Men's health marathon in 6 weeks training plan

Jusf flicking through the Run section at the back of Men's health (it was in my hotel) and they have 2 pages of training plans.

The 0 to 5k in 5 weeks seems reasonable if the majority of the target audience are fairly fit to start.

The 10k looks tough as it is targetting sub 45 mn, which seems fast to me for a 1st 10k (but I am very slow).

The half plan looks reasonable if it is building on 10k fitness.

What seems ridiculous and dangerous is the marathon plan. This claims to get runners from a half marathon to a full one in just 6 weeks.

week 1 and 2 - 2 x 9.5 k easy, 16k tempo, 19k long

week 3 and 4 - 2 x 13k easy, 11k tempo, 32k long

week 5 and 6 - 2 x 8k easy, 8k tempo, 19k long

I'm no expert, but surely a jump from 19k to 32 in a week is far too much, and would anyone be able to run a marathon with just 2 training runs which were over half the marathon distance.

Comments

  • I'm no expert coach but I have run a ton of marathons and coached my super fit but non runner husband through a few .... this sounds like bollocks to me.   This magazine is just the blokes version of any crap woman's mag promising lose 2 stone of fat in one week, except it's go from weedy to Arnie in 5 easy moves.... 

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    If it's pitched at men in the age range Men's Health is targetted towards, then getting them to sub 45 for 10k doesn't seem too hard a target!

    Similarly, if someone of that age has finished a half marathon, it probably doesn't take too much training to get them round a marathon.

    It's not like it's saying run a sub 3:30 in 6 weeks or anything.

    It'd probably be miserable but that'd be fine.

    It's no more ludicrous then the stacks of runners on this site who train for a marathon off 20odd miles a week. It'll get you round, but it'll be the very minimum.

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Its probabaly a "complete" plan rather than "compete" you hear of lots of people at London that have only done a longest run of 16 miles and they manage to do it.
  • I read men's running because we get it free at work sometimes, it is funny, they have "Fox on the Run" which is a pretty girl that runs, and it's strapline is "For runners with balls".

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    Bearing in mind the cover pic is normally some heavily muscled weights goon, I wonder how many of those types would want to run such a long distance!?

    It's like Runners world,suddenly running a "get a weight lifter's physique" article.

  • Women's running on the other hand is quite a good read.

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