Question:
I am training for my second
marathon, and I will like to qualify to Boston (3:10). I know I have a lot
of work ahead of me. I am planning to run the Tucson marathon in December. I
selected this marathon because is supposed to be fast (is it true?).
Anyway, I am following a modified Galloway's training schedule to finish in
3:10. I would like to know if my modified training schedule is too hard or
too easy.
Monday: off
Tuesday: 8-9 miles - Fartleck (sp)
Wednesday: 1-5 - easy
Thursday: 7-8 miles - close to marathon pace.
Friday: 1-5 - easy
Saturday: off or >10 miles biking.
Sunday: Long - 2:00 minutes slower than my race pace.
Should I just take Fridays off? Instead of the easy miles (so called junk
miles). I have three hard days in my schedule, is that too much? Of course,
I will also include hills and speed workouts as I progress in my training
according to Galloway's schedule.
I would appreciate all comments.
Some background in my running.
I started to run about a year ago (it will be a year the 2nd of September).
I am 5'8", 27 years old and 135 lbs. Many years of soccer. BTW, I train and
live at 8000ft elevation.
Some of my PRs are:
5K - 20:29 (September of '96)
5K - 18:15 (November of '96, but someone said that the course was short- 3
miles. That's why I don't consider that a PR)
10K - 42:05 (November of '96)
half-marathon - 1:36:20 (January of '97)
Marathon - 3:48:01 (June of '97)
I think I could have done a little better in this marathon. I ran this
marathon averaging about 25 miles/week, a few times a ran 35 miles/wk. With
my present schedule I will be running about 40-50 miles/week during the peak
training of my schedule.
I realized that I might have an unrealistic goal (3:10), but I am committed
to it.
Answer:The thing that got my attention is the long run at 2 minutes slower
than race pace. The long slow method, as proposed by ultra runner, Stu
Middleman is for ultra marathoners and not for those of us who will be
running for 3 or so hours. Running 2 minutes slower than marathon pace
will ensure you will not finish anywhere near 3 hours.
If you do train at a 9 min pace you will find that keeping up the pace
after 15 miles, when the going gets really tough, nearly impossible.
The difference in leg motion at 9 minutes and 7 minutes is enormous.
The knee lift for a 7 minute pace is greater than that for the 9
minutes. You will be training your legs to run a 9 minute pace. Without
knee lift at the end of the marathon you will be walking. Do your long
runs closer to your marathon pace, no more than 30 sec/mile slower.
Your short runs should be at marathon pace or better. You want to train
your body to run at the pace you want to run the marathon. So when you
are in the marathon you are concentrating on running more and not
running faster. The more comfortable your marathon pace is the better
you will feel near the end. You will only go as fast as you are trained
for.
