training schedule suggestions?

juls262

Hey guys,

As of Jan 1 I'm 20 weeks out from my marathon, so it's time to settle on a training plan/ schedule. Last year I kind of just did my own thing, and it was kind of a disaster. Anybody have a favorite program they follow? Any tips or suggestions are most welcome!

Also I've read that ten day "weeks" or cycles are better to follow to allow recovery time, any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

rybo

Hal higdon seems to be a pretty popular program to use.

rybo

double post

3dogsrunning

I asked a similar question (well, for a HM plan) and Hal Higdon was a popular answer.
If you have a smart phone, you could look at the Runner's World Smart Coach app. It is extremely personalized. You put in the pace of your last race, how many weeks left, how many miles per week you would like to do, etc, and it sets up a schedule with target paces. Since it was already on my phone, I went with that and have been pretty happy with it so far.

tjalt

Absolutely Hal Higdon! It's all I've ever used! Have done multiple half marathons, one full and am training for my 2nd full. I missed 2 weeks in my full marathon training when I had the Swine Flu but I just forgot about all the runs I missed, picked up where I was in the schedule and never suffered for it. I have every confidence in the world that I will always finish a race thanks to Hal!

bonjour24

i used hals plan for my half, but wanted to follow a 20 week plan for the full that i've got coming up. i also wanted to do something a bit more than just run forever. so i opted for the coolrunnings 20 week plan. so far so good- i'm just about in week 5 now and my long run this week is 12 miles! and it goes up to 26 miles. there's also hiils and fartleks in there too.

so for me, this one is a good one. and a perfect length of time. i don't have to feel bad if i miss a run (which i won't) because i've got plenty of time to catch up.

i shopped around quite a bit to find one that i liked the look of- i needed to get one that i felt clicked to make sure that i stick with it.

good luck- hope you find a good one. both hals plan and the coolrunnings ones are great.

FoxyMcDeadlift

i used hals plan for my half, but wanted to follow a 20 week plan for the full that i've got coming up. i also wanted to do something a bit more than just run forever. so i opted for the coolrunnings 20 week plan. so far so good- i'm just about in week 5 now and my long run this week is 12 miles! and it goes up to 26 miles. there's also hiils and fartleks in there too.

so for me, this one is a good one. and a perfect length of time. i don't have to feel bad if i miss a run (which i won't) because i've got plenty of time to catch up.

i shopped around quite a bit to find one that i liked the look of- i needed to get one that i felt clicked to make sure that i stick with it.

good luck- hope you find a good one. both hals plan and the coolrunnings ones are great.

I very, very, very nearly did that plan. But last minute, i decided because its my first marathon, i shouldnt go on some potentially kamikaze Training plan, so instead i did Hals spring training and am currently on my third week of Hals advanced 2. I chose advanced because i wanted some speed work, but felt for my first i felt i should go the tried and tested route.

Bonjour, i will be very interested to hear how you find this plan. Friend request and a million questions will be on their way

juls262

Thanks guys! I've never heard anything negative about Hal Higdon's plans, so maybe I should go with that.

ryno0618

I used a variation of Higdon's HM training program last summer/fall for a HM I ran in October. I think I did the intermediate level. I liked the schedule.

Nikstergirl

I like the Runner's World Smartcoach which I use on my phone. You can get it free online as well. It's personalized like someone else said, and it just works for me. I've used it for my first 10k, my first half and currently again for my second half! I just wish they did a 25k plan because I'm running one of those about 5 weeks after my half! I'm going to just take what I'd been doing and add to it in the same manner for those extra weeks. Should work out alright!