October seems like a lifetime away. But after looking at the calendar, I realized the Chicago Marathon is 19 weeks away from this Sunday. And as you all know, as you get older time goes faster. Plus, time flies when you are having fun, so with my jam-packed summer I’m sure it will be here before you know it!
With that said, I finalized my training plan for Chicago and will be “officially” following my marathon training plan tomorrow. Keep in mind I’m simultaneously training for an Olympic triathlon and a century bike ride, so it was a little more complicated than usual.
Usually I use Hal Higdon’s training plans as a guide, but this time I used Smart Coach from Runner’s World. Why? Because it gives you specific paces for your runs.
You see, I have always done my long runs at a comfortably fast pace. Pretty much at my goal pace for the marathon. I had heard people talk about the Long Slow Run and doing it at a slower pace, but I never really understood the point. Wouldn’t it make sense to get my body used to running at a certain pace on the long runs, so it would be able to keep up that speed during the race? It turns out, I was wrong. After reading these posts from The Running Laminator, I’m convinced that I should do my long runs at a slower pace. I mean, he’s a doctor after all.
Here is a summary of what is new and exciting (to me) about this training plan:
- Only 3 days of running – an “easy” run, a tempo or speed work run, and the long slow run. I also love the idea of doing speed work every week.
- A couple of 20 milers – My past training plans only had me doing one 20 miler. I think doing a few will really help me mentally.
- Swimming – I’m planning to keep up Wednesday morning swims with Nyema after the triathlon.
- Two days of strength training – My boot camp groupon expired and I’m debating whether or not to buy a membership. It’s great that it makes me lift (which we all know is the first thing to go in marathon training), but I might need to reserve morning hours for my runs because of the heat.
- Rest days – During July, when my long run reaches 18 miles and I do the century I will have two rest days a week. After the century, back to one rest day (and less intense bike workouts).
- A big pace improvement – Based on my latest half marathon time, Smart Coach predicted my goal time. It is quite a jump from my time at Marine Corps Marathon, so I’ll believe it when I see it!
Do you believe in the Long Slow Run philosophy?
p.s. Did anyone think I was pregnant from this post title? Got you!
My mind went to pregnancy with the title! Your plan makes me feel so inadequate about my workouts. No major races or goals, just trying to enjoy what I’m doing!
Clearly I am a runner, I thought about a training plan and not pregnancy when I saw your title! I’m thinking I’ll probably use a Hal Higdon plan to train for the Philly marathon, but I’m looking forward to hearing how you like the Smart Coach plan.
Haha you did trick me too! That is the exact training plan I want, minus the several 20 milers. I want to run just 3x a week, one easy, one long, and one speedwork!
I am so non-maternal that pregnancy never crossed my mind until you mentioned it at the end. Obviously it was a race countdown.
I hope to start training for my October marathon soon too!
I am really interested to read those articles on the long run, because I go so back and forth with myself about whether to do them slow or closer to my goal pace.
I am not really good at regulating my pace on long runs. I can’t figure out how to get my Garmin to show pace (it shows heart rate) so I just run at whatever feels good.
Hi Liz – Thanks for the shoutout! I’m glad you trust my judgment…LOL! LSDs are the way to go!!!
Your marathon training plan looks legit! I’ve used SmartCoach for my 2nd-4th marathons and found it a good program to base training off of. Good luck to you. Since marathon training is in high gear for many peeps, I’ll try to expand a bit more on the long runs in some more future posts. If there are other aspects of marathon training you have questions about or want me to expand on, let me know. I’ll be glad to help!
Good luck with your training. Chicago is just an awesome marathon. I ran it last year and got my first sub-3 marathon there so it will always have a special placement in my heart…
Thanks! I’m hoping I can PR there too!
I used SmartCoach when I trained for the National Marathon and I definitely think it gives a solid training plan. As I said on Twitter, I wasn’t so great about keeping the slower paces for the long runs, but I wonder if I should have. Now I’m reading Run Less, Run Faster, which gives a whole different approach to training. I’m really interested to see how you like the plan!
I’m a big fan of the long slow run. We usually break it in 1/3s – the first 1/3 1-1:30 slower than marathon pace, the second 1/3 :30-45 seconds slower than marathon pace, the last 1/3 at or just past marathon pace.
Also, 19 weeks? Make sure you’re taking lots of step back weeks in there. That’s a long time to train for a marathon especially when you already have a good base, which you totally do!
Seeing your training (and Beth’s) was actually one of the reasons I was motivated to look up more about LSRs. And obviously the result at Eugene.
There will definitely be lots of step back weeks..which work out well since I’m away a bunch of weekends too!
I think my mind is too ingrained with running – I immediately assumed your training cycle when I read the title.
19 weeks is long but it sounds like your schedule will be jam-packed with races! I used Smart Coach for the first time during my last training cycle to set the paces for my speed workouts and tempo runs. I really liked its guidance for those things, but I didn’t really pay attention to the pace it told me to run for easy/long runs. I may be stubborn, but I’m still a firm believer in doing long runs close to your marathon pace. Or dividing them into thirds like Amy said above. It has worked for me so far, so I’m going to stick with it. But I’m really interested to see how this goes for you and hear your thoughts about LSD runs!!
I am for the slow long run. your training plan looks like what I am going to do, what my PT/coach encourages me to do, so it looks like a great plan to me!
I like your training plan. And the bike too beach looks like it will be so much fun! I have been thinking registering for it.
Good luck Liz! You’re right; I’m sure 19 weeks will fly by!
I’m a SmartCoach fan but I think the long run paces were too slow for me. In fact, once I started doing my long runs at a more comfortable pace (30-45 seconds slower than race pace), I cut my half time down by a ton. BUT I know there’s a lot of science behind the LSD theory so I’m very interested to see how it works for you
And keeping up swimming during marathon training will be great! Your body will feel so much better!
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Greta
Hahah! You totally got me on the pregnancy thing. I thought, “not another pregnant blogger!” haha ”
I’m a huge fan of the variety in your training plan! I did that for national (no more than 3x running) and I successfully didn’t injure anything. Yay!