What do you think of this low mileage marathon training program?

A con is that your risk of injury is very high, a la loading mileage into just two days

A con is that you don't seem to have any "active recovery" - easy run days. Even if your 20s are at a slow pace, it's still a good adaptation to be able to recover while running.

A con is that there is no speedwork in here

A con is that not mixing up your training stimulus will not stimulate growth in your aerobic, (neuro)muscular, etc systems

A con is that your lifestyle and schedule will be very weird - who (with a regular M-F job) has time to run 20 miles on a Wednesday?

A con is that you will not be increasing volume over time?

This is a bad idea.

Do it and see what happens

Thanks for addressing some major points. Is there anything redeeming about the proposed schedule though? To address the points below, I'll be gradually increasing my mileage from 1 mile on Wed and Sun to 20 over the next few years. So I will be increasing mileage and the hope would be that my injury risk is less if I've adapted to such a schedule over time. In addition, my weight training schedule includes squats and deadlifts of various reps and weights, and light sprints, which will function as active recovery and work on other system, along with a lot of walking and getting in as many stairs throughout my day as possible.. I'm not concerned about missing speedwork, as my goal is only to qualify for Boston, not reach my peak potential. With my work and family schedule, it's way way easier getting one midweek run of 3 hours in rather than setting aside 30-120 minutes every day for running. My weight training I do at home (30 min. workouts) and don't want to stop doing that 3 days a week.

dumb wrote:

A con is that your risk of injury is very high, a la loading mileage into just two days

A con is that you don't seem to have any "active recovery" - easy run days. Even if your 20s are at a slow pace, it's still a good adaptation to be able to recover while running.

A con is that there is no speedwork in here

A con is that not mixing up your training stimulus will not stimulate growth in your aerobic, (neuro)muscular, etc systems

A con is that your lifestyle and schedule will be very weird - who (with a regular M-F job) has time to run 20 miles on a Wednesday?

A con is that you will not be increasing volume over time?

This is a bad idea.

Ok, so I guess remove the last point I said about not increasing mileage over time.

You're really going to start off with 2mpw and build super slowly over *years* to 20 each? I think add a con of doldrums into that. Definitely good to re-introduce mileage slowly after a big hiatus, but I think this might be extreme.

Pro is consistent strength training, since that's something a lot of us miss.

Even if your goal is to not max out but just BQ, should still treat training as if the goal is in the sky and difficult, and then just run a strategically paced race so you easily hit the BQ and don't have a risk of blowing up. I have a friend whose PR is BQ-12 or so, but she kept blowing up in marathons (not BQing) and just wanted to get back to Boston. She trained as she normally would and was probably in shape for BQ-15 or so, but on race day I paced her to a BQ-6. It felt chill and it was 99% certain she would make the goal, and she did and felt good doing it.

I'm proposing a slow buildup to avoid injury and also because I don't play on qualifying until I get to the slower 40+ age group. Yes ideally, I'd be able to train perfectly, run high volume, etc, get in BQ-30 shape or whatever, but I just miss way too many days of training trying to do that due to work/weather/family, not being motivated that specific day etc. for that training to be effective, while I can absolutely dedicate 2 days to maximal training. If it makes more sense to do something like Wed 12 miles, Sunday 20 miles I'd do that, but I think I could handle 20-20 after a 3 year build up. My other option is just not attempting this at all and sticking just to a few miles a week for enjoyment and never chase a Boston qualifier. I guess what I'm wondering about is whether chasing a Boston qualifier on a 2 day/week running schedule is even worth it, and if so, what would the ideal schedule be given a 2-3 year long build-up opportunity.

Boston Marathon qualifying time for 30-40 yo Male is 3:10 (7:15 per mile pace )

So your workouts should be more specific to being able to sustain this pace for 26.2 miles.

Your proposed schedule is:

Monday - off

Tues - Weights

Wed- 20 miles

Thu - Weights

Fri - off

Sat - Weights

Sun - 20 miles

Unless you plan on running those 20 miles runs at race pace I don't see much specificity toward the qualifying time pace.

Here is what I would alter your plan:

Monday - off

Tues - Weights + 1 hour X-Training

Wed- 5 x 4 miles at 7:00 pace,

Thu - Weights + 1 hour X-Training

Fri - off

Sat - Weights + 1 hour X-Training

Sun - 20 miles

- get a HR monitor to make sure that you stay aerobic for the entirety of you runs and X-Training. Wear it with the Wed Interval to record the HR for analysis.

- add 1 hour X-Training to add to aerobic development without the pounding. Do this after your weight work to aid recovery

- Wed add specific pace interval work. take 5 minutes between reps. Start with 2 miles and build up to 4 miles. Build up to 5 miles as you move closer to the marathon qualifier.

Thanks.. this is perfect response I'm looking for. 1st question, am I significantly more likely to get injured by doing the faster running on Wednesday? Running any speed on such a weird schedule I wondered if it would increase my risk of injury significantly (but 7min pace wouldnt' feel like "speed" for me, originally I thought I'd just want to avoid any paces below 6:30 as they'd be unnecessary for qualifying while increasing my injury risk a lot). . By the time I try to qualify, q time will be 3:15 (7:26 pace), but imagine I'll have to run 7:15 pace to actually get into the race. The other thing I'd consider is 10 Saturday, 20 Sunday. some x traning during the week as I can in addition to the weights, but the wed-sun schedule seems to make more sense. I can definitely build up to 5x4 miles at 7min pace. What pace for the weekend 20 miler? 8-8:30? Thanks!

dumb wrote:

A con is that your risk of injury is very high, a la loading mileage into just two days

A con is that you don't seem to have any "active recovery" - easy run days. Even if your 20s are at a slow pace, it's still a good adaptation to be able to recover while running.

A con is that there is no speedwork in here

A con is that not mixing up your training stimulus will not stimulate growth in your aerobic, (neuro)muscular, etc systems

A con is that your lifestyle and schedule will be very weird - who (with a regular M-F job) has time to run 20 miles on a Wednesday?

A con is that you will not be increasing volume over time?

This is a bad idea.

Bull. I was in similar situation. If goal is just to BQ. Totally doable.

I wasn't nearly as fast as the poster in college. But i had between 30-40 mpw for a 12,week program and easily bqed.

inquiring mind will qualify for boston wrote:

My goal is to qualify for Boston in 3 years.

Haven't run in about 2 years. 36 yo, same weight as college when I ran 3:50(1500)/14:57

Build up to the following:

Wed: 20 miles

Sun: 20 miles

Weight training on Tu/Th/Sa.

What are the pros and cons of such a schedule?

Pros: looks easy on paper. If you don't like running, only 2 runs per week.

Cons: Likelihood of getting injured. Boring.

A better schedule would be to replace the weight training days with running. So a more 'traditional' marathon training schedule, building up to: Sunday 20 miles, Tuesday recovery run, Wednesday workout run, Thursday 15 miles, Saturday workout or short race.