 5th marathon, and every time I've had problems with a recurring calf strain, which has always hampered my training and I've never really got close to the time I think I'm capable of (marathon PB is 4:12 compared with half PB of 1:34) I thought I'd got it sorted this time and had been building up the mileage gradually over a much longer period before starting my training programme without any problems. Then, just before I was due to start a 16 week training programme, my calf started bothering me again. I've managed some cross training, to keep my fitness up, and it feels fine to start running again gradually now. I'm wary of trying to do too much too quickly, but I'm starting to feel like my chances of doing a decent time are gone before I've even really started the training.
Any advice?
Iccel Jim
yes you raced too hard too long too often in the build up - you need to reduce the longer races ie one 20 will suffice and no faster than marathon pace.
Also in the autumn 3 marathons in 8 weeks is a little excessive unless you just want to do them for fun!
the hip seems managable now but it will probably get worse especially when you up the training. I think it6's important to see a good osteo or chiropractor as its probably that something in your nody isn't aligned properly. Not only will that cause problems in the hip arte but also possibly lead to injuries in ankle, knee, hamstring etc
Hi Steve
Do you have a regular weekly session that is the one key thing over anything else to get done each week, for example if you had a cold/illness, missed a couple of sessions due to weather etc? In effect the back bone session of marathon training week in week out.
Steve,
I've read all of your other advice with interest and you've answered most of my questions.
One thing I want to check is - would running just 1 or 2 half marathon races in my training for the London Marathon be enough racing? My half marathon PB is 1:27 and Marathon PB is 3:29. Having only done 2 marathons I thought it might help me if my training concentrated more on long runs of 20-22 miles rather than racing too much over a shorter distance?
Any thoughts?
Adrian
I find it hard running in the morning. So running to work as opposed to running home from work is sooooo much harder. Obviously my first marathon, the Brighton Marathon, is in the morning like almost all races.
Any tips? Get up earlier?! Anymore?
Thanks,
Thomas.
kamoshika
yes you should be running nearer 3:30 to 3:45 than 4:12
presumably you have visited physio/chiro/osteo? If not it's worth investing and sports massage should also help the calf. I have had calf problems myself this winter. It's never affected me in any of my marathons or marathon training but has post marathon. I have been given some extra stretches to do.
You may have to reduce the faster parts of your treaining and focus more on longer slower runs and increase the cross training, but I would hope good treatment will enable you to train normally. Getting back gradually and being patient is very important.
Steve - on long runs all the guidance seems to be about running 1 minute to 2 minute below goal marathon pace. how do i know what my goal marathon pace should be/is?
half marathon best of 1.43.31 and 10k of 45.14 - what should that equate to in terms of aims and ambitions?
KR
the key session is definitely that long slow run - once a week you need to focus on building some endurance - pace isn';t important (well maybe once a month) but it's time on feet - all sessions important to some extent and you can't neglect pace or tempo but the long run is the most important.
Hi Steve
What do you think is the best predictor for a marathon time? My half marathon PB of 1:30 suggests a quicker marathon time than my 10k PB. Similarly, I've read that the Yasso 800 is a good indicator, which I'll be doing next week (7 x 800) but not sure if it's too early in the training to get a true sense of what time I should aim for.
Thanks.
Adrian
I think two races will probably be enough - races are great and some are essential but agree they do interrupt the training and you are wise to focus on the long run as per my answer above
Thomas
if you are racing in the morning, you have to get the body adapted to that and so, sadly you will have to do some runs and also worth entering some races in the build up as that will get the body used to it. It doesn't have to be all your runs just some and if you feel you train better in the evening then make sure you do some good pm training
Hi everyone, thanks so much for your questions - and thank you to Steve for answering them all!
I think that's about all we've got time for, but we'll be back in a few weeks with another ASICS Target 26.2 expert webchat.
Have a great weekend's training!
Alice
Stuart you are capable of a 3:45 but maybe a sub-4 would be a good starting point until you find how cut out you are for racing 26.2 miles. Use that6 to determine your long runs to start off but you may find you can easily go a bit quicker - they are guidelines not commands.
Rob C
all these predictors are guidelines but not an exact science. It is more important that your half time is close to your marathon time than your 10k time which suggests you are a strength based runner than a speed one. Some runners are just better suited to running 10k and half marathon than the marathon.
Yasso 800s are good but a good mile runner would get a marathon prediction that would be very unlikely to achieve
Hi Steve. I ran 20k this morning as part of my training for my first marathon on 29th april. It was HARD!!!! I Really cant see how i will manage to doublethis distance, and so i am now worried ive bitten off more than i can chew.
Any words of advice would be greatfully recieved. Thanks alot x
Thanks KD for the suggestion. Sports Tracker doesnt have that audio facility but just checked and RunKeeper on my Nokia does so I'll give that a try tomorrow on my LSR. Thanks
Good luck with your training too.
And thanks Steve. Very informative.
RBR
you'll be amazed how much fitter you can get in 3 months - with training plus the adrenaline of competition - if you can do 20k now, 42k is more than achievable then - just build up gradually and be consistent with your training,
one hour plus sitting in chair answering questions has not helped my fitness though as back totally seized and went into very painful spasm when I got up to get lunch and now can't move!
ouch! You want to try that for 10 hours a day
hope you managed to return to the vertical soon after...
all the best
Thanks Chopper - some days are 15 hours plus in the chair. It must be the typing fast with the chair at a undiscovered slight angle that did it. can barely move now.
sal f - if you have a 18 week plan and you have 12 weeks I would go week 2 4 6 8 10 and then do the last 7 weeks