Back in 2008 and 2009 when I ran a lot less and did not pay as much attention to putting together a "realistic" racing schedule, throwing together a training plan took one afternoon. Now, with multiple doubles, a whole slew of different types of workouts, and carefully picked out races, it has taken me the better part of a couple of weeks to put everything together.
The extra work was worth it though, as it looks like I've got a solid plan between Jan 3rd up until my first taper week. In my previous training cycle, I left the taper period open until a month out before filling in the details. That worked out great, so I'll wait until later to fill that in.
As with every training cycle, I evaluated what worked and what needed to be changed from the previous one. Minor or in some cases major tweaks help keep everything fresh and hopefully lead to even more success! There are three aspects of my training that will see significant changes.
1. Fewer step back weeks. I used to follow a pattern of 2 weeks up and 1 week back. As I reached my peak, I would then alternate up and down weeks. After reading about what a lot of faster and more experienced runners do, I've decided to can that for a more aggressive pattern. I will take 1 step back week in January, 1 in February, and 1 in March/April. My taper will start during that last step back. This will bump up my average weekly mileage for the whole training cycle, which is really the key to being in marathon racing shape. The long run really takes a step back to consistent high mileage week in and week out. My endurance is quite established now, what I need to master is running through extreme discomfort. High mileage accomplishes this quite effectively.
2. A completely revamped weekly pattern.
Monday: easy AM/easy PM
Tuesday: easy AM (Starting Feb.)/tempo, hills, or speed PM
Wednesday: rest or easy
Thursday: tempo, hills, or speed (One or two AM easy runs at my peak)
Friday: easy AM/easy PM
Saturday: easy, race, or long run
Sunday: easy, race, or long run
Workouts move to Tuesday/Thursday instead of Monday/Friday and the now optional rest day moves to the middle of the week. Assuming I can keep to this schedule, it perfects the alternating hard-easy pattern that is universally accepted in the running community. It also gives me a breather after my weekend which can include long runs and races.
3. Timing of all runs, including easy runs. I resisted this for a while, and would only time races, tempo runs, speedwork, and long runs. All my easy/moderate paces were just runs at any pace. However, I really think I need that extra feedback. It should also keep my paces on those days in check. "Feel" is still my number 1 feedback mechanism, but it can be hard to differentiate between a couple of rough days and overreaching. High mileage will cause rough days (that's the point after all), but I don't want to overreact to them. My hope is the extra monitoring will give me a better idea of how my training is going and whether I need to cut back (or add on!). Plus, after reading about some sub-2:35 and sub-2:30 marathon runners who time everything, I figure that it must be helping them!
There are a few other things I'm doing specifically to prepare for Boston, and my 3:20 pacing effort at Kentucky. I'll be doing hill repeats more frequently during the week with a few of the intervals being run downhill rather than uphill. This should help prepare me not just for the famed hills at 17-22 but also all the downhill running that pummels unprepared quads into oblivion. Though my long runs will still largely be on the pancake flat NCR Trail, I'm going to detour off the trail on occasion in the same area that the marathon ran through to get a solid uphill and a few good downhills in at the tail end of the long runs to help simulate Boston. Lastly, a small handful of my long runs will be dedicated to running an even effort 7:37 pace. This is essentially the slowest I should be doing my long runs, and should help me nail down pacing for Kentucky. This should also help protect against injury. I do almost all my long runs as progression runs, starting slow and speeding up to marathon pace (or sometimes faster) by the second half of the run. After talking to a talented runner who suffered a rather significant injury doing the same exact thing, I decided to officially schedule "easier" long runs for extra insurance.
My peak week is going to inch very close to 100 miles, but this cycle is more about a "smooth" graph from week to week rather than a sharp peak. I've also decided to only count miles run faster than a certain "minimum pace." I'm not going to mention that pace or get into reasons why, but this is going to greatly help with some of my other running responsibilities in 2011. Rest between all my speedwork intervals is being universally cut. I'm not really increasing the quantity of speedwork I'm doing, and my paces probably won't change significantly, so this is a good opportunity to cut the rest. That is the most effective way to make speedwork harder anyway! And lastly, I've got some new types of tempo and speedwork to try and mix things up, hopefully they will go well.
A lot of details I know, but when March rolls around and I start cursing out the moron who put together this plan (myself of course..), I can read about my logic and reasoning behind it!
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