While I'm not following any marathon training schedule in particular, I have read through plenty and have picked and chosen ideas from several. To summarise, there are a few key elements which every schedule seems to contain, and it's on these that I have based my loose training structure.
I'll come back to this in a moment, but first I want to highlight one major change in my approach from last time round. Last time, intimidated by the prospect of running my first marathon, I printed off one of the first training schedules I found on the Internet and stuck to it, as best I could, religiously. It involved running 5 times a week (5 times a week more than I was used to) and, frankly, took over my life. I also, on advice, bought some running magazines and digested as much information on the topic as I felt appropriate, taking on board tips on a healthy diet, the importance stretching, when your body will respond to it and when not and numerous other niche facts which would set me up for a better life. And it was a better life in many regards, but I kind of let it take over a little, and that was a problem.
So this time round, I've decided I'm not running my life around running and that my training schedule can be less strict. Will this mean I'll beat my New York time in the London Marathon? Yes. Indirectly. At least I hope so. Albeit a small amount, I now have experience and experience tells me that the schedule I settled on last time was always going to injure me at some point due to its intensity and my unconditioned body. I know now, that getting injured in the 4 months prior to a marathon, is the one biggest hurdle the marathon runner has to overcome. If you can follow some sort of training plan and get to the start without an injury, you're most of the way there.
And, more to the point, I'll have part of my life back. I knocked drinking and, consequently, much socialising on the head last time, and that was hard and made running less enjoyable. Because it was new, it wasn't that bad, but if I sacrificed everything this time round because "I've got to do a long run in a couple of days", then I think I'd start to look at running as a chore. So my stance is less strict, although I am far more conscious of my (much reduced) tolerance these days!
Back to the key elements that I'm focusing on for training for London:
- Aim to run at least 80%-90% of the race distance in a training run before the race
- Gradually increase distance run per week by around 10%, not more
- Run no less than 3 times per week
- Fit in a longer run at the weekend
- Don't run the day after a long run, either rest or cross-train
- Exercise at least 5 times per week for a minimum of 30 mins per session
- Do everything not miss the long run session at the weekend
- Enjoy a beer and a glass of wine or two, but keep it at that and don't feel guilty
I'll let you know how it goes.
