Everyone knows that running a 26.2 miles is hard, regardless of how long it takes you. It takes hours of training, dedication, and determination. Running a marathon under 3 hours increases the difficulty exponentially. It turns the already challenging task of completing a marathon into a rare accomplishment. How rare? According to Runner's World, only 2% of all marathon finishers completed 26.2 miles in under 3:00:00 in 2011. Running a sub 3 hour marathon is the ultimate goal for many marathoners. It's a time that differentiates the good from the elite. It may only be a second or two, but the difference between 3:00:01 and 2:59:59 is huge. I have been shooting for a sub 3 hour marathon for the past 3 years now. In 2010 I ran a 3:03:46 at the Fox Cities Marathon, so I know I have the ability to do it. Since then, I have had 2:59:59 in my sights. Unfortunately, I haven't really come that close. Since my 3:03 performance, I have run (in chronological order) 3:17:44, 3:12:23, and 3:10:32. I guess if you wanted to look on the bright side of those times, I'm trending in the right direction, but still a ways off. I don't want to sound like I am making excuses as to why I haven't been able to finish in under 3 but here are my top 3 hypotheses.
1. I have not devoted the necessary time to training specifically for a sub 3 marathon.
The past 3 seasons (especially 2013) I have focused on a balanced approach to the sport of triathlon. I have run at least one marathon each year, but have always included triathlon races as part of my training program and trained relatively hard in both swimming and cycling.
2. I have not stayed committed to a regimented diet since 2010 and have progressively gained unnecessary weight.
In 2010 when I ran a 3:03 my body weight was in the 155-160 range. I raced IM Wisconsin at 175, about 20 pounds heavier. You don't think it makes a difference? Strap on a 20lb vest and go for a short run and see how it effects your times. Now consider running a full 26.2 miles with that same vest on!
3. My weekly mileage has not been as high as it should be for a sub 3 training plan.
This one could probably be grouped in with #1, seeing how the main reason I never allowed my mileage to get over 30-40 miles per week is to allow time and recovery for all the other workouts I was completing during the week.
Now that I have successfully crossed off completing an Ironman from my bucket list, I am going to focus my efforts toward a new goal - Running a sub 3 hour marathon. How do I plan on doing it? What are going to be my key workouts? What will my training plan look like? How many miles will I run in a week?
First, I want to explain how I planned my 2014 race schedule. I scheduled a spring marathon that I am familiar with on May 18th, being the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. This will allow me to focus 100% of my attention on running throughout the winter and spring. After the marathon, I will cut back on running and focus majority of my attention toward cycling and swimming for the heart of the triathlon season, June through July. After two months of focused triathlon racing, I will change gears once again and focus again on running to finish my first ultramarathon. I am eyeing up Door County's Fall 50 on October 25th. It all fits rather nicely into a logical annual plan broken down into three phases; marathon specific work early, triathlon specific with a focus on cycling and swimming in the middle, and finish with a pure aerobic phase at the end of the year.
I won't dive into how I structured my entire 2014 annual training plan, but want to focus solely on how I plan on training for a sub 3 hour Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. This spring, I plan on training like a marathoner, not a triathlete. Unlike past years, when I trained for a marathon all while training for triathlons, I will focus my efforts on running, and use swimming and cycling as recovery workouts, as opposed to key midweek workouts. My plan actually began this week, on Monday December 16th. I have it broken down into two unique phases. First, I built a full 12 week base building phase which will end on March 9th. The last week of that phase is an unloading week to allow for some recovery. Yes, I do have mid-cycle recovery weeks built in, but week 12 has a very significant decrease in mileage compared to any other previous week. After my recovery week, I will begin an 8 week build phase with very specific workouts focused on strict pace work. I will then unload again during a 2 week taper before toeing the start line in Green Bay on May 18th. So let's dive into the plan...
Base Building (12 Weeks)
This phase is about as simple as it gets. The main objective of this 12 week phase is to build my aerobic engine. I want to make my body as aerobically efficient as possible. In order to do this, I will do all my run workouts in a specific heart rate range. I plan on using a MAF heart rate range of 145-155 bpm. I won't dive into specifics on MAF Training, but if you would like to find out more, check out this website:
MAF 180 Heart Rate Training. Basically, you take 180 and subtract your age and depending on your current fitness level you adjust this number either up or down (see the article). Therefore, being 30, I am left with 150, but due to several years of endurance training, I get to add 5 beats to this number. Then I simply create a 10 beat range with 155 being my max, leaving me with a range of 145-155. I will train strictly in the heart rate range while increasing my weekly mileage to a range that is suggested for elite marathoning. I have done some general research on training plans for elite age group marathoners and have found that, although many of the individual workouts vary greatly, one thing seems to remain constant, a high weekly training mileage. Most training plans I have found have a weekly training mileage of 50 up to 100+. In the past, my peak weeks were 35-50 at best, mainly due to devoting time to swimming and cycling. With this training plan I start out in December with 36 mile week and build up to a 56 mile week. My biggest individual day is centered around my 30th birthday on March 2nd, when I will run 30 miles to commemorate turning 30. The weekly breakdown is simple. I will run every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each Tuesday and Saturday will be a shorter distance long run, with longer runs falling on Thursdays and Sundays. The Sunday long run will be the longest of runs within each week. Mondays will be a recovery swim workout, which will be technique based and Wednesdays will be a medium duration bike day.
This will be the first ever 7 day training plan I will follow since starting with Winnebago County and working a 9 day shift rotation. This will require some long runs after a night of work, but I want to reap the benefits of more frequent long runs.
Peak Marathon Phase (8 Weeks)
During this phase is when I do a complete 180 in the type of workouts I will do. There will be no more heart rate based training. Over the next 8 weeks following a long base building phase, I will begin very specific workouts geared towards training my body to be able to hold sub 3 hour marathon pace for 26.2 miles. During this phase, I will base all my workouts on a specific pace. To determine appropriate paces for each individual workout, I used the McMillan Running Calculator at
www.mcmillanrunning.com. I entered in a goal race time of 2:59:00 for a marathon and was provided a very specific pace range for a variety of distances and run types (long run, tempo, speed, etc). In my peak phase I will increase the number of weekly runs from 4 to 5. My weekly schedule will consist of a rotation of either mile repeats or hill repeats on Monday. Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be moderate distance runs. On Saturday, I scheduled various sets of long intervals. I will complete traditional long and easy runs on Sunday. Below is a description of each of the different types of workouts I will complete during this phase.
Mile Repeats
Running short sprint repeats are not truly necessary for marathon training, but some form of speed work is necessary. Sprint intervals of 400-800m are nearly too short to elicit a beneficial training response specific to the marathon. However, longer high speed workouts can be beneficial for increasing your lactate threshold and your overall efficiency. In the past I have run mile repeats with a 3 minute recovery period. This year, I am trying a shorter recovery period. I found a unique style of mile repeats while researching training plans for my training plan. I found a style of mile repeats that copies a popular interval style from lap swimming. Instead of having a set recovery period, I will begin a mile interval every 7 minutes. If I run my first interval in 5:30, I will get 1:30 to recovery before the next rep. On the 2nd interval, I finish in 5:45, I get 1:15 to recovery before the next. It's that simple. I have a predetermined number of reps during each session and then set a daily mileage goal for that day. So for instance, on April 1st, I am scheduled to run 4x1 mile with a total distance of 7 miles. On this day, I will run a 1.5-2 mile warm up and finish with a 1-1.5 mile cool down with the 4, mile repeats to reach a total of 7 miles.
Hill Repeats
On scheduled hill repeat days, I will not follow a strict workout. I have access to a few decent sized hills near my home. First, there is the well known hill at High Cliff State Park. Then there is the hill near Thousand Island's Nature Preserve. Closest to my house is a shorter hill which is about 3/4 of a mile from home. Depending on my work schedule and other possible commitments, I will determine where I will complete my hill repeats. On that day, I will judge how I feel and either do shorter duration, higher intensity hill sprints, or do longer duration, lower intensity intervals up the hill. On the short end I am looking at a total duration of about 20-30 seconds of up hill running, while on the longer end of the spectrum I will aim at about a 45-60 second set. Running up hills not only improves your overall running efficiency, but also increases your overall running specific strength. Hill repeats are found in just about every elite marathon training plan. The only thing I found consistent with hill repeats in all the training plans I read, was that there were no two plans with the same philosophy for how to complete hill repeats. Because of this, I will play each scheduled hill repeat by ear and vary the style of how I complete my repeats.
Midweek Long Run
These are my Wednesday and Thursday runs. The main goal of these runs are to boost my aerobic capacity and to add to my weekly mileage. These runs are done at a comfortable zone 2-3 pace, just above a recovery pace. On my training plan you will see that I have quite a wide range of paces (from 6:50 to 7:50). That is done on purpose. I want to have the ability to take it easy on days I feel a little beaten up while on other days when I am feeling fresh, I don't want to have to force myself to hold back.
Long Intervals
The purpose of long intervals is to train your body to learn to run at your desired race pace. They also allow you to get more total time at a higher speed then doing just one tempo run at a set distance. During the main sets of these long intervals, I will aim at holding a steady pace at or slightly below my goal marathon pace of 6:45/mile. My first long interval workout is relatively short with 2x3 miles and each week builds from that with a variety of combinations to peak with a 2x6 at race pace just before I begin my 2 week taper. This final long interval set will be slightly different from all the prior sets. During this set, I am going to try something completely different that I read makes this workout very specific to the later stages of the marathon. During this workout, I will run the first 6 miles at my goal race pace, immediately upon completing this set, I will sit and do nothing for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow proper recovery, but also allow my legs to begin to recover. I will then go back out for the second 6 miles and do my best to hang on at my goal pace. I've heard that this is a great workout to let you know if you have a realistic goal time or not. From what I understand, if you are able to maintain a consistent pace during that second 6 miles, you should be good to go for your marathon. As for all the prior long interval sessions, my recovery will be in the ball park of 2-5 minutes, depending on the duration of the set and the number of sets. The sole reason my rest interval is so long on my final session is to elicit the feeling of "heavy legs" which is so typical of the final 10k of a marathon.
Long Run
These weekly runs fall on Sundays, the very next day following my long interval sessions. I did this for a couple reasons. First, I want to run these on somewhat tired legs. I figure if I can run effectively on tired legs, I theoretically should be able to run that much better on fresh legs. Secondly, I want to have a day with a specific workout designated towards recovery. You will notice this run has the slowest pace range, at 7:00-8:00. These runs will range from 12 miles up to 22 miles and will all be done at a relaxed pace. These runs will also incorporate a few minor walk breaks to properly fuel and hydrate. The number one goal of the weekly long run is to maintain and grow your aerobic engine, to ultimately turn your body into an efficient fat burning machine! I have read several articles and reports about NOT running longer than 16 miles or 2-2.5 hours. I buy this to an extent. I think I can see this method being beneficial if you are running more than 2 marathons in a calendar year, you have been running consistently and regimented for at least 5 years, and/or you are naturally a gifted runner and find yourself getting injured when you run long. If you don't find yourself falling into one of those categories, I think you need the long run, it will only help. At a minimum it will at least give you the mental confidence to go that far, especially if this is going to be your first marathon. There is no way I would ever recommend a first timer to peak at only 16 miles in their training plan. That would simply be setting that person up for failure.
Taper (2 Weeks)
The taper phase is just that. A gradual tapering of weekly mileage to elicit an overcompensation effect in your overall fitness. It also allows ample time for your body to fully recover to allow you to get to the start line at 100%, so to speak. The duration of your taper phase depends on several things, your overall fitness level, your experience level, and how hard you trained. At the absolute high end, a taper phase would last no more than 4 weeks and a minimum of 2 weeks. A typical taper will begin immediately following your highest volume week (your peak week). From there you cut your mileage about 25% and then an additional 25-50% the next week. The percentages that you cut your mileage down to depends on the total duration of your taper phase. Throughout your taper you are cutting your VOLUME, but NOT your INTENSITIES. You should still maintain your intensities throughout your taper. Typically, I schedule one final short race pace tempo run on the Monday or Tuesday of race week as one final "tune-up." From there you get to plug runs into your schedule as you see fit. At a minimum you should do your last run on Thursday, if the race in on a Sunday allowing two full days for recovery. However, if you feel confident it won't leave you mentally fatigued, some people will run a short (1-2 miles) the day before the race. Which ever you chose, keep in mind that you should be taking it easy and stressing recovery throughout your entire taper phase. If you are scheduled for a rest day, REST. Get an extra hour of sleep, stretch, get a massage, etc.
So there you have it, my plan to finally break the 3 hour mark in the marathon. The only topic I did not cover was my diet as I mentioned the effect that my current body weight had on my ability to maintain proper pacing in the marathon to finish in under 3 hours. I know I have said on here countless times, that I need to regain the self control I had a few years back to better gain control of my body composition. I recall specifically laying out my wanting to jump on board with a ketogenic diet a month or two ago. Honestly, I was jumping into something I do not think I was totally prepared for, especially being the head chef for my family. So, where do I go from here, how do I get back down to a reasonable running/racing weight? First, I want to get past the holiday season. Let's all be honest, this is no time to start a strict, relatively uncommon (at least in America) diet. As soon as I get past Christmas and all of it's indulgences, I will start eating more simply. Sounds easy, right? Just three words: EAT. REAL. FOOD. No processed junk. Nothing artificial. No refined sugars. Just whole, real, fresh, nutritious, food. I figure this is a simply diet and will be easy to follow even with preparing meals for the entire family. With that being said, all that's left to do is the work! Wish me luck! And if you are reading this to assist you with preparing your training plan, best of luck to you - and please do not hesitate to email me or message me on Twitter @IrondadTri, or on Facebook with any specific questions you may have.
As always ~ Be fast, be strong, & carry on!
I was able to structure a decent race calendar with the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon being the race I hope to finish in under 3:00:00. The marathon is on May 18th, so the bulk of my training will be in the colder months of January through March. After the marathon, I will switch gears and start focusing more on my bike fitness and swim fitness, as I begin a 3 month triathlon specific phase. During this period I will do no triathlon longer than an Olympic distance race. My triathlon season will come to an end either late July or early August. I have yet to decide if I will race the USA Triathlon National Championships in Milwaukee, WI or not. First off, (and I'll discuss this more later) one of my goals this year is to put family before my races. With that in mind, we scheduled a family vacation from Saturday August 2nd through August 9th. The Olympic distance race is on the 9th, so that is now out of the question, and the Sprint distance is on that Sunday. I was all for this race when I thought you had to qualify for this race. But, I recently learned that you only need to qualify for the Olympic distance race and that anyone can register for the Sprint distance race. Not to sound like I believe I am too good, or above doing this race, since anyone can do it. But, if I am going to make this race work with my family and literally the very next day after a week of vacation, I want it to be a special race, not just another race. For our vacation this year we are renting a cabin in northern Wisconsin, about 3-4 hours north of Milwaukee. So to expect my family to pack up and drive home Saturday and then either drive to Milwaukee and rent a hotel room that night or leave super early on Sunday morning to get to the race seems like a little much to ask, especially considering everything I put them through last year. Another option is to do the race without them, which is an option, but I enjoy doing these races with my wife and kids there...that's just me. Yet another option, is to register for the Sprint distance and make it a goal to qualify for the World Championships in 2015, which you can only do at the National Championships. So, we'll see if I register for that race. The final aspect which will make or break doing the National Championship race is if I do it, I will not be able to fully relax while on vacation. Yes, it will be a lower volume taper week, but that also means, no indulgences and no (or little) beer. Where as, if I end my season on July 27, as my other option is, I could literally take a nice two week break and just kick back and relax on vacation. 
