Changes in the Plan

After writing in these pages before about the importance of developing and then adhering to a training plan, I find myself making some changes as I enter Week 9.  I have been reading many, many on-line articles about marathon training, and while there is a wide variety of opinion about the specific details of training plan, there seems to be consensus about some things. 

First of all, as I have read in many places, the long run should be run one to two minutes slower than MP, or goal marathon pace (as I have written before).  I'm already doing that, and many coaches say that you cannot run your long run too slowly.  The purpose of the long run is build up the little capillaries in your muscles and teach you to deal with being on your feet for a very long time.  It might also be a good idea, on the "shorter" long runs, to try to run the last two miles at MP, which is something I have done in the past to good effect.

Second - and this came as a surprise to me - there seems to be consensus that "Yasso 800s," the basis of many of my training plans in the past, have fallen into disrepute.  According to Coach Jeff on Runners Connect:

"I have to take issue with this workout for two reasons. First. we have no actual evidence to support there is an actual connection between the fitness this workout demonstrates and marathon finishing time – it’s merely a coincidence. Second, the specific demands of this workout do not accurately target marathon fitness – you can run workouts that will provide a greater benefit to your marathon training."

Many experts agree with him.  The Yasso 800 workout builds VO2 Max, and could actually be destructive in the final eight weeks of training.  It is, in the words of many, a wasted workout.  It is far better to run race specific workouts at all distances, and most of the hard workouts in a marathon training program should be run at 95% to 105% of goal pace.  A suggested alternative to Yassos is a warm-up mile, then five (or six) miles at 15-seconds faster than MP, then a 10-minute rest, then five (or six) more miles at the same pace, then a cool-down.  This workout was made famous by runners at the Hansons Olympic Development Project, and it is one that I have decided to try in place of that staple of my old buddy Bart Yassos.

Third - and finally - I find from many sources that it is still a good idea to run mile repeats, which do not enter the VO2 Max state and are hard marathon-specific workouts with proven  benefits.  However, the recommended pace for these repeats (my first set is scheduled for tomorrow) is not the 10-K pace I have used in the past, but the half-marathon pace, which would be 20 to 25 seconds slower.  This, too, sounds sensible to me.  Now is no time to beat up my legs.  Now is the time to make them strong.

So in the final analysis, it is always a good idea to change your plan if you are open to new ideas about running and willing to try new workouts.