My training plan for the Philly Marathon in November has gotten some significant criticism from friends and clients. I think it is time for me to publish what I have done over the two weeks of training so far and also reiterate why I am choosing a less traditional training methodology.
Let's start with the two key reasons why I am not running long distances 3-4 times a week like a traditional training plan requires.
First, I don't love running. Traditional plans are extremely running intensive. Runner's World magazine provides a standard 4-month training plan for "beginners". The total amount of running over the 4 months is 347 miles. That is the equivilent of 13+ marathons. That is for beginners.
They recommend an intermediate plan of 5 runs per week with a range of total mileage between 562 and 610 miles and with 4 straight weeks of 45+ miles of running. If you love running, by all means, have at it!!!
If not, my plan calls for a approximately 300 miles of running in 5+ months of training. No week will cover more than 30 miles of running and my focus is on building up the leg stamina for the long runs. Each weekend includes a long run, beginning at 10 miles in late June and building up to 22 miles in late October.
The second reason I am constructing a less-traditional plan is that I don't like what endurance training does to my overall fitness. I work with many triathletes and distance runners. They simply are not as strong as I want to be. I refuse to sacrifice overall strength and function to be able to do a marathon. My plan calls for a lot of continued strength training and power workouts to improve my leg, hip, lower back, core and upper body strength to help prevent overuse injuries.
The long weekend runs will be supplemented by my Interval Strength Training workouts throughout the week. To the extent that those include running they are typically short, hard, fast interval runs. But for the most part, those workouts are total body strength and high-intensity cardio workouts lasting between 20 and 40 minutes.
Here is what I have done over the last two weeks. For those of you who are new to my blog, I personally follow the CrossFit Workout of the Day with modifications away from some of the gymnastic and olympic lifting movements.
June 14th
Row 500 meters
30 body weight bench presses (done on a chest press machine)
Row 1000 meters
20 body weight bench presses
Row 2000 meters
10 body weight bench presses
June 15th
Row 2000 meters
50 Wall ball tosses with 20 lb ball
Row 1000 meters
35 Wall ball tosses with 20 lb ball
Row 500 meters
20 Wall ball tosses with 20 lb ball
June 16th and 17th - Rest Days
June 18th
10 - 100 meter sprints with 90 sec rest in between each
June 21st
5 rounds of 50 foot walking lunges with 45lb barbell overhead, and
21 burpees
June 22nd
5 rounds of:
hard 1/2 mile run, and
50 pushups
June 23rd
3 rounds of:
15 dumbbell thrusters with 2-50lb dumbbells
30 situps on the glute-ham developer
June 24th - Rest Day
June 25th
5 rounds of:
40 double under jump ropes
30 - 2' high box jumps
20 - 55lb kettlebell swings
June 26th - 10 mile run
that is just a two week overview. Notice that running is combined in with a lot of rowing and other high-intensity aerobic activities that build stamina, strength and functional movement.
Stay tuned,
Paul
Monday, July 5, 2010
More on my marathon training
Labels:
distance,
fitness,
functional training,
marathon,
running,
strength training
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