Improved Marathon Time by Changing Training Structure

Redjeep

Hi all,

I've just finished Dublin on Monday which was my 10'th Marathon and where I matched my PB of 3:45 ( within a few seconds). 

I was happy with my time, my splits were the narrowest spread that they'd ever been and I felt comfortable afterwards which makes me think that I could potentially have gone faster. I've decided to target Manchester next April as an opportunity to knock some serious chunks of my PB, but I'm not sure how to train for it.

This will be my third consecutive Manchester Marathon.

I've always followed fairly conventional training plan with one long run, one speed and one tempo run per week with a few hill sessions thrown in and a bit of cross training (cycling) but am unsure if this is going to cut it.

I'd normally do 5 or 6 sessions per week and my peak miles would be 60 - 70 a few weeks before a marathon. 

In a post marathon pub conversation with an experienced friend he made the comment ' if you always train the same way you'll always get the same results'. Whilst this comment wasn't aimed at me, I'm wondering that perhaps I should be looking at something different and trying to integrate something else into my training such as weights, Pilates for core strength or different cross training.

Does anybody have any ideas ? Should I integrate something different into my training or just concentrate on doing more of the same with perhaps some harder speed sessions and increasing my weekly distances ?

 

Tim R2-T2

That quote is often misused.



If you're repeating the same mistakes then yes, you'll always get bad results.



If you're repeating good things and they're working, why change?



It's a long game. You're already feeling better during the marathons. To me that says what you're doing is good. I would keep doing what you're doing.

lou Diamonds

Seems to me that you may have answered your own question. Why were you not more ambitious with your goal time?

Have you looked at any published plans to see how they differ from your own?

Dachs

If you're getting up to 60-70 miles per week, I'd seriously consider having a medium long run in there per week in addition to your long run, because that's enough volume to fit it in.  Not a 20-miler or anything like that, but maybe something in the 11-15 range.  They really help boost endurance.  If you've got limited time for extra sessions, I'd suggest that this is likely to be more important than a weekly speed session, although you could still sub in a speed session when you have a chance.

Nayan

IVe been making steady progress on 40-50 miles a week but without strength training. To be honest I'm happy with my mileage (now 50mpw most weeks) and am more focussed on adding strength work now 

Redjeep

Thanks everyone.

My training plan is one from my local club but is very similar to any of the published plans such Pfitzinger or Noakes etc, in that there's a long run, a tempo run and some speed work. It doesn't include a medium long run mid week like some of the plans I've seen.

I suppose my question was born a little out of frustration in that I've dropped about 5 minutes from last year, and although I do feel that I could have gone a little better on Monday, I was wondering if including something like weights or core work would help improve faster. I'm targeting trying to knock at least 10 minutes off by Manchester, which may or may not be practical, but I'd like to give it a try.

PWT10

There's some very, very wise heads on this forum and I imagine they would be able to point you in the right direction if you can provide a little more information. For example, your typical or peak week, outlining mileage and paces. If you can also include other races times, they will be able to advise you if some of your sessions are too fast or slow.

Unlike some, you already have good weekly mileage so I doubt anyone is going to suggest upping it. Dachs makes a great point about the mid-week mid-long run, some aim for about 65% of the long run distance. Also, what is your tempo targeting pace-wise? If you can turn that Tempo into a 10m MP run, with a couple of miles warm-up and cool-down, you kill two birds with one stone.

Just a thought.