Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace). No intervals (i.e. 6x1000 or track workouts)?
I'd think by just logging mileage by feel your efforts become easier over time, even w/o a heart rate monitor. Just by listening to your body.
What is "fast" to you?
If 2:14 is fast, then yes.
Mark Nenow
According to Jack Daniels
A 1K interval is slightly less than 1/42nd of the marathon distance.
This would be like a 1500 meter specialist running an interval of like 3 meters or something. What's the point? Long run, lots of miles easy all the other days, except for the day you run a tempo/threshold/HM+ X effort.
Basically how I train. I run most of the time easy and whenever I feel good I do what I term "up tempo" or "steady state" run (about marathon pace, give or take) or fartlek (running steady, usually about marathon pace give or take, throwing in hard surges by feel). And I'll do some strides a couple times a week. The main structure workout I do maybe once every other week is a kilometer hard and a kilometer easy until I feel I did enough. It works really well. Who knew!?!?
Can it be done? wrote:
Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace). No intervals (i.e. 6x1000 or track workouts)?
I'd think by just logging mileage by feel your efforts become easier over time, even w/o a heart rate monitor. Just by listening to your body.
If you look at Bill Rodgers training log, that's basically what he did most of the time, sure he did the occasional track workout. But about 95+ percent of what he did is what you described.
...and lots of races during training ng in place of some faster/shorter workouts.
Can it be done? wrote:
Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace). No intervals (i.e. 6x1000 or track workouts)?
I'd think by just logging mileage by feel your efforts become easier over time, even w/o a heart rate monitor. Just by listening to your body.
That’s pretty much Daniels’ Plan A (though there are a couple of intervals workouts in Phase II).
I don't understand the mystery. What the OP describes is something like 95% of most marathon training. Long runs, work at goal pace or slower, and lots of miles. The least important part of marathon training are the occasional workouts at HMP or faster.
maybe this wrote:
I don't understand the mystery. What the OP describes is something like 95% of most marathon training. Long runs, work at goal pace or slower, and lots of miles. The least important part of marathon training are the occasional workouts at HMP or faster.
This young Marathoner from England does all easy runs except for a Park Run once a week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz0VCzk7BZA&t=2688smaybe this wrote:
I don't understand the mystery. What the OP describes is something like 95% of most marathon training. Long runs, work at goal pace or slower, and lots of miles. The least important part of marathon training are the occasional workouts at HMP or faster.
It's all about improving fitness. OP, you can do what you want but as an anecdote, in my 2018 Spring marathon training I averaged 21 miles a week (I was new to it) and got 3:27 with parkruns etc mixed in. In my 2019 Spring marathon training I averaged 40 miles a week - mostly threshold or easy pace. I got 3:26. Comparatively, since building in speed work, my average pace has gone up and my half marathon time has already dropped a couple minutes.
(Before you all troll me, I'm a girl, so a sub-3:30 on 20 miles a week is actually not bad)
Can it be done? wrote:
Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace). No intervals (i.e. 6x1000 or track workouts)?
I'd think by just logging mileage by feel your efforts become easier over time, even w/o a heart rate monitor. Just by listening to your body.
Sure. You're pretty much describing what Jim Peters, Bill Adcocks, and Derek Clayton did and they all ran between 2:10 and 2:20. It was pretty much what many guys in my club in the 70s did and we had three under 2:20 and three more ( I think) under 2:30.
Ackley wrote:
maybe this wrote:
I don't understand the mystery. What the OP describes is something like 95% of most marathon training. Long runs, work at goal pace or slower, and lots of miles. The least important part of marathon training are the occasional workouts at HMP or faster.
This young Marathoner from England does all easy runs except for a Park Run once a week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz0VCzk7BZA&t=2688s
This young marathoner from England does a 5k VO2Max workout every week.
(But OP - yes, you're describing the meat and potatoes of marathon training.)
If 2:09:27 is fast (Bill Rodgers) then yes.
Can it be done? wrote:
Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace). No intervals (i.e. 6x1000 or track workouts)?
I'd think by just logging mileage by feel your efforts become easier over time, even w/o a heart rate monitor. Just by listening to your body.
That's exactly what I've done for my past two training cycles and I've run 2:36.xx each time, a 10+min PR from before. The only difference was increasing weekly mileage from 50 mpw to 70 mpw. Haven't done a track workout in two years
Can it be done? wrote:
Has anyone run a marathon on just a diet of long runs, easy miles, and thresholds (at goal pace).
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody define “threshold” as “goal marathon pace” before.
My gut feeling is if your current marathon PR shows that you are an underperformer at the distance (e.g. a 16:30 guy who has only managed a 2:55), you could pull it off that way and run a decent PR. If you’re already running a marathon in line with your half and 5k PRs, there’s no way this makes you faster because you need speed development to raise your ceiling.
Seems like this would take an assload of mileage, and I don’t see any upside to not doing work at least once a week at faster than goal pace. I don’t know why you would do it unless you just felt like being a contrarian.
Depends on the person. Also depends on what "fast" is. There is no right answer that covers every single person ever.
Physiologically, reps are irrelevant to the marathon. Easy and steady volume are all you need - even elite.
Psychologically, however, reps are great to relieve the tedium.
Thank you! I've done a 1:38 half and am shooting for 3:25 this year, with hopes of BQing in a few years (3:05 or better). But I know I'm not ready now.