Marathon Training Guides

How to Use the Training Guides

First and foremost, each training guide is just that, a guide. It is normal and expected that things will come up that will cause you to miss runs or have to reschedule. If you have to rearrange runs, do so in a way that does not cause you to have two hard days (workouts, long runs) back to back. The guides are designed for specific types of runners, but all have the basic elements necessary to get to the starting line healthy and so that each runner has a great experience.

The Novice Guide is for those runners who have never run before, or who have run very little but have never run a marathon.

The Intermediate Guide is for those runners who have run a few marathons before, or runners who have run a lot but it may be their first marathon. It is designed for a runner to get up to about 55-60 miles per week and to be running 5-6 days a week.

The Advanced Guide is for runners who have run marathons before and have had more than 2 years of consistent training. It calls for them to get up to about 70 miles per week and has them running 7 days per week at the peak of the training cycle.

A few tips on how to read the chart—the mileage is a guide that should be the total amount you should aim to hit for the day. If it says 4-6 miles, it means run between 4 to 6 miles, based on how you feel and what your time is like. If the guide says, “Off/4mi.”, that means you have a choice to take the day off or run an easy 4 miles. If the guide says “Cross / 5 mi.”, then you have the choice to cross train or run an easy 5 miles that day.

An asterisk (*) means that Strides should be done at the end of the run. Also, for some Thursday and Saturday workouts, the total mileage for the run will be listed first, followed by speed drills which should be done within the run. Where rest is indicated between intervals, run easy (don’t stop altogether) to recover from the uptempo bursts.

The most important run of the week is the long run—that should be focused on as your major workout each week. The next important one is the Thursday workouts within the run. After that, the other days are easier runs that are there to build strength and to build your mileage base. These everyday runs are important as they allow your body to recover and let your muscles get used to running. Any other things, like track workouts or additional runs may be helpful, but aren’t for everyone, so contact us and we can advise you on how to best proceed.

Finally, if you are noticing that you are feeling run down or injured, DO NOT do the runs because the schedule says so. Contact us so that we can help you determine the nature of the issue and how to approach your individual training. As always, feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns or other issues you may have. We can help you reschedule runs, plan ahead if you foresee conflicts or with any other training questions you may have.

Training Paces:
The pace of your runs during different workouts is important. In order to maximize your fitness and avoid injury, it is important to pay attention to the pace that you are running your workouts.

Distance Runs:
Distance runs should be completed at a pace that is comfortable for you. You should be running at a pace that would allow you to also carry on a conversation. Before each of the up-tempo runs, you should run at least 10-15 minutes easy to warm up and then run the workouts.

Threshold Runs:
Threshold runs should typically be done at a pace that is close to your marathon race pace. You should run at a pace that feels “comfortably hard”, and that you can maintain for the length of the interval. It should be a slightly faster pace than your distance runs, but not all out.

Fartlek Runs:
Fartlek means “speed play”, and fartlek runs will teach your body to run at a faster pace. The pace for the surges in your fartlek run should be more difficult than the paces in your threshold runs. The intervals are shorter and faster. The rest periods should be at your distance run pace.

Tempo Runs:
These runs should be done at a pace that is faster than your marathon pace. It should be a pace that would have you breathing hard at the end of the allotted time, and only able to speak in quick phrases. As the time for the interval gets shorter, the pace should be quicker (i.e.: a 2 minute tempo interval should be faster than a 5 minute tempo interval).

Strides:
Strides are important at getting your legs used to turning over fast. Each stride should last about 30-40 seconds. As you do each stride, build into it—meaning start out at everyday run pace and increase your speed until you are at 90-95% of your maximum speed and then slow down. Rest and then repeat.

Stretching:
Stretching is an important part of every run. Ideally, you should stretch at the end of each run. Spend at least 20 seconds on each stretch and make sure you get your hamstrings, calves, quads, IT bands and glutes. If you need specific stretches feel free to contact us.

Progression Run:
Progression runs are helpful in getting the runner used to feeling strong and running fast at the end of runs. A progression run is a run that starts at normal pace and gradually increases in pace until the end. The end pace should be around threshold pace and should only be the last 5-10 minutes. Most runners will split the run into 3 equal parts for a progression run. The first 1/3 is at easy run pace, the next 1/3 is at everyday run pace and the past 1/3 gradually picks up to threshold pace.

About the Coaches

Bryan Dunn
Bryan is currently the distance coach for Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, MA and had previously been assistant coach for the Boston Running Club. He has impressive experience designing workouts and training strategies for all levels of runners. Bryan is an experienced athlete himself and has been sponsored by Fila and Adidas to train and race in the United States.

Patrick Dunn
Patrick’s extensive experience as a distance runner includes a collegiate career at Villanova University, where his team was Big East Conference Champions, and had a national ranking as high as 6th. He also earned All-American honors in high school. Patrick spent a year at the infamous Long Island running store, 2nd Wind, gaining a wide range of knowledge of running shoes and biomechanics.

Bryan and Patrick also serve as coaches to the American Liver Foundation’s Run for Research® team, guiding over 250 runners of all abilities to successfully complete the Boston Marathon annually. They can be contacted at: rfrcoach@gmail.com.