Guys and Ladies
Anyone apart from me think that this years schedules are not as good as previous years ?
I think the idea of previous years giving a day by day view much better, I also really liked the heart rate ones - so its back to last years for me
0 ·
Comments
But that said, I do really like the old Bruce Tulloh training schedules. The presentayion was clearer as well. I have a set from 1998 and will be basing most of my training on them. IMHO, the RW schedules last year seemed far too demanding, with unfocussed sessions.
ther bruce tulloh designed schedules on this site under the "training" tab - i think they are subscriber only though
Personally I like the format as I have irregular work routine and never know where I'll be one week to the next. Also don't like being told what to do, so I find it easier and more in tune with my normal approach to work each week out separately.
Trouble is, most of us only get on or two shots at the marathon each year - it must take a long time to work out what a good schedule is!
yes, from experience, you definitely don't need to be running the intervals at the speeds they suggest to achieve the relevant targets. I think there's quite a bit of over-compensating going on here.
what schedule are you following BTW? you seem to be doing phenomenal amounts of quality training already. your tempo runs make my eyes water. you've got to be on for a great time at Helsby.
I am on the sub 3hr 45 plan and its my first marathon.
I will fit in my races on top of the schedule as well though, so that will up the mileage a bit !
I'm basically using my one and only previous (1999) plan that had 5 runs per week, average of 30mpw (max 42) but trying to get 1 or 2 more 20+m runs in plus better quality sessions. Managed 3:24 in '99, so with a bit more quality and no smokes means aiming for 3:15 this time.
Overall, I would say quality of runs more important than mpw figures.
3:24:05. Miles ranged from 25 pw at start of Jan to max of 42 in mid March. The 42 must have stretched me too far as the following week did only 5 miles due to a foot injury!
At the moment I've cobbled together some sort of amateurish hybrid of RW 3.45 and Hal Higdon Intermediate II, the latter because you can see what the build-up of long runs should be, and plan the 20 milers in around races etc, whereas RW childishly keep you in suspense month by month. HH also has higher mileage in the early weeks which reflects where I started more or less. RW's will probably mainly serve as ideas for speed sessions as that's where I'm not experienced.
Time will tell, what normally seems to happen is I overtrain, have a c**p week, then start again!
Are you doing Horvill to the letter or?
I'm basically doing Frank to the letter at the moment but it's hard to co-ordinate the long run with the weekend, there's not quite enough overall mileage for my liking and I'm not happy only doing 3 quality sessions every other week, so I'm going to try dropping a recovery day and doing an 8 mile (or so) fartlek to replace one of the speed sessions (for now), which I think gets me back in sync. if that makes any sense at all. basically it's not hard enough so I'm going to make it harder! ;-) hmmmmmmmmm, big mistake.
PS. have no worries about your tempo run - my guess it'll turn out to have been the key session. but let's hope Nick doesn't see me say it.
seemed to work ok for a 3.45-4.00 time.
i'm really spooked by any 12+ miles long run this early in the process since i know that by march 30th i'll be sick to death of long runs, with nothing less than a half (and a lot that are considerably more than a half) after the watford 13.1 on feb 2
urgh - the long run
Ever considered joining the SAS?
wwr, I keep hearing this formula about your longest 5 runs adding up to the queen mother's birthday or something, what does it mean?
maybe i should have just stuck to my own fledgling speedwork sessions
is it too late to change, cos i just cant do the mile reps, or should i keep trying
Achilles, I too like our Brucies 100 mile in your last 5 long runs idea. Worked for me in my debut marathon last year. Wouldn't describe the last 6m as 'comfortable' though. I don't know whether any amount of training can make those miles comfortable.
you're probably right though that it doesn't/shouldn't apply to "novices" as they will be spending too long on their feet and won't have enough time to recover, but anything under 4 hours I would have thought it starts to makes sense.
the point is you really need to create a physiological adaptation which only starts to kick in once you get that 20 mile distance into your system. it's really about pushing into the dreaded "wall" zone and teaching your body to adapt to fat burning at this point. if you haven't done it in training, it's going to hurt so much more on the day, quite apart from slowing you down.
that's my theory anyway and it's worked so far.