Tuesday – 45-minute fartlek run. Fartlek is a Swedish word for speed play. This is a non-structured workout in which you run at a steady pace and add in short surges of faster running. For this workout, alternate running for 5 minutes at a moderate pace with 1 minute at 5K pace. Tuesday – Standard warm up. Run 4 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace. Jog easy for 800 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging. Starting Mileage. A marathon training plan needs to start with an initial mileage that matches your current fitness. However, you can skip the first few weeks of a plan if you are fitter than the initial few weeks call for. In fact, it can be important to skip these weeks, otherwise you may become detrained. The final schedule starts at 80 miles and peaks at 107 miles. You’ll double quite a bit on this plan, averaging 9 to 10 runs per week. One of my good running friends told me once, “It’s funny – the more you run, the better you get at running.” Definitely the truth.

In case you’re not familiar, a medium long run (or MLR) is pretty much what it sounds like. It’s medium long: the second longest run of the week. Here you’ll find out:

Navigation menu

There’s also a chapter dedicated to diet. There are a lot of misconceptions around what and how much runners should eat, and this chapter does a great job of cutting through the non-sense. He clearly explains the role of glycogen as an energy source, and suggests a simple, well-rounded diet to keep yourself sufficiently fueled. This is also of particular importance to marathoners given the need to fuel during the race. Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 1 800/1600/3200/1600/800 meter superset. Run 800 meters at 5K pace, 1600 meters at 10K pace, 3200 metrs at goal marathon race pace, 1600 meters at 10K pace and 800 meters at 5K pace. Take no rest between distances. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. Don’t believe just me? Runner’s World quotes coach Pete Pfitzinger, author of Advanced Marathoning, as saying:

Thursday – Standard warm up. Run 12 x hill repeats. Run up a fairly steep hill that is at least 100 meters in length. Run a what feels like 5K pace. Run 20 meters past the top of the hill. Jog down the hill to recover. Repeat this 14 times. Tuesday – Standard warm up. Run 3 miles at 10K pace, 6 miles at goal marathon race pace and 1 mile at 5K pace, with no rest between distances. Cool down with 800 meter at an easy pace. Note: If you want to be self-trained, but have a little extra guidance without the cost of a coach, I provide support to members of my running course with their training plans, whichever ones they choose to use. Running Coach Each of the plans comes in two versions – the standard 18 weeks or the condensed 12 weeks. There’s also a five week return to running schedule to manage your post-marathon recovery. Pfitz is a well known name when it comes to marathon training, and a lot of runners swear by his training plans. He’s also written a book about about training for shorter races.Sunday – Standard warm up. Run a 10K race or 10K time trial. Run the 10K in the best possible time you can manage. Week 17 Another interesting chapter focuses on supplementary training. It has illustrations of stretches as well as weight lifting routines. This chapter also includes a brief discussion of different types of cross training. His marathon plans are intense, and they will definitely put you to the test. But if you can handle the training load, you will probably come out the other side stronger. Keep on reading for an overview of the plans, some pros and cons, and a few final thoughts on whether or not this is the right choice for you. Here’s my go-to 6 day per week schedule with an MLR. For me personally, I perform best on a 6-day schedule and I recommend it if you can swing it: Based on the optimal tapering criteria, here’s a sample tapering schedule for a marathon (Figure 6.1). Figure 6.1. Sample three week marathon taper

My resting heart rate is 44bpm and my max is about 188bpm. The difference is therefore 188-44 = 144bpm. Oh and you know what else helps with that mental prep? Doing a medium long run on the treadmill. Ugh. But if it’s in your schedule and that’s the only way…you gotta do it!) This is me! Length of the Medium Long RunElite: A runner who is prepared to work 'as hard as it takes' to improve performance and typically is a faster marathon runner. Before P+D, any long training run I completed of 20 miles plus would involve ice baths and a day or 2 of aching legs, especially if it was fast. After using the P+D training which includes long runs on tired legs etc., I can now do long runs, have a shower and my legs feel fine and no different to when I have been out on a short run. Additionally, because I didn’t have much structure to my training before I started this, I often just ‘ran’, so regular tempo, race pace work etc enabled me to gain speed at the same time. P+D plans types