Marathon Training

[BreakfastBurrito]

[ QUOTE ]
Secondly, all the training plans have distances, how should i include speeds into it? Having seen what people have to say about miles 21-26 i feel training toward a 3 hours 20 time would give me enough room to struggle though the last part and still keep my side of the bet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well going back to the FIRST program which I highly recommend in my previous post...a 4hr marathon is a 9:10/mile pace. For your interval track workouts, you should be going at a pace of about 7:00-7:30 per mile, or around 1:45-1:53 per lap. For tempo runs, you should be around 8:30/mile and for the long runs you should be at around a 9:30-10:00/mile pace.

If you didn't check out the FIRST program before, give it a click. I had success building up to decent running shape following virtually the same program on my own before I had ever read about it. Meanwhile I've seen a lot of people try to follow Higdon and drop out with injuries about 2 months in.

DO NOT try to train for a 3:20 marathon. You will completely explode and spend 16 miles or more walking, cramping and puking. For every 20 seconds per mile too fast you run in the first 5 miles, you end up paying for it at least 3 times over later in the race.