TRAINING ZONE: Looking High and Low for the Perfect Marathon Training Plan

There is more than one path to marathon greatness: A renowned B.C. running coach presents two options for marathon training: one lower-mileage training plan and the other for runners looking to ratchet up the number of kilometres they log each week.

This is a tale of two marathon training plans: one is lower-mileage program and the other bumps up the mileage to a higher level. Both programs work, and each one will get you to the line properly prepared. The key is to focus on training at the proper paces. The marathon is guaranteed to be a tough slog on race day if you try to go both further and faster than you’ve ever gone in training. Adrenaline helps, but not enough to create greater speed and further distance at the same time. Whether your preference tends to quantity or quality in training, both of the following programs should be viable options for marathoners, because each still involves enough training that’s faster than your intended race pace, and some sessions are longer – in time at least – than your intended marathon time.

In either case, it’s best to think more in terms of working on each component of training, rather than focusing on your weekly mileage. If you run one of each of the following three types of runs most weeks, then you have done most of the necessary training:

1) a long run progressing to a longer duration than the race

2) one workout including some interval or fartlek running faster than your race pace

3) a medium-length run (the second-longest of the week) at or near marathon race pace.

My bias is toward the lower-mileage, high-quality program, which has worked best with most of the intermediate marathoners I coach. The major difference is that the low-mileage program involves more quality during most training days, with complete rest (or possibly some easy cross training) on the other off days, while the high-mileage plan has fewer intense quality workouts, but has some easy runs on most of the off days.

Why are less-intense workouts done more days a week not as effective as more intense workouts performed fewer days a week? As shown by both research and practical experience, fitness improves more effectively with stress followed by rest, rather than lighter amounts of activity almost every day – this is the so-called “hard-easy” method.  For higher-level runners at peak age, the “easy” might mean easy runs. But for most runners who don’t have years of training to endure high mileage, or who need more recovery time due to age or risk of overuse injury, it’s best to rest completely. In addition to this physiological advantage, running less means you’ll have more time to do other things, allowing for a more balanced lifestyle. One major advantage to higher mileage is greater potential weight loss through burning more calories. Even if this is important to you, try cross training on the off days, rather than adding more “junk miles.”

Both programs are designed for intermediate marathoners who have a time goal in mind, but they can equally apply to more novice runners by following the same types of workouts and progressions, but ratcheting down the speed of the tempo and interval workouts by about 5-10 seconds per kilometre for the low-mileage program, and backing off the distance of each run by about 2-3K (about 15K per week) for the high-mileage program.

These are only intended as a guide. A coach can help tailor a more precise program to your personal goals.

PLEASE SEE MAGAZINE FOR COMPLETE TRAINING PLANS.

John Hill is the head coach at the Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club, and a former Canadian marathon champion. He was inducted into the B.C. Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.