St. Louis Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Training Program

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." - Sir Roger Bannister

I have been looking for a marathon training program for the St. Louis Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, so I am going to have step it up.

I have settled on a modified Hal Higdon Advanced 2 training program. The program incorporates more than one twenty mile run, which I have found works well for me. I have added a second day of rest a week as I tend to need two days off a week for rest.

 Here are my plans to get me ready for the St. Louis Rock ‘n’ Roll and to qualify for the Boston Marathon:
The interval training will be Yasso 800’s run at a 3:30 pace. If you are not familiar with the Yasso   800, that means I will be running 800 meters in 3:30 and then jogging for 3:30.
Hill training will be done on the treadmill, as I live in a flat area. I use a plan that I found on Runner’s World that gradually works the treadmill up to an incline of 9.
Tempo runs will be run at an 8 min/mile pace.
Pace runs will be run at an 8 min/mile pace. I have the entire month of May and most of June to do speed work and some hill work.
I am not signing up for the Evansville Half Marathon. If I find in October that I am satisfied with my conditioning level, at that time I can go ahead and sign up for the Evansville Half.

Following is my training program:

St. Louis Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Training Program

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	June 24 Rest	3 x hill	3 m run	30 tempo	5 m pace	Rest	June 30 10
2	July 1 Rest	30 tempo	3 m run	3 m pace	5 m run	Rest	July 7 11
3	July 8 Rest	4 x 800	3 m run	30 tempo	6 m pace	Rest	July 14 8
4	July 15 Rest	4 x hill	3 m run	35 tempo	6 m pace	Rest	July 21 13
5	July 22 Rest	35 tempo	3 m run	3 m pace	7 m run	Rest	July 28 14
6	July 29 Rest	5 x 800	3 m run	35 tempo	7 m pace	Rest	Aug 4 10
7	Aug 5 Rest	5 x hill	4 m run	40 tempo	8 m pace	Rest	Aug 11 16
8	Aug 12 Rest	40 tempo	4 m run	3 m pace	8 m run	Rest	Aug 18 17
9	Aug 19 Rest	6 x 800	4 m run	40 tempo	Rest	Rest	Aug 25 Half Marathon
10	Aug 26 Rest	6 x hill	4 m run	45 tempo	9 m pace	Rest	Sept 1 19
11	Sept 2 Rest	45 tempo	5 m run	4 m pace	10 m run	Rest	Sept 8 20
12	Sept 9 Rest	7 x 800	5 m run	45 tempo	6 m pace	Rest	Sept 15 12
13	Sept 16 Rest	7 x hill	5 m run	50 tempo	10 m pace	Rest	Sept 22 22
14	Sept 23 Rest	45 tempo	5 m run	5 m pace	6 m run	Rest	Sept 29 12
15	Sept 30 Rest	8 x 800	5 m run	40 tempo	10 m pace	Rest	Oct 6 22
16	Oct 7 Rest	6 x hill	5 m run	30 tempo	4 m pace	Rest	Oct 13 12
17	Oct 14 Rest	30 tempo	4 m run	4 m pace	4 m run	Rest	Oct 20 8
18	Oct 21 Rest	4 x 400	3 m run	Rest	2 m run	Rest	Oct 27 Marathon

What do you think of my training program?
Any suggestions or constructive criticisms?

Beginner Marathon Program

"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." - Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships

I found an updated marathon training program on Cool Running’s website. This training program includes some speed training.  The “Fartlek” consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. After warming up at an easy pace throw in bursts of speed varying the speed and the times from as short as 15 seconds to as long as two or three minutes. Between these bursts allow yourself enough recovery time to match roughly 2/3 of the effort time.

A pace denoted as 5k or 10k refers to the pace that you could run a 5k or 10k on that day.  When you read “4-5 hills” that means you should do 4 – 5 repeats at 5k pace on a hill about 150 – 200 yards long. Long hills should be 400 – 600 yards long. The notation “4 x 880’s” means run four repeats of 880 yards each. The pace below tells you how fast you should run them.

All other runs should be run at an easy training pace about 90 seconds to 2 minutes per mile slower than your 10k pace.

For first time marathon runners who are more interested in simply finishing the marathon than in racing or running for time. The following adjustments are recommended:

·         Week 5, Sunday: 10 miles

·         Week 7, Sunday: 12 miles

·         Week 9, Sunday: 14 miles

·         Week 11, Sunday: 16 miles

·         Week 13, Sunday: 18 miles

·         Week 15, Sunday: 20 miles

·         Week 17, Sunday: 20 miles

This program includes a pre-training schedule. You should be able to run this schedule for four or five weeks without much discomfort before starting the marathon program.

Pre Training Schedule

	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
Pre- Train	Off	3M	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M

Beginner Marathon Program

Week	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Off	3M	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M
2	Off	3M	5M	3M	Off	3M	7M
3	Off	Fartlek (4M)	5M	3M	Off	3M	8M
4	Off	Fartlek (4M)	3M	4M	Off	3M	10M
5	Off	4-5 Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	12M
6	Off	3-4 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	4M	6M	Off	5M	5M
7	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	3M	5M	Off	3M	15M
8	Off	6M	5M	6M	Off	5M	7M
9	Off	5-6 Hills 5K-10K pace	4M	7M	Off	3M	18M
10	Off	7M	6M	7M	Off	6M	9M
11	Off	4-5 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	5M	8M	Off	3M	20M
12	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	5M	8M	Off	3M	10K Race (Or 10M)
13	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	6M	8M	Off	3M	22M
14	Off	7M	5M	8M	Off	5M	10K Race (Or 10M)
15	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	6M	8M	Off	3M	24M
16	Off	4 x Mile 5K-10K pace	7M	10M	Off	4M	10K Race (Or 10M)
17	Off	5M	3M	5M	Off	3M	26M
18	Off	6M	5M	8M	Off	4M	12M
19	Off	5M	4M	6M	Off	3M	12M
20	Off	Fartlek (5M)	4M	Off	Off	2M	RACE DAY

What marathon training program do you follow?