Give me your best mom of 4 OTQ training plan

Long post here so bear with me

I coached 6 female runners who lined up at the recent Olympic Marathon Trials. 5 were "moms"

In order of PRs

36 y/o mother of 2, full time job. Ran D1 in college, PRs 1:15 1/2, 2:39 marathon PR, 2nd marathon trials for her

41 y/o mother of 4 full time job, Ran D1 in college, All American, one world XC team, PR 1:15 half, 2:40 marathon (at these trials) 4th trials appearance (10,00m x 2 and marathon x 2, with no appearance in 2016 (just had a baby)

27 y/o no children, full time job didn't run in college, marathon PR 2:42, 1st trials

35 y/o mother of 2, full time job, ran D2 in college, PR 2:44 , first trials

35 y/o mother of 1, styay at home, didn't run in college, didn't run in high school 2:43 PR, 1st trials

33 y/o mother of 2, full time job, ran D2 in college, PR 2:44, first trials

Here's the thing, each of these ladies had completely different buildups and plans. (two of them had different coaches when they run the trials)

All had an emphasis on strength runs (MP and tempos) but I had to focus on their strenghts , one has zero speed, like can barely break 5:45 for a mile (when we actually spent a summer training for a mile!!) but can run 6:10 pace forever.

I think you really have to find out your strengths and build on them. High mileage isn't always the answer, but for some it is!

All of these ladies were able to dedicate 6-7 days a week to running, only two ever ran farther than 20 miles for their long run.

You'll probably get a lot of different replies and ideas (and that's good) but that's because there really, in my opinion, is no perfect plan.

Ran in the Olympic Trials marathon and coached 2 who made it. My simple advice:

Shake the week to week training plan and go on a ten day cycle. If you have 16 weeks, 112 days, on a ten day cycle you can build in 10 real solid long runs, giving yourself the last ten day cycle to recover before the race.

Go to war on these long runs and then recover around them. You can sprinkle in track workouts, tempos and fartleks but focus on the long runs.

Coach Heady wrote:

Ran in the Olympic Trials marathon and coached 2 who made it. My simple advice:

Shake the week to week training plan and go on a ten day cycle. If you have 16 weeks, 112 days, on a ten day cycle you can build in 10 real solid long runs, giving yourself the last ten day cycle to recover before the race.

Go to war on these long runs and then recover around them. You can sprinkle in track workouts, tempos and fartleks but focus on the long runs.

While non of my OTQ ladies did a 10 day cycle one tried it 2-3 years ago but didn't like it. That said, I have an other masters runner, (mom of 3) who ran 2:54 using a 10 day plan and she absolutely loved it. Loved the recovery, and the ability to do good quality sessions in between long runs!

Will the next OTQ standard still be 2:45? I would wait until then to set a training plan for the standard. But perhaps achieving 2:45 and then going for a faster time if the OTQ standard is faster might be a good plan as well.

sub sub elite local hobby jogger wrote:

Will the next OTQ standard still be 2:45? I would wait until then to set a training plan for the standard. But perhaps achieving 2:45 and then going for a faster time if the OTQ standard is faster might be a good plan as well.

Here's my thoughts on that, as I currently have 2 young ladies who have yet to break 2:55 that want to chase the standard the next go round.

Most of my runners who hit the OTQ had a steady progression, (fastest one ran her first marathon in 2012, hitting a 3:00) with sub three being a goal, then sub 2:55, then sub 2:50. Only 1 of my runners hit the standard on her first attempt, (41 y/o back in 2012 ) but she had great running credentials and I really think had we done better with nutrition and had a day not so hot, she should have run 2:35.

I took one runner with a previous PR of 3:02, to a 2:46 in 4 months, then a 2:44 5 months later.

Every other one of my folks did a steady progression of improvement, (as did I with my coaching and knowledge of prepping others for the marathon)

I would chase a 2:55 next...and then progress from there.

Just my opinion