Daniels Marathon 2Q

It is pretty close to what Plan A looks like.

The last workout in Plan A is 4 x 1200m @ T w/1:00 rest (or at least, that is what I have always done).

The last long run has always been about 12 miles for me - just under 85 minutes.

He is a bit more aggressive two weeks out than I would like, so I have not followed his plan for that week, which calls for:

Q1: 2 miles easy, 2 x 10-15 minutes at T with 3:00 rest; 30-45 minutes easy. I usually do a progression run or 2-3 x 2 miles at T instead.

Q2: 2 x (35-40 minute easy+ 15-20 minutes T). I rarely do a second workout this week.

I've followed his 40-55 plan for the Spring '19 training cycle (I'm doing 55-70 for the NYC '19) and thought the workouts in the last weeks were a great way to eliminate pre-race doubts, calm the nerves, etc. etc. These workouts are not that intense when compared to the overall plan. My only beef with JD's plans is the virtually non-existent taper. I'm planning on sub'ing some of the easy miles with light cross-training in the week of the marathon. But I will keep all the workouts in the rotation. Those are the most fun, imho anyway.

I've done a modified version of the 2Q plan three times. My main modification is to the midweek Q run where I trim the easy miles from the beginning of the run and some of the workout volume to reduce the time required. I'm not inclined to spend more than 90mins running on a week night. I do follow the last week taper pretty close to the plan with the exception of that last workout. I usually do that as a 2x1 instead of a 3x1 or 2x2. This last workout is where I start to feel all the hard work come together. In general I find the size of the workout each Q day to be quite fatiguing and spend most of the cycle doing the workouts at a VDOT of something less than resulting VDOT of the goal race. For me I don't obsess over the pacing for a given VDOT for workouts. I give myself a range that I would like to hit and run the workouts by feel with a some monitoring of HR to help keep me honest and not let effort fall off. This is also because my workouts are never on flat terrain so pace will vary quite a bit based upon elevation gain or loss. As always , be flexible with your plan. I don't always reduce or skip workouts. If I miss a workout due to having the rehab some injury I may modify a workout to be more difficult. For instance I have turned a 20E into a 3E+3T+10E+2T+2E because I missed the workouts leading up to that run.

Thanks. His plan has a 90 minute easy long run a week before the marathon. have you all stuck to purely easy pace for this? I see other plans have a 5k race or some faster work a week out.

Yes, I stuck to 90min easy for the last long run. Trust the taper. After all those previous weeks of hard work the taper can feel strange like you should be doing more. Resist the temptation to do extra and instead allow your body to recover and reap the benefits of the last bit of supercompensation as you peak for your goal race. Remember that it is body of work you prior to the taper is what really matters. There is really nothing extra you can do during the taper to improve on that, but you can set yourself back by doing something that puts you in a hole and you are still recovering from on race day. One thing that I may do different from the plan is that I usually have a day off during the taper and that is usually the day I travel to get to the race location. That day off may vary from the what is on the plan. Those last few runs in the taper I keep pretty chill on the slower side of easy.

I would type my own substantive reply, but I cannot add to Still Improving's excellent perspective.