I was just asked by a friend as to how he improves his Marathon PB from 4-18 in January 2014, to a Sub 4h in January 2015, and here is my answer which might interest some of you and he can only afford to train 3 or 4 times/week: -For you, to run Sub 4hrs, in some shorter races you need to run these times (or faster) in races or Time Trials: 3km: 14mins, but 13-30 would be better 5km: 24min 30 secs, but Sub 24mins would be better. 10km: 51min 30secs but Sub 50mins would be better HM: 1hr 54mins, but Sub 1-50 would be better. So how do you get there on 4 days/week? Well thats all I do, so if I can do it, so can you, and this is what I’d do if I were you: Day 1: Either no more than 12km, or no more than 32km. Day 2: Either no more than 12km, or no more than 32km. Note: You need to chose whether you to do the long run (no more than 32km) on Day 1 or 2, and then do the shorter un (12km) on the other day. Day 3: Rest Day 4: 14km to 16 km at no faster than 5mins 30secs/km and no slower than 5mins 45 secs/km. Day 5: Rest Day 6: Speedwork (see below) Day 7: Rest For speed work, break it up like this on a monthly (4 week cycle): Week 1: 3km Time Trail: -This doesn’t have to be exactly 3km, so just measure it with a GPS or car, but you need to run the same course every month so that you can see exactly how you are improving. Week 2: 3 X 200metre reps, mixed in with 3 X 300m reps, with a 200m or 300 metre very slow jog (7+mins/km in-between for recovery.) These can be in a park, alongside a road, around a cricket oval, and they don’t have to be exactly 200m or 300m, providing you run the same ones in the same order when you do them. Week 3: 6 X 200m with a slow 200 metre recovery as above. This is best done on a cricket oval, and it should be half a lap, on, and half a lap off. Week 4: 4 X 400m reps with a 400m slow jog recover in between, again, 1 lap of a cricket oval should be close enough to 400metres. With all of the above speed work, you need to do a 1 km warm up, then 4 X 80m ‘run throughs’, with 80 metres slow recovery between, then at the end, a slow 1km warm down. With races, you just need to very the above to suit, but I would rest the 2 days before a race, and on the 3rd day before, cut what ever session was due, by 50% and do it at a slower pace. All of the above obviously works better if you have training partners, who are preferably slightly better runners than yourself, and if you decide that at least one (1) of the above sessions can be done at the same time and same place each week, and you advertise the fact, you will attract training partners. -You also need to do some strength work, which can be as simple as exercises at home say each morning or as complicated as going to a gym and joining in an organised class. I do mine at home, and please don’t neglect your upper arms, as these get really sore after carrying them of 3+ hours, so these need training as well.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 08:51:21 +0000
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