Has Your Marathon Been Postponed?
Posted by Alan Mawdsley on 14 March 2020
Advice From Coach Kev If You’re Spring Marathon Is Postponed
April marathons in London, Brighton and Manchester have all now been postponed due to the Coronavirus. Whilst public health takes priority, this is still disappointing news for anyone who has trained hard through everything this winter has thrown at them. So what to do now if you plan to aim for one of the re-arranged dates, or find another autumn marathon instead? Stragglers Head Coach Kev Best outlines his month-by-month guide to making sure your winter’s work doesn’t go to waste.
You're disappointed and understandably so. A long hard winter and lots of miles in preparation for your goal race at London or other spring marathon. Your best option now is simple, if you intend to run London on Oct 4th, or you select another autumn marathon, you may find this plan will work for you. It's in three phases:
Phase one:
For the rest of March relax and run steady miles 3 or 4 times a week. So no speed work, no parkruns.
Phase two:
April, May, June and July:
Back to a good training routine with lower milage than your original marathon plan but add more faster paced runs and speed work. During this period race 5k’s 10k’s Half’s and relays. Your longest run during this phase need be no more than 12 miles. Your weekly training plan should look something like,or close to, this:-
Mon: Rest Day
Tue: Speed work with Duncan, Andy or myself. You can also do speed work on your own eg 6 to 8 x 1k off 90 sec’s recovery. Or 4 or 5 x 1 mile off 2 min’s.
Wed: Steady run 5 to 8 miles run as you feel. Don’t push this session too hard.
Thur: Steady 5 miles, run the last mile fast if you can.
Fri: Rest.
Sat: three week cycle. Week 1: run a 10k time trial. Week 2: run a 30 minute tempo session. Week 3: run a fast Parkrun.
Sun: 10 to 12 miles steady.
If you are racing on a Sunday during this phase - run a steady 3 miles with 6 to 10 100m strides on the Saturday. (strides not necessary if the distance is further than 10k).
Phase 3:
August and September:
Pick up from your original plan at the "8 weeks to go point".
Note: It is not necessary to run 20 miles plus every Sunday. 15 to 18 miles is more than sufficient. Faster runners aiming for sub 3 hrs may find it helps to throw a faster segment of between 3 and 5 miles into the middle of their Sunday run.
Best of luck, enjoy the rest whilst you can, and come back fully charged in the autumn.
