Daniels Marathon base

Daniels is not primarily concerned with HR zones. His system is based around race times and fitness equivalents, and his Easy pace has a wide range.

What's your most recent race time?

last race was 5 months ago. 10 mile 61.14.

also 10k result 36.50.

am i right in the assumption that loads of easy running is vital before starting into a marathon training cycle. i just want to be sure what is the correct fat burning zone?

Daniels range for easy runs is 65-79%.

The general range advised is usually 60-70%. Which is right is debatable.

Very hard for some runners to get use to running at low HR range as their pace has to remain very very slow. more than they are use to.

Daniels calls Easy pace for a 36:50 10K 7:23-7:51. I'm at a similar level of fitness, and that range seems a bit too fast for me. I'll do lots of easy runs that end up in that range (in good weather and when I'm feeling good), but I'll also do lots that end up a bit slower (7:55-8:10), and a few that are a lot slower (8:15-20), usually when I'm really beat up the day after a big workout.

Since your question is about marathon training: Yes, you need to raise your mileage. You will probably have to slow your pace while you're raising mileage. The first thing you should pay attention to when building up mileage is how you feel. There's a reason it's referred to as easy pace. Don't focus on heart rate. Just take note of what your HR tends to be at easy pace. The last thing you should be worrying about is fat burning pace.

For marathon preparation, training in the fat burning zone is vitally important. running easy runs too fast and the body wont learn to use fat instead of carbs. result will be hitting a wall late in the marathon.

the big thing is how to actually find your true max heart rate and go from there.

training at 60-70% of max can be painfully slow, frustrating and boring for alot of runners.

I dont get where Daniels is getting the 79%? that would be more Marathon pace training.

60-70% is the training zone.

+1 on what start here wrote.

The key to surviving the marathon distance is your long run. I could be wrong here, but I don't think that doing a bunch of daily runs in the "fat burning zone" is going to help you burn more fat at GMP. Yes you burn more fat at slower paces and less at faster paces, that is just how it works. At goal pace you are still going to be burning a lot of glycogen. You need to train your body to store more glycogen and that is one of the things that your long run is for. People hit the wall because they run out of glycogen(or started out way too fast) not because they didn't train in the fat burning zone to train the body to burn more fat. If you want train your body to burn fat at goal pace, then go keto. There is at least one runner here that would hammer all his runs more at a moderate pace or as a progression run. No easy running for this guy and he did very well for his age and would usually negative split.

Easy pace is to accumulate mileage and needs to be adjusted based upon your state of fatigue. Slower to recover sufficiently to be able to effectively execute your next workout. Faster if you are feeling fresh. On a recovery day my run might have an average HR around 70% of max HR.

If you do not have a good estimate of your HRmax, then I do not recommend you attempt to train in any particular HR percentage or HR zone. Don't use any formula based upon your age because it could result in a max HR that is inaccurate. In my case the formula is off by 20 BPM which is a significant error.

For your base training work your mileage up so that you are near the peak mileage before your start your marathon training plan. This assumes that you are using one of the Daniels marathon plans like the 2Q which start you off with some demanding workouts. It will be harder to increase your weekly after starting the plan.

No question about it, the long run is key. but how fast should you run it. its its just long slow easy day then are you talking 60-70% of HR max or working around 75-80% which is more marathon pace zone