MARATHON TRAINING

The London marathon has come and gone but the ballot is already full for next years race. Why do we run and why do we want to run a marathon. We run for various reasons , to keep fit,for our health ,social, or to be competitive and run in races. But why do we want to run a marathon ?, because it’s there, a goal to aim for or my friends are doing it. A marathon is a long way and should not be taken on without some thought. When we start to run we improve various systems in the body just my running i.e VO2 MAX (amount of oxygen the body can consume per minute) the better the VO2 MAX the better the runner, also the transport of blood and oxygen to the working muscles and the muscles ability to use it to provide energy, also running economy (the oxygen cost of running at sub maximal speeds) and lactate threshold this is the point where lactic acid starts to increase in your working muscles causing fatigue. How do we improve all these systems at first you just run at a pace that is ok for you and you will improve all these systems. But eventually you will reach a point when there is no improvement. This is the time to think of doing more running or adding quality sessions in to your training. There are many ways to improve all these systems i.e intervals at various speeds , tempo running, hill running,steady state runs, long runs, and easy runs, basically you need to train

1.Slower than race pace

2.Faster than race pace

3.At race pace

4.Recovery runs

All the above would be different for different distances i.e. 5k training would be different to marathon training ,same principal but different speeds and distances. If using a heart rate monitor you would need to know your maximum and minimum heart rates to work out your different heart rates for different zones

1.recovery runs should be between 60/70% of max H.R

2.steady state runs should be between 70/80% of max H.R

3.tempo runs should be between 80/85% of max H.R

4. 10k pace intervals should be between 85/90% of max H.R

5. 5k pace intervals should be between 90/95% of max H.R

6. 3k pace and faster should be between 95/100% of max H.R

Reguarding intervals the faster the pace the longer the recovery between the intervals , again this will depend on which event you are training for.

So to train for the marathon we need to do the following training slow running for recovery, steady state ,tempo runs and intervals at 10k pace , plus runs at your goal marathon pace, and you could also add some hill running has well, to find out what pace to run your intervals and tempo runs plus marathon pace runs you need a current 10k time. Let’s say your 10k time is 40 minutes that works out at

1. 4 mins per km

2. 6m 24s per mile

From the above you can work out your training paces

1.Long runs should be between 1m and 1m 30secs slower than 10k pace per miles (7m 24s/7m 54s)

2.Tempo runs should be approx 16 secs per mile slower than 10k pace ( 6m 39s per mile)

3.Intervals can be done at 5k pace which is 16 secs per mile faster than 10k pace (6m 08s per mile)

4.A 40m 10k time means you should be able to run the marathon in 3hrs 10mins this is worked out this way 5 x 40mins =200mins minus 10 mins = 190mins which is 3hrs 10mins (7mins 15secs per mile) so you will have to train at that pace, this could be steady state running. If you improve your 10k time along the way to the marathon the above times can be adjusted.

So lets do a sample two weeks training plan

Sun. long run 15 miles at 7m 24s /7m 54s per mile

Mon. easy run 5 miles 7m 54s per mile

Tue .3 x 1 mile 6m 08s per mile 3 minsrec warm up and warm down at least 1 mile

Wed.another longer run half distance of Sundays run 7.5 miles this could be done at marathon pace 7m 15s per mile

Thur. tempo run start with 20mins 6m 39s per mile you should cover 3 miles in 20 minsagain warm up and warm down 1 mile

Fri. rest

Sat. 5 miles easy 40 mins for recovery

42.5 miles approx for the week

Sun. as previous Sunday

Mon. as previous Monday

Tue. at a track you could do 12 x 400m ( 400m at 10k pace and 400m at marathon continuous no stopping until you have done all 12 10k pace 96s per 400m and marathon pace 109s per 400m) warm up warm down 1 mile

Wed .as previous Wednesday

Thur. 6 miles easy 48 mins for recovery

Fri. rest

Sat. 5 miles hilly run find a run with a few hills in it and work on the hills no stopping at the top of the hill try and keep running strongly over the top of the hill.

43.5 miles approx for the week

1 increase all your training runs i.e long runs / interval / tempo runs / steady state run by no more than 10% every 2 weeks (15 miles plus 10% =1.5 miles which = 16.5/17 miles)

2 you need at least 12 weeks training before the marathon

4 weeks to build up your miles

6 weeks of constant training adding your quality training

2 weeks taper reduced training before the marathon

In my opinion you should not run a marathon until you have been training for at least 2 years to give yourself a good base

When training for the marathon you also need to consider what you eat , when you are training hard you need to eat extra carbohydrates ,your body is like a car it will not run without fuel. Another consideration is that when you are training hard for the marathon your immune system can get depleted so rest and recovery are very important.

Dave Bennett

U.K Athletics Level 4 Marathon Coach