A few people have asked me about the training method that I
used for my last two marathons. I can
say that it is like any other training method: based on an idea or group of
ideas, but tailored to and shaped by me, for me. I knew from my first round of marathon
training that plans are meant to be broken and that no one else knows exactly what
is best for my body. In short, you are
the only one capable of developing the best plan for yourself.
Before I begin explaining my workout schedule for the Marshall
When I began training for the 2011 Flying Pig Marathon, I
gave myself 17 weeks to train. I was
coming off my first year of real running, and had one Half under my belt, but
several injuries forced me to rest for two months or so before beginning my Pig
training. I know that starting Marathon training after two months of inactivity was a
big mistake, but I’m not convinced that is why that is why my first training
program failed me.
Several of my friends had been telling me about the FIRST
method described in the book Run Less,
Run Faster. The program advocates
three runs per week (speed work, tempo, long run) as well as at least three
cross-training sessions. This had a
special appeal to me because during the previous year, knee pain often rendered
me incapable of running two days in a row, and I often rode my bike, swam, or
did both on the other days. The workout
schedule, however, was not the problem.
The problem was pace.
The book provides complete 16-week training programs for races of all
distances from 5k’s to Marathons and paces from elite to happy jogger. Yes, I did choose to work toward a pace that
was well beyond my capability at the time, but I still begrudge the work.
The book plans a runner’s pace for every workout during each
of the sixteen weeks. I quickly
discovered that I could meet the speed work paces, flirt with the tempo run
paces, fall well behind the distance paces. At the paces I was trying to run, I had a
difficult time surpassing the 12, then 15 mile barriers. I did have to deviate because I could not keep
up with the distances they were telling me to run each week. Instead of the proposed four 20 mile runs
included in the training, I was able to complete one before race day. During the last few weeks of training, I was
too burnt out from long runs that I couldn’t even enjoy the sublime running
month of April. The Marathon
wasn’t something to look forward to so much as the moment I could quit this
insufferable training.
I knew I needed a new training plan for Marshall
I had heard of the “Galloway Method” before, but all I knew
was that he believed in short walk breaks to re-energize during runs. While sitting in the back seat of a mini-van on
a long drive with my now wife and her family, I read Galloway’s book, Marathon ! in its entirety. He told me exactly what I wanted to hear
(although probably more than I wanted to hear it).
The ideas Galloway stressed
over and over:
- Run slower than you are capable of running
- Take walk breaks
He swore that runners build endurance by running the miles,
not by running at a certain pace. His
theory is predicated upon the idea that athletes can build more muscle when
they recover faster. If one can recover
faster from a long run by running it slower, then his body is ready to build
more strength sooner.
More endurance via less challenging runs? Yes, please!
And so my great experiment with the Gallowayan long run
began.
The book had also suggested that a runner’s “wall” is equal
to the farthest distance that he has run in the past two weeks. Since most Marathon
training plans (including my former one) call for long runs of no more than 20
miles, and many people (including me) claim to hit the wall at that point in
the race, this made sense to me. Thus,
my long runs began at 15 miles, and I intended to increase them by two every
other week, eventually reaching 27 (I say intended because a major cycling
accident sidelined me for several weeks and forced a change of training plan).
A few key notes on Galloway ’s
plan for long runs: 1) each mile should be run two minutes slower than you are
capable of! 2) minute-long walk breaks
should occur every four minutes! 3) long
runs should only occur every two weeks, shorter runs or tune-up races should
occur on off weeks. (I put exclamation
points behind the statements he makes at least 30 times in his book.)
These ideas have been the outline to my plan, and I am a
believer. Even after missing four weeks
of mid-Marathon training in the fall, I was able to show up in Huntington
My specific program has required a lot of time, effort, and
most of all, reflection to develop. I
still continue the long runs every other weekend, and, as lonely as it
sometimes gets running a distance too far for most at a pace too slow for most,
it is satisfying to know that I can run 26 miles in the morning and go hiking
in the afternoon, and still have pretty fresh legs the next day (I am not, however, implying that there's any such thing as "an easy 26"). My speed work is subject to what my body tells
me it needs that week, from a few 400s and some 800s, to a dozen 1600s at 20-50
seconds faster than Marathon pace (the latter is what Galloway recommends, just
to get the body used to running that pace). And I still have two days devoted to my
favorite activity, the familiar 6 mile run.
Whatever your target distance or pace is, no predetermined
plan is perfect for you. It takes some
time to get to know your body and how it responds to different types of
running. What I can tell you with
certainty is that at any level, the body needs time to recover. The body cannot grow without rest. And usually, the mind can’t either.
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