Hello! Thank you for considering this running plan and I hope that it helps you to achieve your goals. Below are a few important notes to help you decide if this is the plan for you:
- Plan is designed with 4 days of running and 2 optional active days each week
- The plan is designed for athletes looking to run a marathon with a target completion time of 4-5 hours.
- We focus on speed and maintaining threshold pace with shorter workouts during the week
- We focus on base and aerobic capacity with long runs on Friday/Saturday. While you may shift runs around throughout your week as necessary, please be sure to complete these workouts on consecutive days. The intent is to fulfill the TSS needs with these two runs in order to be able to build the capacity to run a full marathon without needing to complete 3+ hour training runs
To help determine if this training plan may be right for you, I recommend that your current fitness level allows you to:
- Be able to run continuously for 60 minutes with little to no walking
- Be able to run continuously for 20 minutes while maintaining 11:30 min/mile or faster pace
Ideally you are also using a smart device that is compatible with Structured Workouts as this plan is designed so that your smart device can coach you through the workouts in real time
Regardless of your running experience, please be sure to consult with a doctor or medical professional before beginning any training plans.
**IMPORTANT: Please ensure that you have applied the plan so that the end date is the day of your event**
All of my plans use rTSS or TSS as the primary metric to inform the design of the workouts. The basic methodology of my approach is using the estimated rTSS or TSS for the planned event and building volume throughout the plan to help your body feel comfortable performing at that effort level. If you're interested in learning more about TSS, TrainingPeaks has a great article here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us/articles/204071944-Training-Stress-Scores-TSS-Explained
Enjoy the process,
DM
After a decade of focusing on my own goals across running, duathlons, triathlons, and cycling races, I wanted to take the knowledge I've amassed over the years and provide training plans that will help athletes of any skill level. I believe training plans need to go beyond exact science. The experience of the athlete is just as important to stay mentally engaged and perform to their potential, so I've designed plans that balance both for maximum efficacy.
Enjoy the process,
DM
Torch Factor