Hanson's runners ?

_Josee_

Hi

So I'm getting in the heart of my fall marathon training and I'm following Hanson's marathon method this time around.

My timeline is starting to show a lot of 18-22 miles long runs and I'm starting to doubt the whole Hanson's concept... So is anyone here also following Hanson's ? I have 2 friends who are, but I guess I'm kind of feeling lonely in that ''I won't run any 20 milers'' thing lol

Anyone has anything to share about it? Experiences? Doubts?

Thanks,
Josée

RunnerInVT

This is my second time doing it. Trust the process. I took off 10 minutes and ran injury free!
I doubted it too when I saw crazy long runs. And I did them too and got burnt out and injured.
But if you look at your mileage you are doing the same if not more in the week. You don't need to run more than 16 or 18 for a long run. It will take you a full week to recover from the long run and will mess up Tuesdays speed work you'll be too tired. You only need to run 26.2 one time and that's the marathon. You'll be ok. Keep to the program....it works.

wombat94

Just starting my first marathon cycle - and first time using Hanson's Beginner plan - can't offer any advice, but am also trying to trust the plan. Interested to hear what more experienced runners have to say.

RunnerElizabeth

So i haven't said this out loud yet, but given my slow running problem, 3 20 milers will be a huge time suck for me. With street crossings and potential bathroom stops,that's 4 hours, it's like running a marathon 3 times in training for my marathon. Not sure i want to do that. If i cap my long run at 3:15 run time, 16-18 miles depending on weather, it will be a little easier to accomplish and i may even be able to get the 4th day of run commuting in, so even more miles. My long runs don't build to 18-20 until Sept anyway so i have time to decide.

_Josee_

Just starting my first marathon cycle - and first time using Hanson's Beginner plan - can't offer any advice, but am also trying to trust the plan. Interested to hear what more experienced runners have to say.

Hanson for your first marathon? I could never have done it for my first. I needed the 20 milers for my mental health lol But they trashed me for a week after and I had to skip runs because of it. Not very useful on second thought!

_Josee_

So i haven't said this out loud yet, but given my slow running problem, 3 20 milers will be a huge time suck for me. With street crossings and potential bathroom stops,that's 4 hours, it's like running a marathon 3 times in training for my marathon. Not sure i want to do that. If i cap my long run at 3:15 run time, 16-18 miles depending on weather, it will be a little easier to accomplish and i may even be able to get the 4th day of run commuting in, so even more miles. My long runs don't build to 18-20 until Sept anyway so i have time to decide.

I think it's smart not to run for more than 3:00 - 3:15. In my previous training 20.75 miles took me 3:15 to run and honestly I don't think it would have been beneficial to run more than that.

But I know this is your first marathon and the mental side of thing is also very important. If you need to run more distance to feel ready, do it. I know I needed it.

aswearingen22

I followed a traditional beginner marathon training plan for my first. I was running roughly 5 days a week, with 50% of my mileage on my Sunday long run. It was a build-up each Sunday for 3 weeks then a cut back week. My longest was 20 miles. I think I needed that for my confidence and for the mental "ok, I've done 20, only a 10k after that, I can do it". But I barely recovered from each Sunday's long run before it was time to run the next one. And I'd take rest days the day before and after. On marathon day, I was completely fine up until about the 19 mile mark, and then the last 6-7 were rough. I definitely was prepared for the first 20, but not so much beyond that. Then I found the Hanson's book before I started marathon training cycle #2. And the concepts made so much sense.

So, marathon training cycle #2 started almost immediately after #1 ended. I did the beginner plan in the book. So I was running 40-55mpw instead of 30-40. It was hard, and running those three 16 milers on such fatigued legs was HARD. It really did mimic the last 16 of the marathon instead of the first 16 like the previous plan I'd used. Race day I was completely ready and it felt so.much.easier. A little caveat was it was in New Orleans and I enjoyed Bourbon Street entirely too much on Friday night, so I didn't hold down any fluids or solids on Saturday, and ran it on Sunday underfueled and dehydrated (which I made up for on race day with lots of gu, yuck), so I slowed my pace about a minute per mile on purpose to be able to run it and given the circumstances, felt better than I did for my first. But, my husband trained with the same plans for the same races and he PR'd by 11 mins only 3 months after his first and said the effort was so much easier than the first. I know part of this will be getting that first under our belt, but I really think Hanson's training was a big part of it. I just felt so much less "beat up" training under Hanson's than a traditional plan.

Now I'm using a different Hanson's plan I bought directly from Hanson's for marathon #3 (Twin Cities in October). It's roughly 35-40 miles a week, it's all I have time for, but the schedule is the same (easy miles Mon/Sat, long run Sun, speedwork/tempo Tues/Thurs, then I usually throw in some extra easily miles on Fri to beef up the mileage a bit). I'm watching others around me pound out 16-18 miles right now while I'm still doing 14-15, but I'm fine with it. I know on race day I'll be prepared. My 14-15 miles are HARD, as I'm running the 3 days before that run as well, I don't have a rest day the day before like most. I trust the training!:)