When it comes to running my philosophy is completely different and more along the lines of “Why wait until something is broken before fixing it?” All of us that are serious about our running, at whatever level of the sport we are competing, want to get the best out of ourselves. So, when a certain method of training that has worked well in the past all of a sudden stops being so effective, why not try changing things and experimenting with something new, rather than waiting for things to completely break down?
That’s the situation I found myself in last October when I entered the Greater Manchester Marathon. As I briefly explained in my previous blog, my marathon p.b had come down from 2:58 (Berlin, 2007) to 2:46 (Florence, 2009) in the space of two years. In 2010 however, I felt like I took a bit of a backwards step, running 2:51 in Rotterdam followed by 2:52 in London. Training had gone very well before both of those races and I was certain I would be able to continue improving my p.b’s into the low 2:40’s at least. So when I ran 5 - 6 minutes outside of my p.b on both occasions it had become pretty obvious that I had reached a plateau and that I was never going to get any quicker at the marathon if I continued training the way I was. Things hadn’t broken down completely, but they were in need of a change.
I decided not to run a marathon in 2011. After seven marathon’s in three years the body had taken a battering and was in need of a break from the gruelling training regimes needed to run well over 26.2 miles. Instead I spent the year thinking about how I could change my marathon preparations, and speaking to numerous coaches about my ideas.
Eventually I had a 26 week plan in place and started training for the Manchester Marathon at the beginning of November. For the first 10 weeks I did nothing more than steady running, but incorporated two marathon paced tempo runs into each week. I averaged 80 miles per week during this initial phase and did no interval training or racing whatsoever (with the exception of a run out at the North East Cross Country Championships in December). This allowed me the opportunity to put down a big aerobic base on which the more specific marathon training could be built upon.
Into January and the focus of my training changed from building the aerobic base, to pushing out my aerobic boundaries. This was done in two ways, firstly by introducing faster paced running into my programme (interval sessions ran slightly quicker than the aerobic/anaerobic threshold) and, secondly, by increasing my mileage to 95-105 miles a week. A typical week during this phase was as follows:
Mon
(am) 6 miles easy
(pm) 12 miles steady
Tues
(am) -
(pm) 16 miles steady
Wed
(am) 6 miles easy
(pm) Track : 24 x 300m with 100m roll-on recovery
Thurs
(am) 4 miles easy + 6 x 30 metre hill sprints with walk back recovery
(pm) 12 miles hilly run
Fri
(am) -
(pm) 14 miles including 4 miles continuous uphill running
Sat
(am) Durham ParkRun 5k + Track : 12 x 400m with 200m roll-on recovery
(pm) 4 miles easy
Sun
(am) 20+ miles long run
(pm) -
My final phase of preparation started at the beginning of March and is where things have changed significantly from my previous marathon training plans. This phase I have called the “marathon specific phase” and, instead of being focussed on trying to run quicker and quicker as so many marathon training programmes suggest (with the aim of “getting sharp”), has placed a much greater emphasis on running for long periods of time at my target marathon pace. The mileage has remained high, the long runs have become 90 - 95% of marathon pace rather than being the more traditional slow run, and my track sessions have become much longer than any I’ve done before. Typical sessions have been 12km of volume, for example 12 x 1000m, 6 x 2000m or 3 x 4000m, all ran at marathon pace. This I feel has got my body used to running for long periods of time at marathon race pace so that hopefully the race itself feels no different from how I’ve been running in training.
At times it has been hard to hold myself back during this final phase because the temptation, especially during track sessions, has been to run eyeballs out over short distances to build confidence in the knowledge that I can run fast. But, common sense suggests there is little point in running at 5 minute mile pace in training if you’re not going to be running anywhere near that kind of pace during the race itself. Yes it would be good for your ego, but physically would have no benefit whatsoever for the marathon. Instead, I’ve built confidence in the knowledge that I can run at my goal marathon pace (6 minute miling) for sustained periods of time and it is that which I believe will make the most significant difference to my finishing time. All I need to do now is taper properly, eat well, make sure I’m properly hydrated, and get plenty of rest before Sunday!