marathon plan

Although I am not a fan of it myself, Jay Johnson's marathon plan has 5 days of running, one day of cross and one day of brisk walking. Starts at about 35 and goes to 55ish.... going from memory. I think one long run and one fartlek/tempo/progressive run a week.

scubacane wrote:

Another idea I had was to take Pfitz's 18/55 and make it a 9 day cycle putting in 2 extra easy days .

This is what I am trying right now, aiming for an October marathon. Current mileage has been about 35 a week. Short-term goal is a half marathon in April. I'm further tweaking the Pfitzinger plan by trying to include both VO2max and LT workouts in EVERY 9-day cycle, but may re-evaluate that after the half marathon. I've been posting my workouts on the over-50 training thread.

Allen1959 wrote:

This is what I am trying right now, aiming for an October marathon. Current mileage has been about 35 a week. Short-term goal is a half marathon in April. I'm further tweaking the Pfitzinger plan by trying to include both VO2max and LT workouts in EVERY 9-day cycle, but may re-evaluate that after the half marathon. I've been posting my workouts on the over-50 training thread.

I think Pfitz 18/55 is

This might come across as snarky but I swear its an honest question- Why are you adding in VO2 max workouts? Especially so early in a training program when you are building volume? They offer very little benefit in the Marathon and increase the chance of injury.

I was an average college runner with 15:20 5000m best. At age 42 I started a straight forward plan of 5 miles a day. I gradually built up the Wed and Sunday runs to 13 each= 51 miles/week. The last 10 weeks I extended the Sunday run to 15, 17, 19, -, 19, 21, 23, 21, -, race, and took a day off so still a max of 56. Inside the long runs I would do 3x5km at or faster than marathon pace or just 15k medium hard. Wednesday would add some 2 minutes on/ 2 off- sometimes just 5, up to 15. Over the course of 2 years I ran 2:56, 2:54, 2:53 (the last two six weeks apart). The long run is essential, but made possible by the midweek 13 miler that bridged the workout and made the long runs more efficient without injury. All 5 milers were recovery, but if feeling good would run the second half at marathon pace (this would happen about once every 10 days). Good luck.

Not snarky at all. I'm just experimenting a bit ... thinking it's maybe a good thing to always touch on all the training paces. Also, I may want to race a few 5Ks along the way. And I am theorizing that as I close in on age 60, regularly stressing all the "systems" may be especially beneficial. But I have no research to back that up! Regarding injury risk, after 45 years of (off and on) training, and a couple dozen marathons, I've learned that long runs are more dangerous for me than a few 800m repeats :)

SDRNNR wrote:

This might come across as snarky but I swear its an honest question- Why are you adding in VO2 max workouts? Especially so early in a training program when you are building volume? They offer very little benefit in the Marathon and increase the chance of injury.

Allen1959 wrote:

... I've learned that long runs are more dangerous for me than a few 800m repeats :)

I should also mention that currently those VO2max 800s are exactly my former marathon pace, so I'm not exactly flying around the track these days!

I like this plan a lot- simple and to the point - may skip a traditional plan and do this- thx

scubacane wrote:

I am looking for a marathon plan that starts at 35-40 MPW and would build up to 55. I have no problem running 6 days a week but would like to limit my hard workouts to 2x weekly as I am injury prone when I increase the intensity. I know Hanson's has a 9 day cycle beginner marathon plan that leaves 2 days for easy recovery after every work out- the only problem with that is it would require some mid week LRs ( which I can manage) and the ramp up seems a little steep ( starts at 35- goes to 60 over 18 weeks).

Another idea I had was to take Pfitz's 18/55 and make it a 9 day cycle putting in 2 extra easy days .

So you want to start at 35-40 mpw with running 6 days a week and build up to 55 mpw, but a plan that starts at 35 and goes to 60 is too agressive? It sounds pretty similar to me? What am I missing?

Allen1959 wrote:

Not snarky at all. I'm just experimenting a bit ... thinking it's maybe a good thing to always touch on all the training paces. Also, I may want to race a few 5Ks along the way. And I am theorizing that as I close in on age 60, regularly stressing all the "systems" may be especially beneficial. But I have no research to back that up! Regarding injury risk, after 45 years of (off and on) training, and a couple dozen marathons, I've learned that long runs are more dangerous for me than a few 800m repeats :)

SDRNNR wrote:

This might come across as snarky but I swear its an honest question- Why are you adding in VO2 max workouts? Especially so early in a training program when you are building volume? They offer very little benefit in the Marathon and increase the chance of injury.

Ya know, you might be on to something here. I was flipping through Faster Road Racing last night and I came across the section about Pete Magill. Seems super fitting to your situation-

"The first thing we aging runners have to face is that our fast-twitch muscles will go the way of the dinosaurs if we don't include training that constantly stimulates it," he says. "Too many of us old guys and gals fall into a pattern of mostly distance, occasional tempo, and declining race performance. Sessions of hill sprints, 5K- or faster paced res, and other fast twitch oriented running are essential" (Faster Road Racing, pg 137)