Mike Clarke
Lurker
Posts: 7
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« on: January 18, 2010, 11:08:28 pm » |
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Hello All,
I am new to this blog community and thankful to have joined you all. I've a 39year old male and have been running for about 9 months. I've dropped 40lbs in the last year and just finished my 2nd half in 1:48:59. I've read a number of running books and the one that I have been following the novice program in Hal Higdon's "Ultimate Training Guide" which has me running 25-40miles per week leading up to my first full in March at the Atlanta ING. A lot of what I've read from you all is that high mileage is going to be the key to the type of success I"m after in the long term. If I'm only running 30-40miles a week now, when and how much should I go up in mileage to increase my performance. I've read so much and am very confused about where I should take my training after running my first full. Any and all help would be much appreciated. Boston is on my radar but not sure how long it will take me to get there.
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Matthew Rowley
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« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2010, 08:02:18 am » |
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Welcome the the blog and the running community. I have a few Ideas and warnings for you.
Take what you have done and feel good about it. You are aproaching a major goal of running your first marathon and it sounds like you have followed a training program. That is commended. The program you are using is geared toward surving the marathon. Finishing is your goal, so just have fun. As for how much should you increase your mileage, that is a hard question. You will see people on this site run 100 mile weeks. Remember you are only competting with yourself. The rule I have heard and sound good to me is run 40- 50 miles a week to finish a marathon. 60 to 70 mile to run a marathon and 80 - 90 miles to race a marathon. How do you increase your mileage don't increase your weekly mileage more then 10 percent every other week. The best thing to remember as you increase your mileage make sure to are still enjoying running. Good luck.
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Sasha Pachev
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« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2010, 10:50:45 am » |
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Mike - I like the following simple formula. It is easy to remember and many bloggers have had success with it running huge PRs in all distances, especially the marathon:
Find a distance and a pace that allows you to run it and feel as good as you did before you started in 24 hours. Run that distance 5 days a week at that pace. On the sixth day run double that distance. Rest on the seventh. Repeat until you feel that distance can be increased by a mile. Repeat the process until that distance becomes 10 miles or until you hit a logistical limit (e.g. you have other commitments that do not allow you to run for an hour and a half each day).
Assuming no logistical limits yet, still keep that distance for a year or two. Keep the pace moderate with only occasional pickups and races to test your fitness while giving you a chance to shake your legs. In your case, I expect this formula to take you to about 1:25 half and 3:05 marathon over the course of two years. Once you get there, if you want to progress further, then something would need to be done about increasing your neuromuscular performance, so we start working on speed.
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Eric Day
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« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2010, 05:58:37 pm » |
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I am testing Sasha's idea, which is truly very simple and easy to follow. I still have lots of work to get a 1:25 half and/or 3:05 marathon, but I do feel MUCH better running 8-10 miles every day and hopefully in a year or two shoot for these times.
It takes time, and lots of training miles. But the important part is CONSISTENCY.
Keep logging those miles !!!
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Mike Clarke
Lurker
Posts: 7
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« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2010, 01:12:47 am » |
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Thanks for all the great advice. It sounds like I should just shoot to survive this one, and then start building my mileage over the summer. I plan on running either the NYC or Marin Corps Marathon on behalf of "Hope for Wounded Warriors" later in the year which should give me a chance to get some miles under my belt. Am I correct in assuming that I should limit my races when I start building a miles base, or is that incorrect?
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April G
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« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2010, 08:59:55 am » |
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I was prescribed a short race(10k and under) once a month while I build my base--works good--it's nice to get out and hit the gas pedal every now and then, and gives you something to look forward to.
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Sasha Pachev
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« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2010, 12:06:13 pm » |
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Mike:
A race once every two or three weeks is good, especially if you do it on a day prior to your scheduled day of rest. Make sure to run some extra miles afterwards if the race is short. This allows you to test if your training is OK, or needs to be adjusted.
Remember the principle (I believe in training by principles vs training by plans): Running fast when aerobic base is lacking is good as long as it does not interfere with the development of the base. A good way to tell if it is interfering or not is if your mileage does not suffer from running fast, nor does your recovery. So, e.g. if you do a speed workout, cut the mileage that day because you lack the time, and cut the mileage in the next two days because you are sore and tired, that is bad. If you still are able to run a mileage quota through the speed workout, and feel good enough to run your target mileage in the following days, that is good.
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