After registering for the 2011 Chicago marathon I chose to follow the Nike provided (free) training plan to prepare myself for 26.2. The training plan appealed to me: it involved only four days of running, incorporated speedwork and relied heavily (of course) on the weekend long run. I trained, I pushed myself, I felt primed to conquer 26.2 miles. Race day came and I was shocked by how rough the final 6 miles felt. They included a lot of walking (in my defense it was hella hot) but I proudly finished in just over 4:30.
Ready for the next step and marathon challenge, in 2012 I was determined to break 4:30 and run a 4:10/4:15. I purchased a Runner’s World “break 4:15” training plan via Training Peaks. This plan involved more mileage with 5 days a week of running and less focus on speedwork. I followed the plan closely, but admittedly half assed some of the speed workouts; there weren’t many speed workouts included and they never seemed challenging. The final six miles were painful in an expected marathon way, but I barely walked. In fact, I took a couple short walk breaks mile 18-20 but broke through the Mile 20 wall and ran the remaining 6 miles. So you would expect a much better finishing time, right? More training, better weather. I completed the 2012 race in 4:28, a mere 5 minute improvement over 2011.
What gives? I felt like I trained harder? But my racing performance doesn’t correlate to the increase in training?
Obviously, I have thought about this in the past few weeks. I didn’t put the puzzle pieces together until last night during a demanding tempo run. I know, I am no Sherlock Holmes. I sacrificed speed for distance. I did 9 miles last night (honest, it took forever for my Garmin to pick up a signal and I was too impatient to wait). Of those 9 miles, I ran 5 around tempo pace.
It was rough, my heart rate was through the roof. In 2011 I ran a couple half marathons during the training season before the marathon: 1:55 and 1:56. This year, I ran a half marathon personal worst of 2:14 (realistically 2:10 cause I had to stop at the porta potty and wait in line). Big delta. Clearly, I need more emphasis on SPEED and to PUSH myself.
BC said it best when I chatted with him about my completed puzzle thoughts. “Long slow training makes a long slow racer.”
I want to trust my training, but I think my intuition is better. I’ve been taking it too easy. In the next couple weeks leading up to the Vegas marathon I will include more speed conditioning. Since I only have a few weeks I doubt it will produce any improvement, but now I understand how to modify my training plans for next year!
Do you ever combine plans? Switch it up and make your own? Any pointers on how you’ve successfully used a plan that didn’t burn you out and resulted in a positive race experience?
With only 4 weeks left until a marathon, I am typically very careful about incorporating any speed work in my marathon training. The main things for me to focus on are to 1) Stay healthy so I can make it to the starting line. 2) Determine how my current fitness translates into an accurate marathon pace. This helps me run even splits during the marathon that aren’t too hard (I hit the wall early) or too easy (so that I leave time on the table). See: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/5.
3) Do little things that can make a big difference on race day. For example, yesterday there was an article in the NYTimes about how carbo loading only on the day before the marathon increases your marathon speed: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/how-to-carbo-load-for-a-marathon/
So, I guess what I am saying is that your fitness 4 weeks out is pretty darn close to the fitness you will have on marathon day, so I would tend to lean on a good race strategy right now than trying to increase fitness/speed. That’s my two cents and please ignore any or all advice as I am not an expert! Good luck!
Very solid advice, Pete. I guess it would be wiser to hold off major changes until next year when I jump into another marathon cycle. My type a gets the best of me.
Really interesting article about pre race carbo loading. I’ve always looked at marathon week as ‘bagel week’!!
Thanks. I guess we just all have to “trust our training.” Sounds like you will have no problems with the carbo load!