Marathoning training - only running 3 days a week

Here's the article.

skuj wrote:

I beleive 2:03 runners in the future will run 80 ish miles a week. The miles will be distributed in accordance with the above principles.

Just curious: why 80?

There's an easy solution for this:

Since base-7 and base-10 weeks will only coincide every 70 days, if you alternate 10 and 11 day cycles, you are back on track every 3 weeks.

Very good question, College Guy!

Because this is an average of about 23 Miles every 48hrs....in my mind, THAT is a magic number for this training.

you're right about us being, essentially, slaves to the 7-day week.

for most of us in the real world, with jobs, it is impossible to do long runs in the middle of the week - there is just not time. it has to be done on a day off from work.

so the option is either every week or every other, or some kind of pattern

i've seen several 10-day patterns over the years and it makes a lot of sense, but hard to fit with a day job...

it seems as though there isn't one way to train for a marathon. a lot of people have had success using various training methods. so finding the one that works for you seems to be the most important thing.

by the way..."what's wrong with your FACE!"

by the way..."what's wrong with your FACE!"

Huh?

Yes, what would be the point of a chatline if training was confined to "THE WAY"? All kinds of principles and ideas exist. One thing that I do know....training will change. The runners of the future will still run a lot, but the structures and organizations of the running will change.

then how do you explain guys of only average talent who've run in the 2:40's and 2:50's on 3 days a week?

didnt new zealands jack foster who started running in his thirties only run 3 days a week and he ran 211 at age 40 and 220 for the marathon at age 50? he cycled a lot on most of the other days, up to 4 hours.

I pulled out my copy of "Inside Running" by David Costill and found the following:

"The factors which determine the number of training sessions per week are: 1. the runner's state of training, 2. individual tolerance to training, and 3. the pace and intensity of each training session. Even among highly trained runners, there are some who may respond better to training 4 days per week, while others may thrive on six or seven days per week with two daily training sessions. Individual differences in training tolerance are determined by each runner's recovery rate, which is the amount of rest needed between training sessions to allow for improvement."

Simply put, we're all different. What will work for you might cause me to dry up and blow away. Just as there are some good runners who would become better with more training sessions, there are probably good runners who would become better by backing off and allowing for more rest.

I was hoping that someone would mention Foster. His training is detailed elsewhere on this site, but I thought that he was doing 3 runs a week in prep for that 2:11....a 20 Miler and 2 x 15 Milers. But I cannot remember where I read about this.

skuj wrote:

This is a favourite topic of mine.

IMHO, the shorter the race distance, the more sessions per week one should do. Sprinters need 12 sessions a week. Marathoners need the opposite.

Oh I know, the best Marathoners do 12 sessions a week etc etc. I believe the future of Marathon training will speak to fewer sessions, more "Marathon" sessions, and better recovery between these sesions.

Many of the very best have done minimal days inbetween the big / hard days. Example: Steve Jones with his regular 40min days.

I use a hypothetical scenario: 60MPW: 12x5, 6x10 or 3x20. Which is best for the Marathon? I know...it's hypothetical. But it hopefully illustrates a concept. The concept that Marathoners can benefit with REGULAR Marathon type sessions, and appropriate recovery between those sessions.

yea maybe all the best marathoners in the world should run only 3 times a week. That would make them even faster!! This country is lame, workouts like that cater to the lazy and the not the serious athelete. If you consider that hard try running 120 miles a week and 12X800 meter repeats and mile repeats during the week and we'll see which is harder and better prepares you for a marathon.

I had dinner with friends and their friends last night and one guy mentioned he ran NYCMarathon a few times. I asked about his times he said 3;30-3:45ish.I then asked about his training "I ran Fri,Sat,Sundays about 1 1/2 hours each day"

LSD? I said.He said pretty much at same pace as for full Marathon never really used a watch. How far? Gave me a here to the red barn over to the golf course and then back by the river type answer..In miles I ask...don't know he said ... your exact time said I sniffing bovine pattys a bit stronger now. I DK/NS around 3;30 3:45 he said. Kind of shoes?..I DK/NS got them at local shoe store... salesman said they were good. What years exactly I say....back around 95 or 96 I think....ripe smell now rises ........get hosts 12 year old to let me use his 'puter and together we search....kid thinks "Loud Bill" is fulla stuff too!

Find "Loud Bill's NYC Marathon times

'95-3:48

'96-3:31

'97-3:47

'98-3:37

Clueless and running ~8:10 pace!!!

Those times put him in the top 11-15% of finishers those years.

Ya just never know what three days a week can do!

hey is there a schedule like this for the mile??

Doug E. Ever on the lookout for that fountain of youth, I tried incorporating some of Horwill's workouts into my prep for Chicago 2006, primarily the 10k workout alternating M and 5k pace every 400 meters. Injury resulted. I have been starting to question the conventional wisdom of everyone needing to run 10k to 3K pace to make marathon pace feel comfortable. My study of one is suggesting that simply running longer repeats at T and M/2 pace may do just as well.

qcmaster wrote:

My training is similar to what you are talking about. I run every other day 90-100 minutes and 2-2 1/2 hours on weekend runs, I try to hit MP on every run. I'm doing a marathon in the fall. Have you experimented with this method before?

I'm trying to decide on the best way to do my long runs; today I ran my first 20 miler in over 5 months (due to injuries). Do you think most folks will get the proper endurance training from MP on all long runs or do you think that you are ideally suited for that workout?

I ask because most of the published coaches like Daniels and Pete Pfitz. still recommend some steady, long runs even if only once every three weeks or so.

I was getting good results from running the second half of all my long runs at a comfortably hard pace but I'm fearful of reinjury. Am I wasting my time with the typical, grind it out, time on your feet long runs?

gallagher wrote:

Doug E.

Ever on the lookout for that fountain of youth, I tried incorporating some of Horwill's workouts into my prep for Chicago 2006, primarily the 10k workout alternating M and 5k pace every 400 meters. Injury resulted. I have been starting to question the conventional wisdom of everyone needing to run 10k to 3K pace to make marathon pace feel comfortable. My study of one is suggesting that simply running longer repeats at T and M/2 pace may do just as well.

I agree with this. I've been using only T, M, and Easy runs. For speed work, I limit it to strides after an easy day. I think that's all I need for the legs to remember the faster paces.

Skuj,I realise this is from a few years ago but would like to clarify something.

Jack Foster typically trained 5-7 days per week. Long on sunday, fairly long on tues, maybe a bit longer on thurs. Fast running on wed e.g alternate miles on turf racetrack 4.40-50/6.00. Race or some fast running on sat. easy runs mon,fri but was not afraid to take a day off when he wanted. He also did quite a bit of cycling -he was a former cycle racer.

The 3 days a week idea may have come from a NZRUNNER article around 1983. Jack was 50 and pretty much retired from racing. He trained semi seriously for a marathon, ended up running 2.20. The article highlighted Jack's fairly sporadic training at the time and printed a week where he ran just 3 days (and biked 2) 20ml in 2.15, 8x1k in 3.04-10, 15mls xc. this was not particularly typical even at that stage. Jack pointed out in the article he did put in some bigger weeks of up to 85miles.

Jack was not a big mileage man at all but would still often hit 80-90 leading up to big marathons. Probably averaging 70-80 in the lead up.

I hope that clarifies this for you -cheers Mopak.