Higdon Novice 1 vs novice 2

kelsully

I will be training for marathon #2 soon but have kept up with my running. My week day runs are bewtween 3-5 miles 2-3 days a week with cross training in between. My Sunday run is usually between 6-10 miles. I have done some speed training, albeit on the treadmill, over the winter and added tempo runs and fartleks to my shorter runs. I am thinking of following the guidance of Hal Higdon's Novice #2 this time around.

Does anyone have any experience have any thoughts on this? Has anyone done a similar increase in training for a second marathon and how did you with it? Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

kghamilton

There's not a large amount of difference between the 2 plans. The part that I disagree with Higdon about is running 3 days a row during the week. I generally run 2 longer runs on Tuesday/Thursday and Wednesday would be off or weights (core/upper body).
I add intensity by hill repeats and either intervals or a tempo run on the weekday runs. Those runs are between 9 and 13 miles. That leaves the weekend run, 16-26 miles. If you are starting to think about how fast you want to run a marathon, then you want to run your long runs slower than marathon pace (1-1 1/2 minutes) and near the end pick up the last few miles to marathon pace. McMillan calls this the fast finish long run. Use a heart rate monitor to gauge effort vs. time

kelsully

Thanks for the reply...I. typically run 2-3 times a week with cross training other days...depends on my life with 4 kiddos. I do try to have one of those runs on hills or as a fartlek etc.novice 2 seems to have more long run miles...don't want to overtrain but want to kick *kitten*...

arc918

I just posted in another thread that I like the Intermediate I over the Novice programs. I don't like the rest day before the long runs. Marathoning is all about learning how to run on tired legs. My $02. - a run on Friday before a Saturday long run helps that cause.