Re: Marathon Training
 

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As for speed, this is just my opinion, but if you can do some HIIT and sprint work, it will will really get your mile pace down

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While tempo work, hill repeats, interval training, fartleks and many other types of faster and higher intensity work can be very helpful, I don't think actual sprint work has much use in marathon training. From my personal experience, all out sprint training is a direct path to injury when you're putting in a lot of miles.

FIRST training program

I think this program would be very good given the time you want to allot to this. The long runs are very very important. You're going to have to go well beyond 15km on a regular basis in your training if you want to have any shot at 4 hrs.

Re: Marathon Training
 

I just ran my first marathon so I can give some (hopefully) useful advice.

I can't stress enough about having good enough shoes. The only time I had any sort of injury was due to a pair of shoes that didn't fit as well as I thought they did. Spend a couple extra bucks and go somewhere that will look at you run and recommend something specifically for you. Once you have a pair, make sure to change them every 300-400 miles, or rotate a few pairs.

Just follow one of the linked 'beginner' training plans. Mile 21-26, like said, is absolute hell, but at the same time, be really careful about too many runs close to marathon length; they will take a lot out of you, especially if you haven't done that length before.

Don't worry about speed work, it will only lead to injury on your first marathon (unless you already have a really good base.)

Get some
body glide . Chaffing hurts.

Re: Marathon Training
 

A few more questions, with regards to eating more...I'm a reasonable amount overwieght, probably 1.5 stones which will need to come off to have a chance at 4 hours. Given i'll be running a hell of a lot more, approx how much should my daily intake be.

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.

Re: Marathon Training
 

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A few more questions, with regards to eating more...I'm a reasonable amount overwieght, probably 1.5 stones which will need to come off to have a chance at 4 hours. Given i'll be running a hell of a lot more, approx how much should my daily intake be.

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.

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On the diet, I'd say keep track of what you eat and adjust up or down as you need to. I don't know how one would go about giving a recommendation meant to offset/counterbalance a workout plan-- that that workout plan doesn't exist is merely a detail.

As far as race pace goes, you don't need to worry about that at all at the beginning. Eventually you work up to about a run a week at race pace. I'm surprised your planner doesn't discuss this.

Re: Marathon Training
 

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A few more questions, with regards to eating more...I'm a reasonable amount overwieght, probably 1.5 stones which will need to come off to have a chance at 4 hours. Given i'll be running a hell of a lot more, approx how much should my daily intake be.


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For someone overweight 4 hours is extremely fast.

The last 6.2 miles are a lot tougher than the first 20.

I ran London in 1986. My time at 20 miles was under 2:14. Was never hurting or in trouble. Yet I DID NOT break 3 hours.
Averaged 6:40/mile for the first 20.
Averaged about 8/mile for the last 6.2.
Was totally unaware that I was slowing down.

You must run in shoes which are broken in. At
least 50 to 100 miles on those shoes. Wear new
socks. Practice drinking water during training.
You may find that you can't drink while running.

I hope you don't mean April 2008. You don't have
enough time to train properly. Breaking 5 hours
is a more realistic goal.

Re: Marathon Training
 

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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.

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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.

Re: Marathon Training
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Combs

P Diddy ran a marathon recently. He had he own personal trainer. Ran 4:18 and was very please with his time.

Under 4 hours is not realistic. Very few first time marathoners succeed in running the entire 26 miles. You will be walking part of the time. To break 4 hours you will need to average 8:30/mile or 5:25/km. Run a 10k. If you can't break 50 minutes, forget 4 hours. It's just not possible.

Re: Marathon Training
 

Meant average 8:30/m while you're running, since you expect to walk part of the course.

There seems to be a wind tunnel between miles 22 and 24 on the London course. Slows the entire race down.

Re: Marathon Training
 

I'm 6'4" 195 lbs and can run 1 mile in 6 minutes. I've never run for longer than 40 minutes at a time. What are my chances of having what it takes to run a 3:10 marathon with 6 months of training?

Re: Marathon Training
 

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I'm 6'4" 195 lbs and can run 1 mile in 6 minutes. I've never run for longer than 40 minutes at a time. What are my chances of having what it takes to run a 3:10 marathon with 6 months of training?

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Not good but not impossible. We know basically nothing about your actual running ability since it's completely undeveloped. A 3:10 on your first try would be exceptional. If you actually stuck with a good program and didn't get hurt 3:30-3:40 would be a good result in 6 months. 3:10 would be reasonable within 12-18 months if you decided to stick with it.