Marathon training plan

While I remember I thought I should post about the training I did for the New Forest marathon.

The plan was based on a couple of plans I found online - one by Hal Higdon and the Frank Horwill marathon plan.

I customised them to fit around my weekly routine and here is the result:

(The figures in green are where I completed the run as planned, those in amber where I ran but didn't complete the full distance or run at the planned pace, and those in red are where I didn't run at all)

This plan features most of the elements found in marathon training plans:

• Building up mileage per week slowly to avoid injury and build fitness gradually;
• A rest day every week and a "step back" in mileage every third week to allow the body to recover and repair;
• Long slow runs, increasing in distance gradually to close to full race distance two weeks before the race;
• Pace runs, run at planned race pace but over less than race distance to get the body and mind acclimatised to running at race pace
• Hill runs, to build strength and again, get the body and mind accustomed to what will be encountered on race days;
• Interval training - repeatedly running fast over short distances (400 metres up to 1 mile) to improve speed;
• Running five times a week, up to a maximum of 44 miles per week to build sufficient strength and stamina for running a marathon;
• A two-week "taper" prior to race day during which training decreases in duration to ensure the runner feels fresh on race day

I think this was a good plan and worked really well for me. The fact that I ran PBs for both 10km and half marathon distance in the weeks before race day suggests I was in really good shape. And I felt strong during the race.

The only thing which prevented me from achieving my target time was the cramp I suffered from around 21 miles. How could I have avoided that ? The problem with the last 6 miles of a marathon is that you can't rehearse that situation very often or easily in training. If I were to run another marathon in the future (which I currently have no plans to !) I might try one or more of the following:

- add more salt to my food in the day or two before the race (and perhaps take some salt with me on the day). There seems to be a suggestion that just as too little water can result in cramp, so can loss of salt for runners who are "salty sweaters"
- do more stretching and flexibility work during training
- do long slow runs on road (my long slow runs were on mixed surfaces which didn't really replicate the race situation where much of the last quarter of the race was on the side of cambered roads)
- try to replicate on race day the amount of water I drank during training. I don't think lack of water caused my cramp as it was not a hot day and I drank at every water station. But I didn't suffer cramp during training, even during the hot summer weather we had, so clearly something was different about race day.