Marathon Advice: Getting Faster

"Getting Faster" assumes you've been Running Marathons for at least a year.  In my opinion, your first year should be focused on building your Endurance without the added layer of Speed.  Period.

Here's why:  Endurance Sports are taxing on the body.  Each Long Run you are tearing down the muscle, only to have it rebuilt to make it stronger.  When you add Speed with Endurance, it's a double whamming.  If you don't have a strong foundation, then you risk breaking down your body faster than it can rebuild = Injury. 

Focus first on your Endurance.  Get your legs used to distance.  Then... after some time, consider adding to that strong foundation with the additional layer of Speed work.

With that being said, let's move onto getting faster:

To get faster, you need to be more purposeful with your workouts.  There are three very important workouts per week in your Schedule:

· Hill Repeats/Mile Repeats 

· Goal Marathon Pace Runs

· Long Runs

Hill Repeats/Mile Repeats:

Hill Repeats are just as 'simple' as they sound... in theory.  I have my runners begin with this phase in Training because it helps build their leg and cardio strength.  Basically the workout consists of Running a Hill at 80% your Heart Rate for about 200 yards (or about 1 1/2 mins).  Once at the top, check your Heart Rate and your time.  Then do a recovery jog back down to start.  Once your Heart Rate is back down, turn around and hit the Hill again.  Be sure to check your Heart Rate and time with the goal of being consistent on both for each Hill Repeat. 

Start Week 1 with (3) Hill Repeats, adding on another Hill Repeat to each week.  Always begin and end this workout with a 1 Mile warm up/cool down. 

The number of Hill Repeats you get up to depends on the amount of time you have in Training and the terrain you are expected to Race on.  If you have a hillier course, it might benefit you to speed more time on Hill Repeats before you move onto Mile Repeats.

Once you've completed your Phase of Hill Repeats, you transition over to Mile Repeats. 

Mile Repeats takes the same idea of Hills Repeats... but instead of repeating a Hill, you repeat a Mile.  The purpose of Mile Repeats is to continue to improve your cardio and cadence.  Not to mention they help with your lactic threshold... decreasing the "lockups" you feel when you've gone too fast in a Race and your body can't flush out the lactic acid fast enough in the muscles.

As with Hill Repeats, you'll need to account for a 1 Mile Warm up/Cool down in your Mile Repeat workout.  And just as it sounds, you hit the track to run 1 Mile at a Pace slightly faster (about 20-30 sec) than your Goal Marathon Pace.  Once you've completed the Mile, walk/jog a half lap to bring your Heart Rate back down and then push off again.  Each schedule varies, so it depends on how much time you have, but I have done this workout up to 12 Mile Repeats.  Tiring... but beneficial.

Hill/Mile Repeats are, combined, one workout in the week, but just done at different Phases in Training.  If your body is having a hard time with injuries/fatigue, skip Hill/Mile Repeats the week before your Long Run to allow the body to recover.  It may be too much.

Goal Marathon Pace (GMP):

GMPs help your body get used to running at the desired pace during the Marathon.  I tell my Trainees, the first step in obtaining your Goal is to KNOW YOUR GOAL MARATHON PACE.  (The second is then sticking to it). 

GMPs are covered off in two of the three purposeful workouts.  Once a week, you should assign a weekday (shorter) run to be your GMP workout.  You should focus on hitting your pace the entire workout... I say this because oftentimes we run too fast and miss the opportunity to be in tune with your body.  Use this time to build your muscle memory, and soon you'll be able to identify when you go too fast/too slow for your GMP.  Plus, it works on your stamina.  That's the first workout.

The second GMP workout is in your Long Run.  Every other week, during your Long Run, you should include GMPs.  These should be added to the back half of the Run and should last for at least half the workout.  Said another way, run the first half of your Long Run at your Long Run Pace (that's right, Long Run Pace does not equal Goal Marathon Pace), then the second half should be picked up and run at your GMP.

Why?  Well, let's face it.  When you toe the line at the Marathon, it's not hard to pick up the Pace in the first half, right?  Adrenaline, excitement, the crowd... all these things play a role in starting out fast.  What's hard is maintaining that Pace for the entire Race.  If you practice pushing yourself on the back end of your endurance run, then you are training both your mind and body to run at that pace when it's most tired.  Mentally and physically, you'll benefit.

Also, believe me when I say, hitting your GMPs for only the second half of your Long Run is hard enough. 

Long Run:

Well, let's be honest.  You can't do a Marathon without building up your Mileage.  I mean, you can... and I've seen folks try.  But it's usually an awful experience and nowhere near their potential.  So, the Long Run is just that.  An endurance run meant to build strength in your legs to go the distance.

Long Runs should be run approximately 1-2 minutes SLOWER than you GMP. 

And, as simple and easy as that sounds... I guarantee this will be the hardest pace you'll need to hit. 

Many ask:  Why not just run your whole Long Run at GMP?  Well, the answer is simple:  You aren't running the race, you are training for it.  If you ran all your Long Runs at GMP that would mean you were racing every weekend.  The general rule for Recovery from a race is:  One day of Recovery for every mile you Raced.  Which means, you simply wouldn't provide your body adequate recovery from your "race weekend"... resulting in a continued breakdown of the muscles and no recover/rebuild.  Translation = injury/fatigue/over trained.

When I say purposeful training... it means making each workout count.  But it also means looking at the whole picture of your training, and how they work together to prepare you for your race.  HR/MR + GMPs + Long Runs = formula to get you to GMP for the Marathon.  Trust me on this!

It's important I wrap up this advice with one more tip... 

During training, focus on each mile not the workout.  All the above, means nothing if you aren't paying attention to your pace/mile.  Notice each workout has specifications on how fast/slow you should be going.  It's not just a "nice to have", it's a MUST. 

Oh, the same is true during the Race…

View the Marathon as 26 Mile Check-ins.  And it will add up to your Goal.