Three weeks before last spring's London marathon, I
received an e-mail from a friend who's an ophthalmologist (smart,
scientific, precise) and a very talented marathoner. He was concerned
about Ryan Hall's just-posted blog at
runnersworld.com. Hall described a long, fast-finishing 26-mile
workout. "Don't you think that's a mistake?" my friend asked me. "He
won't be fully recovered
in time for the marathon."
Three weeks later, Hall ran 2:08:24 at
London, and my friend e-mailed again. "I guess I was wrong,"
he said. No, not wrong, I replied. We simply don't know whether Hall's
success was specific to him or could be extended to other runners. This
point was affirmed several months ago by an exciting new study in the
International Journal of Sport Physiology and Performance. In his
research project, running coach and exercise physiology Ph.D. student
Jason Karp asked 93 U.S. elite marathoners how they trained. All of
them had qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials by running
at least 2:22 (the men) or 2:48 (the women). Karp was hoping to find
many universal themes. He didn't.
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Day Plan
Sure, the elites all ran a lot, from 40 to 125 weekly miles, and more
than 70 percent of their marathon training was at a relaxed pace.
Beyond that, Karp was forced to conclude, "Among U.S. Olympic Marathon
Trials qualifiers, there is no consensus as to how to prepare for the
marathon."
What? No consensus? Well, things aren't that bad. While marathon training
hasn't been studied extensively, millions of runners have managed to go
the distance, some of them at a sub-five-minute clip. And runners
incessantly exchange their tales of success and failure. When I look at
the accumulated science and shared knowledge of marathon training,
these overarching principles emerge.
1. Run just enough
"Stay healthy" is the most important piece of marathon training advice,
and the most often ignored. It does you no good to train hard, and then
get sick or injured. Better to be slightly undertrained, but feeling
strong and eager, than to be overtrained. The trick, of course, is
finding that fine line between the two.
2. Build your training slowly
Increase weekly
mileage by just 10 percent per week. Extend long runs by just
one mile at a time up to 10 miles, then by two miles at a time if you
want. Take recovery weeks as well as recovery days. Here's what eight
weeks of marathon training might look like, in terms of miles per week:
20-22-24-20-26-28-30-20.
3. Recover, recover, recover
You don't have to train hard seven days a week. You have to train smart
three or four days a week. This was proven in a 1994 study at the
University of Northern Iowa, where four-time-a-week runners performed
just as well in a marathon as those training six times a week and
covering 20 percent more total miles. A similar approach is now
endorsed by the Furman FIRST
marathon program, where 70 percent of veterans have improved
their times on three runs a week.
4. Do your long runs
This is a no-brainer. The newer you are to marathoning, and the slower,
the more important your long runs.
You simply have to get accustomed to being on your feet for three,
four, or more hours. There's no magic length. Most experts recommend
stopping at two and a half to three hours; Jeff Galloway advises going
farther, but including walk breaks. All systems work, as long as you
get to the starting line healthy and strong.
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5. Practice your marathon pace
Ann Alyanak, a coach at the University of Dayton, took 10 minutes off
her PR at Boston last spring, finishing in 2:38. The key, she believes,
was the addition of "progressive marathon-pace" (MP) long runs to her
program. Alyanak would do a two-mile warmup, then six miles at marathon
pace plus 40 seconds, six more at marathon pace plus 20, and her final
six at marathon pace. "I was able to run negative splits in Boston,"
she says.
6. Extend your tempo-run distance
Tempo runs
were born as four-mile efforts, propounded by coaching genius Jack
Daniels, Ph.D. Then another genius coach, Joe Vigil, Ph.D., began
asking Deena Kastor to hold the tempo pace longer--eventually up to 12
miles. He got Meb Keflezighi to 15. Result? Two Olympic Marathon
medals. Gradually extend your tempo runs, slowing by a few seconds per
mile from your four-mile pace. "The longer the tempo run workout you
can sustain, the greater the dividends down the road," says Vigil.
7. Eat your carbs...
To stay healthy and recover well during marathon training, you need to
fuel your body efficiently. First, consume some carbs--gel, sports
drink, and so on--during long, hard workouts to keep running strong.
Second, eat and/or drink a good helping of carbs as quickly as possible
after workouts. This will replenish the glycogen (energy supply) in
your depleted leg muscles. Add a little protein for muscle repair.
8. ...and pay attention to iron
None of the Trials qualifiers in Karp's study identified themselves as
"vegetarians." Running increases iron loss through sweating and
pounding. You don't have to be a meat-eater to run a strong marathon,
but you do have to consume enough iron. Cooking in an iron skillet
helps, as does consuming iron-rich foods with vitamin C, which
increases the body's iron absorption.
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9. Sidestep injuries
I recently asked exercise physiologist, author, and two-time U.S.
Olympic marathoner (1984, 1988) Peter Pfitzinger what he would do
differently if he were 22 years old today. He said that he'd rest
and/or cross-train
for several days a week at the first hint of a problem. And that he'd
include core training in his regimen. "I'm convinced that core
stability helps runners maintain good running form and pace late in a
race," says Pfitzinger, now the CEO of the New Zealand Academy of Sport
North.
10. Taper for two to three weeks
Many runners hate to taper. We are cursed with a sort of sublime
obsessiveness--a big help when you're increasing your efforts, but an
albatross when you're supposed to be cutting back. A new study from
Ball State University showed a particular gain in Type IIa muscle fiber
strength--the so-called fast, aerobic muscles that can adapt to improve
your performance--after a three-week taper. Of course, as Ryan Hall's
experiment shows, you don't have to follow all these principles to run
a strong marathon. But the more you cover the basics, the greater your
chance of 26.2-mile success.
