Saturday, June 5, 2010

Marathon Training Plan: here we go!

EDIT: So feedback is indicating that I should ignore old Jeff Galloway and use a Hal Higdon plan... people seem to think that a long run every other week is too "experimental" for a first marathon.  And there's concern that maybe mileage isn't high enough here. So... yeah.  Looking for another plan now.  Bah.

So here's my training schedule.  I may still make a few tweaks if I get any advice from other runners who suggest changes.  Click to make it larger, I think:

5 comments:

  1. Hi! I just found your blog (through Frayed Laces' blog). I am also a vegan, although I've done a few more marathons than you, 36 at last count. That's definitely not bragging, I'm just a lot older than you.

    I don't know that I have any more marathons in me. With knee issues and motivation challenges, I generally run for pleasure now, with a few half marathons tossed in the mix for a little spice. I've transferred my need for endurance challenges to long distance cycling.

    I will enjoy following your road to Columbus. I think your plan looks pretty good for a first marathon. I agree that the total mileage looks a little low, I always liked to throw in a second "longish" run during the week, up to about 10 or 12 miles. As for long runs, when I create a training plan for myself or others (I coach), I like to schedule two weeks increasing the distance, then cut back one week (then repeat).

    Sorry if this is too much for a first comment (you hardly know me!) Good luck and happy training.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well hello, my new vegan marathon-running friend!! Thanks for coming out of the woodwork because 1.) I love your blog name -- cursing myself for not thinking of it myself, and 2.) I'm SO EXCITED TO READ YOUR BLOG! Wow, we have so much in common and it seems like we could trade lots of info!

    I quickly took a peak at your marathon plan and while I'm still not a "marathoner" and therefore my opinion shouldn't be considered valid until tomorrow :P, I think your plan looks good. You have a nice blend of cross-training and core training (I definitely didn't do much of that and probably should have) but I'm going to agree with Cyclediva and say the overall weekkly mileages do seem a little low. I followed Hal Higdon's Intermediate II plan, and we were doing long runs every week, as well as a mid-distance run (8 to 10) every Wednesday. Hal's plan also does the two weeks increase/one week decrease for long runs. It worked well for me because I had some time to not totally burn out from constant high-mileage weekends and fatigue, and had a little more wiggle room to do some fun races. :)

    Thanks again for stopping by my blog -- can't wait to read about your adventures!

    xoxo
    A

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bad reviews of Galloway's plan, eh? Oops! Ha! That's the one I'm doing! Maybe I'll try Higdon's for my next? I'm using one of Hidgon's plans for my triathalon, but I didn't know about his marathon plans until after I started the Galloway one. It seems to be working so far, but I'm only a couple months in. Let me know how the Higdon one is!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just started following you recently, I really want to start running races! I've always been a runner, I'm a junior in college now I did cross country in high school, I'm also a veggie, & I'm trying to coach myself! I suffered a hip injury awhile back so I had to take a year off from running my freshman year but right now I'm up to 7 miles on my long runs, comfortably. I just never feel like i'm doing ANYTHING right!? I read up online alot, Do you coach yourself? Have any advice for me?

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Ali: I don't know, I sort of have faith it *would* work since he is, well, Galloway, so I'm sure you'll be fine... but I guess I'm just going to go with the more mainstream advice and be less "experimental" for my first race ever. In the forum where I asked about my training plan a bunch of people also jumped on board to say they're anti-completing the full race distance beforehand and would only go up to 20 miles in training. But this older marathon coach I was talking to at packet pickup for another race was saying how important it was to do 26 before the race so you don't hit the wall. Sooo... I have no clue which advice to trust there. Yours goes up to 26?

    @Vignettes: Hi, glad to have you here! Sorry to hear about the hip injury, but it's awesome you're making a "comeback"! I do indeed "coach" myself--but I've never had a coach at all, so I'm not sure what that would be like or feel like. I started running 2 years ago when I was out of undergrad and hadn't ever been an athlete on a sports team before that. I think I could really benefit from some coaching on improving my running form (it's hard to tell what I'm doing right/wrong) and obviously this training plan business is getting interesting as a person with no full marathon knowledge... but it's been fine other than that.

    I would suggest lots of online running forums like it already sounds like you're doing--there are a lot of friendly runners out there willing to help you out. Also I've found that group runs have been quite helpful; I found a local group and there are runners of all abilities, and it's easy to leech off of the experience and wisdom of others. I've also read a variety of running books. If I'm doing speed training at a track I try to take a friend so we can really push each other. I also got a Garmin 305 as a gift, and the feedback it gives me about my runs--distance, heart rate, vo2 max, etc etc--is informative about whether you're progressing or not and lets you be a data nerd about it if you're so inclined. My training changed once I was getting actual feedback from my body in the form of heart rate data too. If you can afford a cheap HR monitor, they're totally worth it.

    Also, if you have years of CC under your belt, trust yourself! You probably know more than you think you do. :o) I knew nothing about running when I got into this, and experience is a great teacher... with each race, you learn some more about how training translated into race performance.

    ReplyDelete