Marathon Training Plan?

Can I follow an extended training plan?

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October 28, 2007 – Greenville, SC – Spinx Runfest Half Marathon
This marked the occasion of my first Half. Training had gone well until a mid-August run when the heat and humidity took its toll on my first planned 12 mile run. The Green Valley course was hilly, but the ups and down were just a sign of things to come. This turned out to be my longest run prior to the Half as my training went into the toilet. Mentally and physically I went into a downward spiral.

I debated not running the race, but ultimately decided I needed to challenge myself. The race ended up going well, and I only walked for a very brief portion and finished in 2:16. This race helped me get my mojo back and I started thinking about the Tybee Marathon in February.

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February 2, 2008 – Tybee Island, GA – Memorial Health Tybee Half Marathon
My first planned marathon turned into my 2nd Half Marathon when once again my training was not up to par, at least not enough for the marathon. I had started Marathon training on Dec. 10th, about 2 months prior to this race. During this time I had one 10 mile run, although I was averaging about 4 runs a week and about 25 miles per week.

An 8 mile tempo run at the beach earlier in the week of the race gave me a lot of confidence and I pushed the race pace harder than I would have otherwise. I felt good and broke my PR with a 2:06. Based upon the McMillan Running Calculator I was on target for a 4:20 marathon.

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This left 16 weeks remaining in my training plan, a modified Hal Higdon program. I was healthy and feeling good after the Tybee Half. I had a conservative plan for increasing my weekly mileage (planned max of 40 miles) and long runs (planned max of 20 miles) leading up to the Vermont City Marathon. I never came close to achieving either of these goals. A combination of work and injuries certainly had an impact, but I must blame most of training failure on lack of discipline and motivation.

The data below shows how NOT to train for a marathon.

Week Planned Miles Actual Miles # of runs
16 / 15 / 18 / 3
15 / 19 / 6.3 / 1
14 / 21 / 22.2 / 3
13 / 22.2 / 20.7 / 3
12 / 24 / 12 / 1
11 / 26 / 18.25 / 2
10 / 24 / 13 / 1
9 / 29 / 17.7 / 3
8 / 28.2 / 18.2 / 3
7 / 33 / 4 / 1
6 / 36.2 / 13.8 / 3
5 / 32.1 / 17.6 / 2

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April 26, 2008 – Greer, SC – Greer Half Marathon

This was a planned event, included in my training plan to help me evaluate my level of readiness for the marathon which would be four weeks later. I had run a 10K in Atlanta the previous week and had moderate Achilles tendonitis issues. This would be my longest run in a month.

I discussed this race in a previous blog, but for a quick recap, it sucked. My Achilles continued to be problematic. The temp was in the low 80’s with 100% humidity. I bonked around mile 8 and ended up walking a significant portion of the last few miles. This turned out to be my worst Half Marathon time with a 2:18.

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Mentally and physically I was in shambles. I began to question my sanity for even considering attempting the upcoming marathon. This further impacted my motivation and my training runs the last four weeks leading up to the marathon were some of my worse during the entire 24 weeks.

Week Planned Miles Actual Miles # of runs
4 / 40 / 7 / 2
3 / 29 / 10.1 / 2
2 / 21 / 7.5 / 2
1 / 9 / 4 / 1


So a training plan that held high hopes and started 24 weeks earlier was done. Planned mileage was 565.9 miles during this period and my actual total was 365.43 miles. During the 24 weeks I had a dismal 63 runs completed, not even averaging 3 runs per week. Even scarier was almost half of the runs (30) took place in the 1st 8 weeks.

Looking at the hard numbers did not provide much comfort in the days leading up to the marathon. I was committed to giving it my best, but the facts were hard to ignore. A long run of only 14 miles (Mar 12th), weekly mileage high of 28 miles (Jan 21st and Jan 28th), an average of less than 3 runs per week, and missing the total mileage goal by 200 miles.

I checked out the definition of “crazy” from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and found the following; full of cracks or flaws, unsound, mad, insane, impractical, and erratic.

To move forward and attempt this marathon I strongly believe that the definition for crazy describes me perfectly.