Your Marathon Training Workouts

There are a number of different types of workouts in your marathon training program including endurance runs, long runs, goal pace long runs, interval training, compound sets and hill runs.

Endurance Runs

There are two related purposes for easy endurance runs - recovery and improving endurance. After a long or hard workout your body needs time to strengthen and recover. If you continually do hard workouts your muscles and connective tissues are never able to remodel and build in strength and your body would eventually break down. Always try to follow a hard-easy pattern. Follow a hard workout with an easy or rest day.

The main purpose of easy endurance runs are to maintain the cardiovascular fitness you have built up through your long runs. Easy endurance runs are also used to build endurance in the early stages of a marathon running program. The key to easy endurance running is to always stay at a pace that feels easy. Don’t pay too much attention to your actual timed pace. It is better to listen to your body and adjust your pace according to how you feel. Going by feel will insure that you don’t run faster than you should. For example, there may be times when your body is highly fatigued from the previous days hard run or due to lack of sleep or other physical problems. On those days you may need to run slower than usual to insure proper recovery. If you were to stick to a planned pace you may be running too fast and your recovery will not be complete.

Easy runs can range from 2 miles to around 12 miles depending upon where you are in your program and how you are feeling.

Long Runs

When you think of marathon long runs you may envision long slow distance runs of 12 to 30 miles. That type of run has been the cornerstone of marathon training for many years. What marathon runner hasn’t made a habit out of their weekend 20 miler? It has even become a social event. There are many running clubs around the world that organize a weekly long run, complete with hydration and refueling stations.

There is good reason for the popularity of marathon long runs. It is almost without question the most important workout in marathon training. You can finish a marathon without any speed work, lactate threshold training, hill running or strength training. You may not set a new PR, but you would finish as long as you completed your long runs. On the other hand, if you skipped all your long runs, you would have a very difficult time finishing the race. If you did manage to finish you would probably be carted away from the finish line in a cardboard box.

Pure long runs are basically endurance runs. They are not easy endurance runs for one simple reason - they are not easy. Long runs begin at about 12 miles and progress to 23 miles or more. The progression of longer and longer runs takes its toll on your body. For that reason the day after a long run should always be either a rest day or an easy endurance run day. Longs can be done on a weekly or biweekly basis. For most runners a biweekly long run is most appropriate because a weekly long run does not allow for enough recovery time. Some highly conditioned and experienced marathon runners are able to do a weekly long run and still enjoy full recovery.

Goal Pace Long Runs

The standard easy paced long runs do a good job of preparing you to run 26.2 miles. They increase the capillary density in your muscles, build energy producing mitochondria and train you to spend a lot of time on your feet. You need all of those benefits to finish a marathon. But, what if your goal is more than just to finish? Do you have a goal pace you would like to meet? If you are trying to run a specific race pace you should be incorporating goal specific running into your long runs. The easy running prepares you to finish the 26.2 miles, but you need some goal pace work to get you ready to run at race pace.

There are many ways to include goal pace work in your weekly long run. Here are the two goal pace marathon long runs that I have included in this training guide.

• Marathon Mimic - This is one of the most effective types of goal pace long runs because you practice running at goal pace when you are fatigued and have dropping glycogen stores. To perform this workout you simply run the first part of your long run at an easy pace and speed up to your goal race pace for the last section. Your first marathon mimic long run should only include about 3 miles at goal pace. For example – run 15 miles with 12 miles at an easy pace and the last 3 miles at goal marathon pace. As you progress through your training program you would gradually increase both the distance at goal pace and the percentage of your total run at goal pace. Your last long run before your taper should be run with half your miles at goal pace. For example – 24 miles with the first 12 at an easy pace and the last 12 miles at goal marathon pace. This is a hard run that places a considerable strain on your body, so you should this type of long run no more than twice per month leading up to your race

• Fast Finish Marathon Mimic - This type of marathon long run is the same as the marathon mimic, except that you run the last mile or so at 10K pace or faster. This is a very effective workout for competitive runners who expect to be competing for top overall or age group positions. It is not uncommon to be in the position of needing a fast finishing kick to maintain your place or accelerate to catch a rival runner. This workout will prepare you to reach deep down for the faster than race pace kick at the end of the marathon.

Interval Training

In a perfect world you could step out the door and run 26.2 miles at your marathon goal pace - every day. You could do 5K repeats at your 5K race pace. What great training runs those would be. Your training can’t get any more specific than that. Unfortunately it isn’t a perfect world and you can’t get away with that type of training. Your body would be broken like a crushed tin soldier and you would be in a hospital bed instead of on the road training.

You can’t do long training runs at race pace or faster than race pace on a consistent basis without breaking your muscles down. Instead you break down your high intensity training runs into smaller segments with rest intervals. The rest intervals allow enough recovery time to prevent muscle damage, muscle breakdown and over training.

There are five keys to successful interval training:

• Work Repeat Pace - This is the pace at which you run the goal pace portions of your interval training. Paces can range from marathon goal pace to sprint pace depending upon the goal of your interval training.

• Work Repeat Distance - This is the distance of the goal pace portions of your workout. The distance will vary from 200 meters to over two miles. Generally, faster training paces use shorter repeat distances.

• Rest Interval Pace - Interval training uses rest intervals between your hard repeats for recovery purposes. The pace of your rest intervals will either be passive recovery with complete rest or active recovery with easy pace running. There are also times when your rest interval pace may be at faster than easy pace intensities.

• Rest Interval Time/Distance - Your rest interval distance will also vary. If you rest pace is passive or complete rest it will be measured in time. If your rest interval is active it may be measured in time or distance. Faster or longer work repeats will normally require longer rest intervals.

• Progression/Manipulation - There is a science to successfully interval training. It involves progression and manipulation of your workouts. Throughout the course of your training program your work intervals should get progressively longer and your rest intervals progressively shorter. In that way your interval training becomes gradually more specific and closer to meeting your ultimate goal.

Compound Sets

Compound sets are a form of interval training. Just as with interval training you are doing shorter repeats with rest intervals for recovery. With compound sets your repeats are composed of two or more different distances and paces combined with no recovery. An example of a compound set is running 400 meters at 5K pace followed by 800 meters at 10K pace with no recovery between the two distances. You would perform 2 or more of those compound sets with a rest interval between each set.

Compound sets are an advanced technique that is great at improving your lactate turn point and your ability to run at quality paces when you are fatigued.

Hill Running

Last, but certainly not least is hill running. There are a lot of different hill workouts you can do. You can do long continuous hill runs at an easy pace, long hill repeats at a moderate pace or short hill repeats at a fast pace. Hill running will do wonders for your running strength, lactate turn point and running economy.

Continue to Marathon Running Strength

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