Phase Training

Any comments on this schedule.

What you can get by with because of youth and natural ability is completely different than properly training to run your best at a distance. This program falls just short of the former and is not in the same country as the later.

Sorry. I'm not going to run twice a day, two hours per day and put my life on hold so I can run a PR at a certain distance, as most on this board think we should all do.

I have 30 minutes (on lunch break) to run four days per week, one run per week where I can get in a more quality session (Tuesdays) and the time to run one longer run on Saturday. It is what it is, and my situation allows for nothing more. So my question is... for the time I have alloted, is this an adequate training schedule?

what are "exhaustion sprints"?

Exhaustion sprints are to get myself used to sprinting hard while tired. I started doing them after interval training to get used to the feeling towards the end of a race. I wanted to improve my "kick" a few years back, and I think they really helped so I kept doing them.

After intervals, which to me are paced runs (not all out efforts), I run 100- to 150-meter sprints until I'm completely exhausted, then I sprint one more, which can really burn. Usually, after intervals, this takes anywhere from 5-10 sprints.

So my schedule might be... a 2-mile warmup, 12 by 400s @ 76 each with a 60-second rest, followed by 6 150-meter sprints, and 1-mile cooldown.

TheLongWalk wrote:

Sorry. I'm not going to run twice a day, two hours per day and put my life on hold so I can run a PR at a certain distance, as most on this board think we should all do.

I have 30 minutes (on lunch break) to run four days per week, one run per week where I can get in a more quality session (Tuesdays) and the time to run one longer run on Saturday. It is what it is, and my situation allows for nothing more. So my question is... for the time I have alloted, is this an adequate training schedule?

Given you limited time I think you should forget about marathons and ultras are you don't have the time to adequately train for them and so you'll have a very hard time improving.

Stick to training for 5k's, whcih is more manageable given you time limitations. Get into a good hard day / easy day pattern and you'll see imporvement for a good while.

As far as your conditioning phase goes:

Since your primary focus seems to be lowering that marathon time, and since your secondary focuses seem to still all be distance events, then with the short training time that you have, you should focus on tempos runs. Going by feel is a good idea. Hopefully you'll feel fresh enough get as much time at tempo pace as possible.

This is going to take some dedication. That doesnt mean that you need to run hard everyday, it means that you need to make sure that you HOLD BACK everyday. As in, don't go faster than tempo pace, so that way you can log more tempo pace in over the course of the week. The correct tempo pace is a pace right before you start to feel burning in your legs and dying. You don't need a running calculator to tell you what pace that is, right? It'll likely be different everytime you go out.

Just run high aerobic as often as you feel up to it.

Lastly, get in the long run once a week, and do several 100m strides at 800m/mile pace with full walking rest(60+ seconds) after your runs when possible.

TheLongWalk wrote:

Sorry. I'm not going to run twice a day, two hours per day and put my life on hold so I can run a PR at a certain distance, as most on this board think we should all do.

I have 30 minutes (on lunch break) to run four days per week, one run per week where I can get in a more quality session (Tuesdays) and the time to run one longer run on Saturday. It is what it is, and my situation allows for nothing more. So my question is... for the time I have alloted, is this an adequate training schedule?

How logical. You have just 30 minutes per day to train and refuse to make other concessions to train more than that so logically you pick the longest event (the marathon) to try and train for.

Might want to rethink your goals. Why pick events and goals you can't possibly train correctly for given you available time.

Geez, use your head.

Actually, I've felt decent in previous marathons using this same approach. As long as I get one good workout in per week, and of course a long, hard effort on the weekend, I feel like I'm in shape to at least finish around 3 hours.

No, I'm not going to run to my absolute potential off this training, but it gets me to the start line fresh and the finish line quick enough for me. After all, I'm trying to run around 2:50:00, not qualify for the Olympic Trials. Why does everyone on this board think you have to run more than 100 miles per week to even attempt the marathon? It's a hobby, not a profession.

TheLongWalk wrote:

Actually, I've felt decent in previous marathons using this same approach. As long as I get one good workout in per week, and of course a long, hard effort on the weekend, I feel like I'm in shape to at least finish around 3 hours.

No, I'm not going to run to my absolute potential off this training, but it gets me to the start line fresh and the finish line quick enough for me. After all, I'm trying to run around 2:50:00, not qualify for the Olympic Trials. Why does everyone on this board think you have to run more than 100 miles per week to even attempt the marathon? It's a hobby, not a profession.

Ok I'll make it simple for you. Here are the answers to your questions.

Is your program proper training for a marathon?. No

Can you get by with it? Maybe for a while.

Will you improve doing it? Probably not much if at all.

TheLongWalk wrote:

Actually, I've felt decent in previous marathons using this same approach. As long as I get one good workout in per week, and of course a long, hard effort on the weekend, I feel like I'm in shape to at least finish around 3 hours.

No, I'm not going to run to my absolute potential off this training, but it gets me to the start line fresh and the finish line quick enough for me. After all, I'm trying to run around 2:50:00, not qualify for the Olympic Trials. Why does everyone on this board think you have to run more than 100 miles per week to even attempt the marathon? It's a hobby, not a profession.

Why did you even start this thread if thie is going to be your response to any comments?

TheLongWalk wrote:

Why does everyone on this board think you have to run more than 100 miles per week to even attempt the marathon? It's a hobby, not a profession.

ok, calm down man if you want our help. I don't think anyone has said that you need to run 100 miles a week. In fact, with 30 minutes of training available to you, that's probably barely 30 miles per week - a long way away. Even 4 hour marathoners spend more time on their feet than 30 minutes a day. Don't you see that?

But if that is really all the time that you have available to run, then don't expect to hit very far under 3 hours at all any time soon unless you have a 3 hour long run once a week.