second timer at flm seeks advice

i've posted this elsewhere but would love any comments people here had...i'm on the bounce from first mara at nyc,not up to full resumption of longer runs yet,but trying to get from 4.45 to 4.00. as 38 yo with wife +3 kids i reckon to try and fit around family weekend life so schedules calling for sat and sun running don't really appeal.i got to evolving a scheme that looks like this,to be adopted full time on return from holiday ie week beginning 13th jan,13 weeks to go.and would love some feedback from experienced marathonners,there just doesn't seem to be much advice tailored to 2nd timers relative to first timers!!and i don't feel much more experienced given time aspiration-clearly i would adjust total mileage/long run length with help from higdon/rw etc

mon rest/cross train(eg upper body weights/ergo/abs).but mostly rest.
tue speedwork-maybe not yasso 800's every week-have started these
wed long slow run,gets longer/week
thur tempo 30-40 mins at 8-8.30/mile-getting faster through program.could be on treadmill.
fri 4-8 miles brisk,eg run home from work
sat rest/family life
sun long run

i live&work in london,so its mostly on roads,with attendant ankle risk,did get slight probs in run up to nyc,sorted by 3 week taper.

Comments

  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    Alex, the only commments I could make are:

    1.Maybe do your tempo run on the Friday on the way back from work and to have an easy 40 minutes on the Thursday, otherwise you appear to have too many hard days on the trot.

    2. During your Wednesday long run try and aim for a 9 min mile pace, which is slightly faster than a 4 hour marathon pace.

    3. Don't feel guilty about taking extra days off if you feel tired or have any niggles, especially after your Wednesday long marathon paced run. The easy Thursday session is not key and sometimes a rest is better.
  • drew many thanks for that,i'm just feeling that i need to get myself organised...run home from work is about 7 1/2 miles so bit long for tempo i think....thurs friday likely to involve some rest i guess if ankles are sore from weds.
    never felt too guilty about rest,really,esp with sore ankles,i'd always rather be 'under trained' than injured on the start line....
    but many thanks.
  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    Alex, the tempo run could comprise the following:

    2 mile warm up, 3 to 4 mile hard, 2 mile cool down.

    You could also do it as a combination of 1 mile long intervals with 1 mile recovery.

    Variety in your training is good!
  • Alex, you seem to have two long run days - Weds and Sun. Are you planning to increase the length of both of these? That would make them both hard days so you wouldn't be recovering properly for the speedwork, especially on Thursday after the Wednesday.
    Try keeping one of them as a steady long run of about 10-12 miles, then increase the other one, if possible.
    What sort of mileage or time are you looking at doing over the week?
  • dangly,
    would try and start around 25 miles per week,building towards 20 mile sunday runs x2 perhaps 18 x 3/4 before april,total weekly around 40-5 at peak.weds likely to be steady run by canal from work,can go up to a long way-subject to lunch break-but could keep that at 10 without a prob.was planning to use that and sun long run as way to adjust weekly mileage.
    drew,agree variety is good,and this is framework,not fixed,more than happy to swap about use gym,etc to mix it up.
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