Which Marathon Training Plan/Book is the best?

soooo....what's your goal?

Take a look at McMillan's plan too. Good amount of intensity and variety of workouts with a significant focus on long run, both LSD and fast finish. I've had a lot of success with his plans.

A lot of sub-3 guys I know use Pfitz's plans. His book is worth a read but plans didn't really appeal to me. I prefer to focus more on intensity and workouts than weekly mileage and Pfitz puts a premium on weeklies.

Hansons book is also good but I have a fundamental disagreement with always keeping your long run at 20% of weekly mileage. A lot of people gravitate towards Hansons because they hate long runs but I think it's more important to get time on your feet equivalent to goal race time. I do like how the plan progresses with interval training and MGP though. You could do worse than taking plan as written and extending out long runs by a few miles although Hansons says don't do it.

I'm a big fan of Hanson's plan. Don't be afraid of running 6 days a week. I was a 3-4 days a week runner for a long time and it was tough running 6 days for the first 2 weeks but then I really noticed how much stronger I became and I actually hated the day off and felt like I was restless because I was used to running almost every day. I never felt stronger and faster than when I was running with the Hanson plan.

50 State Challenge:

https://dannyharitan.wordpress.com/

Boston Qualifier is my goal. I hope it's in reach as I've been able to get back into "relatively good shape" since starting running again (5 years away from it). However, I tried to do a marathon goal paced run and lasted about 3 miles haha.

I've learned over the years that marathon training takes all the fun out of running. But I'm slow.

Anyhow, join a running club that caters for someone your pace.

It will probably set you back < $100 and you'll get a coach who'll have a plan and also give you constant feedback and adaptation, depending where you are in your progress.

You'll also get plenty of running partners.

All of those are considered good books, so you won't be doing anything stupid.

If anything, I will offer this: Hansons is good for those still trying to gain enough endurance for the whole marathon distance. JD and Pftiz go a step above, with more challenging workouts that are best suited for those trying to squeeze times closer to one's potential.

None of the above. A custom designed plan for yourself will always be the best.

Run long, run slow. If you've never run 80 miles a week and want to train for a marathon, that's it. Want a bit more structure: look up Hadd. Forget the rest.

If you are good enough to qualify for Boston then any canned workout will be fine.

Well, with your background, you could probably take the parts of each plan that make the most sense to you and make up your own plan. I think people who follow plans to the exact letter typically didn't run in college and probably don't understand the actual purpose of the plan. I mostly followed the Hansons, but there were things about it I didn't like. The MP runs were too hard to recover from, for instance. I ended up doing something like a Hansons/Daniels hybrid plan.

Jack Daniels, Pete Pfitzinger, and Hansons seem to be the best 3 books out there for an experienced marathoner. IMO, Hanson's tends to be for people who have run a few marathons and hit a plateau with a conventional training plan (with regular long runs) and want to try something different to see if they can further improve. If you could only pick one book, then one of these three would be the best choice.

If you aren't close to BQ yet and between being a novice and an experienced marathoner, then there are other choices. Jeff Galloway has a "Boston, How to Qualify" book that is aimed to this audience.

Working with a local running club or marathon training group is a great idea so long as you have people to train with (and coaching) at your level. You may want some feedback on where your relative strengths/weaknesses are as a runner and what you need to emphasize or de-emphasize in your training.

Since your are newly returned to running, build gradually to a week like this:

one hour, four times per week.

One day run 90 minutes.

One day run 2 to 2.5 hours.

One day, rest.

All runs are run at your fastest comfortable, aerobic pace - just below where you would start to be more anaerobic that aerobic - pleasantly hard.

Over many patient months, the above will bring you race results that are 90-95% of the way to your ultimate potential.

Then, if your marathon times are only a few minutes beyond cherished barriers, you can add training elements that are more risky for injury, like track repeats, strides(yes, strides or sprints can be risky on tired legs) and tempo segments within your long run.

Research Lydiard and Hadd if you want more detailed info.