Recovery Runs
Recovery runs are relatively short runs done at a relaxed pace to enhance recovery for your next hard workout. These runs aren’t necessarily jogs, but they should be noticeably slower than your other workouts of the week. The optimal intensity for recovery runs for most marathoners is to stay below 76 percent of maximal heart rate or 70 percent of heart rate reserve. On a subjective basis, on recovery runs you should feel as if you’re storing up energy rather than slowly leaking it. You should finish the run refreshed. Going too hard on recovery days – when your body is most tired – means you’ll be more tired than you should when it counts later in the week.
Try to find flat courses for your recovery runs, but if your recovery runs include some hills you will need to extend the range by a few beats per minute on the uphills or run exceedingly slowly. Whenever possible, do your recovery runs on soft surfaces to help speed recovery that much more.
O2max Intervals
The
O2max intervals in the schedules range from 600 meters to 1,600 meters in duration and are run at current 5K race pace. Though
O2max work is an important part of your marathon preparation, it’s not as crucial in the marathon as it is in races such as the 5K and 10K. The
O2max sessions in these schedules, then, feature repeats that strike a balance between being long enough to provide a powerful training stimulus and short enough to leave you fresh for your other important workouts of the week.
The same reasoning applies for the prescribed pace in these
O2max workouts: Whereas runners focusing on shorter races need to do some of their intervals closer to 3K race pace, marathoners gain maximum benefit from sticking to 5K race pace. By sticking to the lower to middle end of the effective intensity range (i.e., about 93 to 95 percent of maximal heart rate or 91 to 94 percent of heart rate reserve), you’ll provide a strong stimulus to improve yourO2max while recovering quickly for your other important workouts. For that reason, the training intensities forO2max workouts in table 7.1 (see page 144) call for only the more conservative 5K-pace ranges.
The optimal amount of rest between intervals is debatable. One school of thought is to minimize rest so that your metabolic rate stays high during the entire workout. This strategy makes for very difficult workouts (which can be good), but you risk shortening your workouts. Another school of thought is to allow your heart rate to decrease to 70 percent of your maximal heart rate or 65 percent of your heart rate reserve during your recovery between intervals, which provides close to the optimal balance of effort and recovery.
For the lower-tech crowd, a useful rule of thumb is to allow 50 to 90 percent of the length of time it takes to do the interval for your recovery. For example, if you’re running 1,000-meter repeats in 3:20, you would run slowly for 1:40 to 3:00 between intervals. We use this method of measuring recovery in the schedules.
Speed Training
Speed runs are repetitions of 50 to 150 meters that improve leg speed and running form. These workouts train your nervous system to allow you to maintain a faster rate of leg turnover during your races.
Speed runs train your nervous system to allow you to maintain a faster rate of leg turnover during your races.
These sessions are done after a thorough warm-up and often toward the end of a general aerobic run or a recovery run. Allow yourself plenty of rest between repetitions so that you can run each one with good technique.
A typical session is 10 repetitions of 100 meters in which you accelerate up to full speed over the first 70 meters and then float for the last 30 meters. It’s critical to remain relaxed during these accelerations. Avoid clenching your fists, lifting your shoulders, tightening your neck muscles, and so on. Concentrate on running with good form, and focus on one aspect of good form, such as relaxed arms or complete hip extension, during each acceleration.
A typical rest is to jog and walk 100 to 200 meters between repetitions. The most important considerations are to maintain good running form and to concentrate on accelerating powerfully during each repetition.
The prescribed training intensities used in this chapter and in chapters 1 and 3 are summarized in table 7.1. These intensity ranges are appropriate for most experienced marathon runners. Less-experienced runners should generally train at the lower end of the recommended ranges, while elite runners will generally train at the high end of the ranges. (Heart rate isn’t relevant during the short speed sessions, so we’ve left them out of this table.)
Heart Rate Intensities for Marathon Training Workouts
Doing Doubles
Marathoners have a tendency to start running twice a day before their weekly mileage warrants it. Doing doubles sounds like serious training, so runners often assume it must be better marathon preparation. The reality is quite different; as you increase your training mileage in preparation for a marathon, you should resist the urge to switch from single runs to doubles.
In chapter 1, we discussed the various training adaptations that are specific to improving your marathon performance. Marathon training focuses on endurance-based adaptations such as depleting your glycogen reserves to provide a stimulus for your body to store more glycogen and training your muscles to utilize more fat at a given speed. You’ll provide a greater stimulus for these adaptations through a single 12-mile (19 km) run than by doing a 7-miler (11 km) and a 5-miler (8 km) at the same pace.
It might sound counterintuitive, but runners preparing for shorter races should run more doubles at a given level of weekly mileage than marathoners. Runners focusing on 5Ks, for example, should start adding doubles when their weekly mileage gets above 50. That’s because the 5K specialists’ main training emphasis is high-quality interval sessions, and more frequent, shorter runs will help keep their legs fresh for these workouts.
For marathoners, the basic guideline is to not do double workouts until you’ve maximized the amount you’re running in single workouts. If you’re preparing for a marathon and are running less than 75 miles (121 km) a week, then you shouldn’t regularly be running doubles. If you’re running less than 75 miles (121 km) a week, by the time you get in your long run and a midweek medium-long run, there’s no reason to double more than once or twice a week to get in the remaining miles. It’s better to get in longer runs and give your body 22 or 23 hours of recovery between runs.
Once you get above 75 miles (121 km) a week, however, double workouts have a definite role in your marathon program. As with any other aspect of training, doubles should be introduced gradually. Start by adding one double per week and then another, as you gradually increase your mileage. The schedules in chapters 8 through 12 reflect this approach to adding doubles, with double days called for only in the higher-mileage programs.