Marathon Training

Your Training Plan
Your Training Plan

Track Workouts are designed to help you develop your aerobic power, lactate threshold, and running economy (aka conservation and usage of your energy). It should feel fast, and comfortable, finding your edge in a sustainable fashion.

Cross-Training is any exercise that is not running. This isn’t address specifically as it is very individualized. If you’re interested, reach out to me!

Strength Training is highly recommended as you train to improve the strength in your muscles, decrease and mitigate injury. Our muscles are the power.

Strides are completed during track workouts, or at the end of runs. The goal is to explore a range of motion before going into a workout on the track or usage of final energy stores.

Sentence Pace (SP) can maintain pace with saying a sentence before taking a big breath.

Word Pace (WP) one word at a time, this is your highest intensity and reserved for sprints or track workouts.

Depending on your schedule and background, you want to plan for 24 hours in between to account for a rest day. I.e. Long Run Saturday morning followed by a run on Sunday night has 24 hours in between and would not be considered back to back. NUANCE IS HERE, please reach out if you have any questions or would like to gut-check.

Choosing A Training Plan

There are three distinct plans geared towards various ability levels and backgrounds. Choose your training plan based on your own individual goals, experience, current fitness level, and how many times per week you’d liketo run. Below are general guidelines to choose the roadmap that best fits YOU.

If you’re interested in a run/walk plan or unable to comfortably run 3 miles (5k) consecutively, please reach out!

  • Current Training: Running 1-4 x’s per week

    Training Goal: Completing a marathon, and/or improve time; increase training

    First time marathoner, 1-2 marathons under your belt

    Avg 15-25 mi per week

  • Current Training: 4-5 x’s per week

    Training Goal: Improve time, increase training

    Has 2-5 marathons under your belt

    Avg 25-40+ mi per week

  • Current Training: Years of Experience

    Training Goals: Specifically time bound

    May have over 5 marathons

    Avg 40-50+ weeks

Lingo

Conversational Pace (CP) CP runs or easy runs are designed to help you maintain and build your systems. Pace should be conversational, aka, being able to hold a full on conversation while you’re running. Typically, the shorter distances may be a faster pace, however, all runs have their own RPE.

Rest Days are strategically placed in your training plans. They are not optional and are as much a part of training as specific training days. You do not need to earn a rest day. You can spend time focusing on recovery modalities, soft-tissue myofascial massage (foam rolling + lax ball), mobility, stretching, yin and/or restorative yoga.

Long Runs are designed to focus on improving your systems, as with steady effort, time on your feet. Most long runs will be at CP, and depending on experience, include MP RPE.

Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE) is your rate of perceived effort and is subjective, inclusive of variables, and gauges your intensity + integration of all facets of training inclusive of recovery, sleep, fuel, and hydration.

Tempo Runs are challenging training runs that are increasing your RPE and pacing. They typically range longer than an hour.

Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE)

3-4 - Easy, conversational, controlled

5-6 - Steady, focused, short phrases

7-8 - Working, uncomfortable AND sustainable

9-10 - Hard, race effort, only a few words or single word at a time if that

Acronyms

WR: walking recovery

CP: coversational pace

SP: sentence pace

WP: word pace

Your RPE will shift daily, and if you are a cycling human, it may fluctuate even more so. This is okay, it’s part of being human!