Reassessment of Marathon Training Plan

Today I was forced to reassess my marathon training plan. In an earlier post, I talked about how tough it was going to be for me to be able to keep up with the much more aggressive long run schedule of the newly revised FIRST training plan. That earlier concern transformed into harsh realization today. I was supposed to do a 20-miler today in Week 4 of marathon training. Due to some scheduling conflicts this week, I didn't do my speed work until Saturday which didn't allow me any rest before my long run. My legs felt heavy from the start and after struggling through ten miles with dead legs, I decided that I needed to reassess my training plan.

Back in 2004 when I got the stress fracture in my foot, it came from too much running on tired and overused muscles. When the muscles become overly stressed, they can't absorb the shock and strain of running and more of that force gets applied to joints and connective tissues. In time, this can only lead to one thing - overuse injuries. During my run today, I could sense that I was headed down that same path as three summers ago when I lost four months of running and a marathon season to an injury. I don't want to repeat that mistake.

I've decided that I'll stick with the speed work and tempo run schedule from the new FIRST training program. I'm doing well with it, and I am already seeing some measurable speed and pace increases. For my long runs, I'll go back to the original FIRST training plan that I used in the past. Just to compare the long runs from the first four weeks of the two programs, the newer plan had me doing runs of 13, 15, 17, and 20 miles, while the original plan was 10, 12, 13, and 10 miles. Quite a difference heh? I ended up running 12 miles today because I couldn't remember if the week 4 long run from the original plan was 10 or 12 miles and I didn't want to sell myself short. I'm already ahead of the game as I've completed long runs of 13, 15, and 12 miles in the first four weeks of marathon training. Next week, I am now scheduled to run 14 miles for my long run instead of 18. At the current time, I feel that the more aggressive long run schedule is just too much for my body to handle. It's better to train a little less aggressively and be healthy as opposed to pushing yourself beyond the limit and getting hurt. The old training plan got me into great shape two years ago, and I'm still working harder with my speed work and tempo runs than I have in the past. Come October, I should still be in my best shape ever, and more importantly, I'll be healthy.