In 2011 I decided to up my marathon game and run three marathons – one spring and two fall races.
I’m a solid middle of the pack runner and will never win the big dance, but I love to run and when I work at it, I can achieve my time goals.
That May I ran the New Jersey Marathon (a PR at the time at 3:53:11) and both Chicago and New York City in October and November respectively.
As of today, Chicago stands as my PR (3:51:18) and I ran NYC just under 4 hours (3:58:33) which was my goal that year since it was right after Chicago.
In the fall of 2011 my one and only goal was to finish both races. The fact that Chicago was a PR was like icing on the cake for me (I thought I was running a 3:45 based on the pace group I was in front of, but that’s another post coming next week).
So how did I do it?
I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that I’ve used Hal Higdon’s training plans for all my long races, which is mostly true. I used to be meticulous about following his plans from speedwork to hills to tempo runs but I’ve gotten to the point where I just use them as a guide.
Not to sound pompous, but I know my body and endurance levels at any given time pretty well (as long as I’m rested) that I now just follow Hal’s long run schedule.
My first priority after the race was rest (and eating). I did something after Chicago that I don’t usually do. I took three days off from all exercise. No cross training, no weight lifting and absolutely no running.
Here’s the schedule that worked for me:
Recovery Week
(Sunday Marathon)
Monday – off
Tuesday – off
Wednesday – off
Thursday – 10K (just under race pace)
Friday – off
Saturday- 10 miles (one full minute slower than projected NYC Marathon pace)
Sunday – 5 miles (FLAT and one full minute slower than projected NYC Marathon pace)
The following week I was a little more aggressive, but still taking more rest days than normal:
Week 1
Monday – off
Tuesday – 10K (at projected NYC Marathon pace)
Wednesday – off
Thursday – 10K tempo
Friday – off
Saturday – 6.5 miles just above tempo
Sunday – 15 miles (30 seconds slower than projected NYC Marathon pace)
Week 2
Monday – off
Tuesday – 4 miles (just under projected NYC Marathon pace)
Wednesday – 5 miles tempo
Thursday – 5.5 sub tempo
Friday – off
Saturday – 10 miles (30 seconds slower than projected NYC Marathon pace)
Sunday – 5 miles (FLAT – at projected NYC Marathon pace)
Race Week
Monday – off
Tuesday – off
Wednesday – 5 mile tempo
Thursday – off
Friday – off
Saturday – 2 mile leg stretch
Sunday – ING New York City Marathon
As I mentioned, I’m a middle of the pack runner and the above modified plan was exactly what I needed to get me across the finish line of two marathons that were two weeks apart.
This year (2013) I’m running both the New York City and Philadelphia Marathons which means I’m going to have to modify further since there is only one weekend in between the races.
More on that as I figure it out.
