Piotr Woloszyn

I spent some time at the beginning of the year looking for a marathon training plan suitable for me. If I had to find a common pattern in the structure of the plans I found it would be fair to say that most of them consist of a one long weekend run (20km - 25 km) and, depending how long and intensive the plan is, 2 - 3 other shorter runs (5km - 10km, intervals, hills) a week. The main message usually is: the more kilometers a week you run, the better you are prepared. D’oh!

My plan

It is a 12 week program which intends to accommodate my existing sport activities to replace some of the shorter runs with just around 30km of actual running a week. It is intended for people who are already in overall good shape as the plan is rather short. The week structure is:

Monday - rest

Tuesday - 5-a-side foolball - 60 min

Wednesday - squash 45 min

Thursday - fast run <= 10km

Friday - squash 45min

Sathurday - gym - cross training

Sunday - long run >= 20 km

The intention is that the squash and football replace hills repetitions and intervals often used in marathon preparation plans. Important to mention is that exercises at gym are not focused on legs. Rather everything else but legs. The distance of the long run should start with around 15km, then gradually get to 25km with maybe one 30km run during the training cycle. Last two weeks is a tampering time when  training impact should be decreased. Allocation of activities to the days of the week is flexible with only the long run to be done preferably on weekend.

My plan doesn’t really follow the rule mentioned above about making as much distance a week as possible but instead gives me a range of different activities. I believe it prevents fatigue often caused by excessive running which then might lead to injuries and overall lower performance.

Certainly it prevents boredom and allows you to have a social life for those 12 weeks! Also the length of the training is suitable for preparation for European marathons taking place at the beginning of April allowing someone to have normal Christmas and New Year’s break unlike the longer schedules. You know what I am talking about, don’t you?

I should know how well the training works in just 5 weeks as I will stand on the start line of the Paris Marathon on April the 5th. I replaced a usual long run 2 weeks before the final race day with a start in the Lisbon half marathon. That will be the gear, hydration and feeding strategy test day. More to come.

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