Did Benji Durden train like he advocates in this article?

has anyone who followed this plan not had success? And if you did have a successfull marathon off of this plan did you follow it to a T or add in morning run etc. please explain.

also, what kind of times have people achieved with this program?

Check out Benji Durden's Elite Program out of Hal Higdon's Book:

http://www.halhigdon.com/books/howto.html

This plan is much more comprehensive than Benji's 15-week program which was published in Runners World in the early 90's. I think what works for me, is the easy days are real EZ. You have to trust the program. Running 30 minutes 3 days a week was an adjustment for me. My EZ days used to consist of 6 miles AM and 6 miles PM. Lowered my Marathon Time from 2:42 to 2:28 on this schedule while running fewer weekly miles.

thanks for the tip, I just prdered the book. Do you mind telling me what your pr's in other events 5-10k were prior to starting benji's plan, and then after. Thanks

Benji:

How did you, if you in fact have, get rid of your PF?

Mine's been driving me to distraction. I'm 52 now and am loathe to even look at racing flats at this point.

Thanks.

Hmmm...maybe that should read "gotten rid of" I wasn't precisely sure of the syntax on that line.

Apologies if any English major proves me wrong.

I just notice this thread had a few more words. First, I didn't notice that CIM had given me a sub 3:01 till I read it here. I was just aware of my gun time. I'm still not running marathons properly and was disappointed with my race. It's an improvement over my last old-man marathon, but I don't have enough racing under my belt to handle the pounding of 26 miles yet. My energy levels were fine but I had thrashed quads at from 17 miles on and slowed over 4 minutes over the second half.

I got rid of my PF problems with time and lots of work massaging the PF with a tennis ball to stretch and work out the tightness. I didn't fully tear the fascia this time around like I did back in 1983 (that just took 18 months of running with pain to go away and I never really got my form back).

I have the Hal Higdon book referred to above that includes Benji's 84-week version of this program. One major difference between it and the one published in runners world is the week leading up to the marathon. The runner's world article has 30-40 minute runs everyday except a 90 minute run on Wed. The article in Higdon's book has rest on Mon - Th with a 30 min jog on Fr and Sat. That's a pretty big difference, isn't it? The runners world article is closer to what I'm used to seeing. Has anyone seen a marathon schedule with that much rest in the last week?

The other question I have about the schedule is why the repeats are by distance (800m) when everything else is done by time. It seems like the same logic would apply. For Benji in his prime, 9x800m might be 20 minutes (excluding rest), but that could be 50% more (30 minutes) for a 3 hour marathoner.

freddy wrote:

I have the Hal Higdon book referred to above that includes Benji's 84-week version of this program. One major difference between it and the one published in runners world is the week leading up to the marathon. The runner's world article has 30-40 minute runs everyday except a 90 minute run on Wed. The article in Higdon's book has rest on Mon - Th with a 30 min jog on Fr and Sat. That's a pretty big difference, isn't it? The runners world article is closer to what I'm used to seeing. Has anyone seen a marathon schedule with that much rest in the last week?

I think the book is misprinted. It seems like the Sunday of each week should be the first entry of the week as opposed to the last. I think it is doubtful that Benji would schedule 4 rest days prior to the marathon. The 4 rest days would follow the race.

Anybody using Benji Durden's Plan for a fall marathon? If so, are you making any modifications? Also, if you don't have a race on the scheduled race weekends, do you substitute a long run or a hard paced workout? Thanks.

has anybody tried applying the marathon training plan as a base phase for a shorter race such as a mile or 5k? Would it be effective?

Benji Durden wrote:

I can see patterns and went back to long sleeves and sweat pants

Awesome to see the training of a world class runner. I think all truly great runners do what Benji did - experiment a little and see what works for THEM even if it seems unorthodox, not just blindly follow what others do. You may improve doing what everyone else is doing, but to reach the top level you have to see your patterns.

Great article on Benji...

https://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/print.asp?id=6998

winnipeg jetz wrote:

Anybody using Benji Durden's Plan for a fall marathon? If so, are you making any modifications? Also, if you don't have a race on the scheduled race weekends, do you substitute a long run or a hard paced workout? Thanks.

I'm on it for NYC. The low mileage makes me nervous, but then again I ran a PR 2:47 off of 50 a week, and I haven't been under 2:50 since I upped things to the 70s and 80s.

I'm considering adding some short evening runs on the hard days, but maybe that's just garbage. I'd be interested to hear anyone, especially Benji, chime in on ways to follow the spirit of this plan, but with more mileage.

I would love to hear what Benji has to say...I believe he would be apt to start adding mileage on your hard days. Keep the easy days as is. You can email him at:

benjid@runningbears.com

If he resonds, would you mind sharing his response with the rest of us?

I would think short (45 minutes or less) 2nd runs on the long days could be useful. I did that myself "back in the day". The second runs can help the recovery by flushing blood through the legs if they aren't too hard. Additionally, it is one more stress on the energy system which is the real limiting factor in the marathon: how much energy can you store and how frugally can you use it.

I'm not sure "big" mileage (120 and up) really helps that much in the marathon. I did that for a while and didn't improve from my 2:10:41 which I ran in the 1980 Trials. I finally dropped back to more like 85-95 about 9 months before Boston where I ran 2:09:57. There is the possibility that the 2 years or so of higher mileage set me up for the faster time. There is no way to be sure.

The important thing is to be sure you don't get stale from running too much. You need some fast running and if you get too tired, it is easy to get hurt when running fast. At the same time, it is important to have time on your feet. It is a tricky task to find the right balance. In the years after I slowed down, the trend was to embrace "less is more". Today we are swinging back to more miles is a good thing. I agree to a point, I just don't know where to draw the line.

Ask yourself every now and then if you are feeling recovered when you start your hard days. If you are, the plan is working.

Thanks for the reply Benji...Good to see you on these boards. Any plans for a Fall Marathon?

signet wrote:

Thanks for the reply Benji...Good to see you on these boards. Any plans for a Fall Marathon?

The fall is too busy for us with race scoring, but we are thinking about going to Cal International in December. I'm still try to run a decent time for my age. So far I have been only able to get a good 30K before my quads cramp up. I suspect my infrequent racing (I get in a few track races in the summer and a couple road races scattered though the spring) and the fact I have mostly trained on dirt has been part of the problem. I'm putting more time on the roads than the dirt this summer and I hope to run some road time trials through the fall to get a little better prepared. Running for more than 2:30 (3:00+ even more so) in a race is a new experience for me. If Beardsley can run in the 2:40's I ought to be able to at least run in the 2:50's. Age is a great humbler though.

Hi Benji,

I had a question if you don't mind. What are your feelings with regards to splitting the mileage up on the Tues/Thurs workouts? I find it very difficult to get in the proper mileage/intensity during the summer heat and humidity. So I have been doubling up. Do an early morning shake out run and the get in my quality work at lunch on the treadmill. For instance, take a look at Week 11. The plan calls for 28 wup/wdn + 8 x 800M. That workout for me is approximately 13 miles. How much would I be losing if I did 4-5 miles EZ in the early morning and then did the repeats at lunch for 8-9 miles total? Thanks for your help.