For my next marathon I plan to do a 16 week modified version of Hal Higdons intermediate plan.

I'll do 4 runs a week,(not in the order listed) a marathon pace run, a stamina building run (tempo) and a long slow distance run, with the 4th run being a wild card depending on how I feel.

I plan to get 3-20's in before the race and top out my weekly mileage around 45 miles.

I've never even run a half before, so I'm just going off of the research I did before signing up:

3-4 runs a week:
1 long run, 1 medium run, 1 fast run (I usually do quarter and/or half mile sprints and hill work on the fast days). I've just started fitting in the 4th run. I basically use it to up my mileage for the week and if I feel as though I missed something I re-visit it then.

Then on the other days I supplement my training with some cross training (swimming mainly), some light lifting, and yoga/stretching. I also give myself 1 day off per week.

...clearly I could use some more structure?

Judging by your logo, it looks like you have some wheels!

right now my logo reflects a goal not an accomplishment, that will change in 2012

and yes, everyone is different, there is no one size fits all plan and very few absolute truthes

My approach for the last marathon was lots and lots of slow miles (about 60-70 seconds above marathon pace)! I was running between 52-57 miles a week and hope to increase the weekly mileage for my April marathon.

I'm currently running Hal Higdon's Marathon Novice 1, but sometimes I feel like I'm sitting on my hands. I'm down with the weekend long runs, but it seems my midweek mileage is-and stays-pretty low. I'm relatively new to this whole running scene, so I wouldn't know how to go about revising or if I even should.

I just took a look at the Intermediate 1 plan, and I think that is much better. I might head to that plan.

What does YMMV mean?

I just started the Higdon this week. Novice I-just finished c25k a few weeks ago so I have a ways to go.

So I've been training for my marathon and have included eating training in that (gu on the run, etc.) and have a question:

Is hitting the wall inevitable?

I've done 7 marathons, two 50km's and one 50 miler. I still haven't hit the wall. As arc918 said, train well and run smart.

to piggy back here, you dont have to hit the wall, people hit the wall either due to poor training, poor racing, or both.

the reason it is so common is there are many things that can go wrong in a race and in your training. Some things are beyond your control like weather and its often hard to pinpoint what caused what when you are talking about a physical activity that spans several hours that you spent months training for. In addition, it is tough to know how your body and mind will react in the race conditions until you have experienced it once or twice.

i have done 12 marathons and i have learned something in each, many of these lessons have been painful and disappointing. Lucky #13, however, will be the one where i dont learn anything but apply all the past lessons and have a killer race.

Yes.
I just finished my first 70.3 and even though it didn't go exactly how I planned I felt it was amazing and learned so much.
I can't wait for my next one!

Some of the races give these awesome results/stats called racepix. There is one stat in particular I call the "truth teller."

It shows how many people you passed and how many passed you over the last 4 or 5 miles. This is what it is all about. Either you are the guy (or gal) passing people over the last few miles or you are getting passed over the last few miles. When you are on the right end of the equation it is awesome. But you don't get there by accident. You have to run with discipline and within your limits to make it happen.

This is so true. That specific stat wasn't called out per se in the 50k I just did, but I took a look at where finishers placed relative to me at the two time checks. At the four mile split, there were over 300 people ahead of me. I'd eventually pass and finish before 114 of them, some by significant margins, like more than two hours. No one behind me at that time check would finish ahead of me. At the mile 25 split I passed 15 people who came through that aid station ahead of me and I did not get passed by anyone who came through after me.

I felt like a superhero coming through the first time check. Even though all these people were flying past me I didn't go chasing shirts and get caught up in the race atmosphere. 31 miles and 6400 of elevation gain means a long day and I was less than an hour into it. I knew if I was patient, smart and stayed within myself I'd do okay and finish strong and that's how it played out. I'll never win a race and the only times I've ever podiumed is because no one else showed up, so seeing stats like that are one of the ways I can see that I performed well. lol

Posting here a little late, but I just joined this group today. So, this can double as an intro.

I was training for a marathon last year and had a training setback with a broken foot. I missed all of July training and Aug and Sep were at reduced mileage while I waited for the pain to go away. I still ran the Marathon in early Nov but finished a little slower than I would have liked.

After the marathon I decided to build my own training plan based on Lydiard principals. So, I have been doing this since the third week of Nov with a cutback week about every third week.

Sun - 90 min
Mon - 60 min
Tue - 90 min
Wed - 60 min
Thu - 2 hr
Fri - rest
Sat - Whatever the Galloway group I run with does

Most all these runs to date were at EZ pace and I run a double of 30 to 40 min at recovery or EZ pace Sun through Thu. This week I started adding some tempo on Sun and MP on Tue.

So far this is working very well. My Marathon time in Nov was 3:50 (8:44 pace). I ran a half marathon on 7 Jan after around 50 days on this plan in 1:35 (7:17 pace).

I plan to keep doing the same thing with the added tempo and MP work to see how far this gets me. At some point I will probably start adding some speedwork but not until I stop improving doing what I am doing now. I have a marathon planned in Apr and then another in Nov.

Posting here a little late, but I just joined this group today. So, this can double as an intro.

I was training for a marathon last year and had a training setback with a broken foot. I missed all of July training and Aug and Sep were at reduced mileage while I waited for the pain to go away. I still ran the Marathon in early Nov but finished a little slower than I would have liked.

After the marathon I decided to build my own training plan based on Lydiard principals. So, I have been doing this since the third week of Nov with a cutback week about every third week.

Sun - 90 min
Mon - 60 min
Tue - 90 min
Wed - 60 min
Thu - 2 hr
Fri - rest
Sat - Whatever the Galloway group I run with does

Most all these runs to date were at EZ pace and I run a double of 30 to 40 min at recovery or EZ pace Sun through Thu. This week I started adding some tempo on Sun and MP on Tue.

So far this is working very well. My Marathon time in Nov was 3:50 (8:44 pace). I ran a half marathon on 7 Jan after around 50 days on this plan in 1:35 (7:17 pace).

I plan to keep doing the same thing with the added tempo and MP work to see how far this gets me. At some point I will probably start adding some speedwork but not until I stop improving doing what I am doing now. I have a marathon planned in Apr and then another in Nov.

You have a solid mileage foundation, that's for sure! Good thing you're mixing in speedwork and tempo. What's your marathon in April? I'm doing Big Sur at the end of that month.