A few of my friends were talking about the different training programs to run a marathon. It seems we came to the conclusion that there are four programs that seem to be the most popular.
One that gained popularity is the over distance training that Galloway recommends. His theory is that if you do long runs of 30 miles, then running 26.2 miles will be easy. The problem for some runners is that after a 30-mile run, the recovery period is almost two weeks before you can do another long run. The other problem is that the pace you need for 30 miles is slower than what you would like to do the marathon in. The positive side of this program is that if a runner runs 30 miles, they have the confidence that they can now run 26.2 miles with no problem.
The opposite of this is to run faster for a shorter distance. At one time many of the winners of marathons were runners that specialized in 10K distance. The theory behind this program is that if you run distances of 12-15 miles faster than a normal pace, it will be easier to back off the fast pace to a slower pace and be able to run a longer distance. One positive point about this program is that the chance of an injury is less than running long distances. And recovering from a 12-mile run is much shorter than the recovery time from a 30-mile run.
A third program is to have a total miles for the week somewhere near, or over, 100 miles a week. The theory behind this is building up the endurance in the muscles from high mileage weeks will be enough to carry you through a marathon. There are a few accounts of a group of runners training for a marathon. One runner was not able to join the group for the daily runs and only made the long run on the weekends. The runner that finished in the best condition was the lone runner that only ran the long distances. The lesson learned from that is that the long runs are more important than the total miles run in the week.
A fourth program is a combination of the other programs. After a few marathons it was the program that I had the most success with. I would do a gradual buildup of the long run on the weekends. I usually did a long run twice before I moved on to a longer distance. For instance, I would run 10 miles on weekends twice, then move to 12 miles twice, then 15 miles twice, 18 miles twice, and finish with one or two 20-to 22-mile runs. The long run was usually on a Sunday. On Saturday I would run a 10K race for a fast time. This was to build up my speed so that, even running a slower pace in the marathon, it was still a faster average pace. The long run was not timed and was only used to get the muscles in shape to be able to run for three to three and a half hours. I wanted to increase my total miles for the week also, and did that by adding a mid-distance run of between 10-13 miles in the middle of the week. As the weeks of training progressed, the total miles for the week increased — part of that was the long run added miles to the total miles. The total miles usually topped out around 65-75 miles. With the mid-distance run and the long run as part of my total miles covered in a week, it allowed several days of low mileage runs to use as rest and recovery days. This was important as training for a marathon is very strenuous and takes a toll on the body and muscles. Rest days are necessary to keep the runner injury free while training. The last week before the race is all about resting up for the big day of the race.
One point that is important to mention is that the runner needs to be able to know how fast, or the pace per mile, that they run. A marathon is 26.2 miles and if the runner tries to run the first half fast there is a good chance that they will be walking, or maybe even sitting, on side of the road during the last few miles of the marathon. I have seen more runners walking, and sitting down, near the last few miles because of running too fast in the early stages of the marathon. It basically comes down to running slower than you need to in the beginning, gradually build up some pace in the middle miles, back off a little between 18-22 miles, and then just hanging on for the last few miles. The first marathon goal is just to finish. The next few marathons can be trying to run a set time. Say I want to run under four hours. If you know your pace, it can be done. Runners trying to run an eight-minute pace all 26 miles in order to run a 3.5-hour marathon, will find it is easier, and more successful, to run varying paces.
