Help me choose between 2 plans

Volume (aka mileage) and intensity are both training stresses. The more stress you pile on at once, the more likely you are to get injured. So conventional wisdom says only increase one training stress at a time - until you've adapted, then add or increase. In other words, if you are ramping up the mileage, keep the intensity low and easy. You didn't say what your current mileage is, but if you're really increasing mileage a lot, then I would keep "workouts" to a minimum and mostly unstructured. Strides following runs are good, especially longer runs. Fartleks in the second half of runs are good. It's hard to pick your A or B. Both could work. It's up to you to listen to how your body is responding the day after or a couple of days after.

IzzySophia01 wrote:

My goals at the moment are just to see what improvements I get from higher mileage, but without getting injured in the process.

I think I like plan B better. 2 runs in medium long run territory versus 3. I think it's ok to stack those runs too so you're more fresh for your long run if you want to add in some quality there.

M- 10 E

T- 10 E

W- 14/15 workout

T- MLR 15/16

F- 10 E

S- 8 E

S- 20 LR

I don't know your background but I also wouldn't be scared to have workout & medium long run days be a little shorter at the start of the plan (12-13 miles). Same with long runs (16-18) & then build up. I also get the desire to do singles but if you can double every now & then you might recover better since you have a lot of long days. Monday can be an easy 6 & 4 double instead of 10 easy. Same with Friday. That might help on those bigger days you have sketched out.

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned I sustained the plan A structure for about 6 weeks before getting injured as I got a bit too enthusiastic on my long runs (ran a marathon 2 weeks before too without a proper recovery period). So average mileage in the past couple of months has been 80-90mpw. Prior to this it was around 65-70 with 2 workouts. One LT and one intervals session but I much preferred the higher mileage whilst cutting out the intervals.

Thanks for the reply and insight! I also should have mentioned though that Saturday is the only day I really have time for a long run and Sunday I don't have much time to do anything over an hour, hence why I do my long on Saturday and short on Sunday.

Any other opinions? The more the merrier!

I think if you are training for a marathon, 20 years old, and as you stated not incredibly fast, then you should concentrate more on overall weekly or monthly volume then just wanting to do it in all singles. So adding doubles would be beneficial to get in weekly mileage, help you recover, avoid injury etc… however if you are absolutely, 100% sure on wanting to do it all on singles the I would recommend you do a mid week workout, Sunday long run with workouts included in the long run. That gives you two tough days and even through in a medium tough day on Friday if you want

For example week

M- 10 miles super easy, recovery effort

T - 10 miles

W- 14 miles (interval workout which would include warm up cool down and jog rest and all the extras )

Th- 10 easy recovery

F- 12-14 medium day long run

S-10

Sn- 20

That’s 86 miles with no doubles. Wednesdays workouts should change every week to hit different systems and paces….Sunday workouts should do the same but probably won’t be much faster than you have in mind for your half marathon pace…. So many thinking’s you can do!!! But you really want to recover well between Sunday and Saturday

Sorry was a typo… so many things you can do!!

IzzySophia01 wrote:

Hi everyone,

20F here.

I was very confused about what the outside temperature had to do with our training advice (20 degrees Fahrenheit), but I now understand that you are a 20 year old female. Got it.

I think plan B would be the better option but as others have suggested, doing a couple of doubles would be advisable. While the training stimuli might be less with the doubles, the chance of injury would be greater. Time spent on your feet for a prolonged period is one of the most common reasons for musculoskeletal injury. Long duration can lead to fatigue which can lead to degrading mechanics, etc.

I would also advise training some on softer surfaces such as grass, cinders, dirt, track. You get the benefit of new stimuli while lessening the stress forces on your joints.

Jus my .02 cents from a long time USATF coach

You should double, a good rule of thumb that I use around 70mpw+ is:

Number of runs per week = (Weekly Mileage/10) + 1.

So 9-10 runs in your case.

If you insist on singles I would up those 10 milers to 11 and only do 1 medium and 1 long run, with the workout on the medium long day. But looking at your paces 85MPW is about 12 hours which is quite a bit. Maybe best to cap the non-medium LR/LR to 85 minutes which brings the 11 down to 10.5. 2:40 LR every week is going to be tough. You should really double.

Mn - 10.5

Tu - 15

Wd - 10.5

Th - 10.5

Fr - 10.5

Sa - 20

Su - 8

Are you aiming for any time goal or just hoping to go off feel and complete the marathon?Curious to know if you’re a newer runner or competed in HS/college at all. It sounds like you’ve already attempted the higher mileage volume with some injuries so I’d opt for Plan B so you can gradually build up with lower intensity for a few months then reassess your fitness in the spring and determine if you’re ready for the summer marathon (or even a half). I think 60-70 a week is a very reasonable base build. Maybe double once or twice a week and see how your body responds.

Runjumpthrow,etc wrote:

I think plan B would be the better option but as others have suggested, doing a couple of doubles would be advisable. While the training stimuli might be less with the doubles, the chance of injury would be greater. Time spent on your feet for a prolonged period is one of the most common reasons for musculoskeletal injury. Long duration can lead to fatigue which can lead to degrading mechanics, etc.

I would also advise training some on softer surfaces such as grass, cinders, dirt, track. You get the benefit of new stimuli while lessening the stress forces on your joints.

Jus my .02 cents from a long time USATF coach

Thanks for the suggestions! I definitely want to avoid doubles as they are very hard to fit into my life at the moment, in addition to already doing a lot of walking during the day. In regards to fatigue at longer distances, funnily enough I actually feel worst the first few miles and by the last few of a longer run I almost always get a jolt of energy and feel like I could go forever. My medium long runs are my favorite of the week.

I would love to mix up the surfaces I train on! But unfortunately havent been able to find any accessible trails or tracks to do so, and the terrible weather in my country (UK) means if I did manage to, I would probably get stuck in mud. I will continue to keep your suggestions in mind!

So its not better to have one easy day of under an hour? 0

Also I love my longer runs. 2.40 doesn't feel tough at all to me once a week, it's just the injury risk. The reason I believe I got injured before is I couldn't stop myself on my longer runs and ended up doing 22 mile, 24 mile etc long runs, one of which I developed my most recent injury