The tree-year marathon training schedule

it’s better to start now

How to start training? The answer of this question is difficult – the people are different, the ambitions are different, the trainers are different. We start publishing different training schedules so everyone enchanted by the marathon and the long distance running could find methods that best correspond to his individual qualities and potentialities.
Running is

the most democratic of sports,

that can be practiced almost by anyone. It can be practiced on the stadium, in the park, on grass, on a highway and on a country road. Or in other words – you can run anywhere, but the best is to combine different road surfaces to protect the legs from spoiling and injuries. You don’t need expensive equipment also: a training suit and a wind jacket and pants for the cold days, and shorts and t-shirt for the warm weather are enough. The most important part of the running apparel is a pair of running shoes. To protect your legs it is better to rely on the famous brands. This is the most expensive part of the equipment – a pair of good running shoes (excluding the last models and the newest technologies) cost between 70 and 120 leva. You can run any time of the day and night, in any season and in any weather conditions. The marathon runners say “we don’t run only if the stones are falling from the sky and the stones are big”. So, you have no excuse. If you haven’t done it yet, I suggest you to start in a twenty minutes, i.e. when you finish reading the article.
What are

the main principles of the marathon training?

They are two and both are of the same importance for the absolute beginners as well as for the experienced runners. The first principle is alternation of training load with rest. After a long and hard training the body should rest and that is why on the next day the training should be easy. This is the so called “principle of the wave”. The experienced runners sometimes do two hard training for two days, but for this you need both better physical and supplements recovery otherwise you’ll overtrain. The second principle presumes gradually increasing of the training load. Even the elite marathon runners shouldn’t increase the week training volume by more than 10 %.
But before we begin with the marathon training, we’ll show you an exemplary plan for those, who have run only to take the bus. But it doesn’t matter, as we already said this is the most democratic of the sports and everyone has the right for a new begging in his life. Congratulations, the next rows are for you. You need 15 weeks to get prepared for

the 30-minute non-stop run.

The scheme is simple: start with 5 minutes easy run and gradually increase by a minute till you reach 30 minutes while you repeat the minutes in two trainings one after another, for example – two five-minute trainings, two six-minute trainings, etc. The other important thing is to alternate a training day with a day for rest. If you go out for a run on Monday, on Tuesday you should rest, on Wednesday you should run again for 5 minutes, on Thursday – you should rest, on Friday you should run for 6 minutes, etc. When you reach 30-minute run, you should gradually start the weekly training cycle – to run four days and to rest three. Your next task is to run 25 – 30 km a week – that means to run 6 – 10 km per training or in other words – between 30 minutes and one hour steady run. This will happen gradually but when you complete it, you can read the next lines and start the real preparation for the marathon.
This training program is for a period of three years. The task is from a marathon beginner to become a runner

with a time of 2:35 – 2:40.

Let’s start. I suppose, you already has running experience and your weekly running volume is at least 25 – 35 km. The aim of the first year is to make a marathon under 4 hours. If you want to achieve the result follow strictly the program.

First and second week – total running volume around 40 km
Monday – 8 km steady run
Tuesday – 6 km run - start slowly, gradually increase the pace and finish fast
Wednesday – 6 km easy recovering run, it’s better to be on grass or on soft surface
Thursday – 12 km slow run
Friday – day off or 3 - 4 km completely easy jog
Saturday – 6 – 7 km easy cross-country run
Sunday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
What strikes during these two weeks? You have two days for rest during which the muscles should recover. But I should advise you to go out for an easy 3 – 4 km run. My credo is “not a day without a kilometer”. Your legs should get used to work every day, and the easy run wouldn’t tire you out. Thus you’ll increase your weekly training volume. It’s good after such easy workouts to concentrate on strength and flexibility exercises. In the second week you can replace the training on Tuesday by: 2 km warm-up run, 4 km pace run and 1 km cooldown run. The steady run on Monday should be on pace, determined by the “speech test”, that means that you should carry a conversation. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should allow a mother with a baby-carriage to get ahead of you.

Third and fourth week – total running volume between 40 and 50 km
Monday – 10 km steady run
Tuesday – 2 km warm-up run, 8 km pace run, 2 km cooldown run
Wednesday – 6 km easy cross-country run
Thursday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Friday – 2 km warm-up, 8 x 100 m uphill and 100 m easy jog on the way back, 3 km cooldown
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km easy jog
Sunday – 12 – 13 km steady slow run
The only difference in the fourth week is that it’s a good idea to add another 2 – 3 km easy run after the pace trainings on Tuesday and Friday. Thus you’ll increase your week volume. The pace run depends on your potentiality. It should be faster than the presumed marathon pace by 20 - 40 sec / km. On the days off, as I already said, you could go out for a 3 – 4 km easy jog.

Fifth and sixth week – total volume between 45 – 55 km
Monday – 8 km easy run or fartlek depending on your condition
Tuesday – 2 km warm-up, 10 km pace run and 2 km cooldown
Wednesday – 6 km easy cross-country run
Thursday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Friday – 3 km warm-up, 12 x 100 m uphill with 100 m easy jog on the way back, 3 km cooldown
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Sunday – 15 – 16 km steady easy run
During these two weeks the fast trainings on Tuesday and Friday have more repetitions and are bigger in volume. The easy run on Sunday is important. On Monday you could replace the easy run by fartlek. What does this mean? You should run at your normal pace, but after the first two steady kilometers you should include short sprints between 50 and 200 m in the rest six kilometers.

Seventh and eight week – total volume between 50 and 60 km
Monday – 2 km warm-up, 6 km interval training (10 x 300 m fast run and 300 m easy jog between or 8 x 400 m fast run and 400 m easy run between), 2 km cooldown
Tuesday – 8 km steady run
Wednesday – 6 km easy recovery run
Thursday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Friday – 2 km warm-up, 10 km pace run, 2 km cooldown
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Sunday – 15 – 16 km run - start easy and gradually speed up till you reach the pace at which you plan to run the marathon.
The Tuesday interval training could be replaced by 12 x 100 m uphill with 100 m easy jog between. Make a record of the time of your 10 km pace training, because you should improve it over the next weeks.

Ninth week – total volume between 65 and 70 km
Monday – 8 – 10 km steady run
Tuesday – 12 – 13 km steady run
Wednesday – 6 km easy recovery run
Thursday – 8 km fartlek or interval training (10 x 300 m fast with 300 m easy jog between or 8 x 400 m fast with 400 m easy jog between)
Friday – 2 km warm-up, 10 km pace run, 2 km cooldown
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Sunday – 16 – 18 km easy steady run
During this week you increase the volume considerably. The day off is only one. Very interesting is the combination of two days intensive trainings one after another. On Sunday it’s better to run for 18 km, without previously setting pace

Tenth week – total volume between 55 and 60 km
Monday – 3 km warm-up, 15 x 100 m uphill with 100 m easy jog between, 3 km cooldown
Tuesday – 2 km warm-up, 10 km pace run, 2 km cooldown
Wednesday – 6 km easy recovery run
Thursday – 2 km warm-up, interval training – 2 x 2 km fast run at the interval of 1 km easy run, 2 km cooldown
Friday – 8 km easy run
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Sunday – 12 – 16 km run – start easy and gradually speed up to the marathon pace
It’s a quite intensive week. The newest is the 2 km long intervals that should be at 20 – 30 sec / km faster pace than the supposed marathon pace. They are the key factor in your program. Important are also the uphill trainings that give strength and make the step longer.

Eleventh week – total volume between 65 and 70 km
Monday – 2 km warm-up, interval training – 12 x 300 m fast run with 300 m easy jog between or 10 x 400 m fast run with 400 m easy jog between, 2 km cooldown
Tuesday – 2 km warm-up, 15 km pace run, 2 km cooldown
Wednesday – 6 km easy recovery run
Thursday – 2 km warm-up, 8 km intensive cross at pace by 10 sec faster than the marathon pace
Friday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Saturday – 20 – 21 km run - easy start and gradually reaching the planned marathon pace
Sunday – 6 km easy recovery run
During this week you should do the longest run till now, which is half of the marathon distance. This is your dress-rehearsal for the competition in the first year of your training. Very important is that most of the trainings during the week are at a pace near or faster than the planned for the marathon. If you can’t do the interval training on Monday, you can replace it by fartlek with sprints.

Twelfth week – total volume between 60 and 70 km
Monday – 2 km warm-up, 8 km intensive run at a pace by 10 sec / km faster than the marathon pace in the beginning and gradually speeding up to the maximum at the end, 2 km cooldown
Tuesday – 2 km easy run, 12 – 15 km run at marathon pace
Wednesday – 6 – 8 km easy recovery run, after that between 6 and 10 x 100 m sprints with 100 m easy jog between
Thursday – 2 km warm-up, interval training 3 x 2 km fast run (at a pace by 20 – 30 sec / km faster than the marathon pace) with 1 km easy jog between, 2 km cooldown
Friday – 7 – 8 km easy recovery run
Saturday – off or 3 – 4 km completely easy jog
Sunday – 15 – 16 km pace run (at the marathon pace or faster)
On Monday the training is very hard. This is a test running on 8 km, resembling a competition. As you can see, the weekly accent is on the long run at a near to the marathon pace.
If you have more than three months time before the marathon, repeat the trainings from the last three weeks.
What to do if for some reason you break the program even for a day? Of course, it’s not recommended but if it happens, finish the week program and then repeat it again, including the omitted training. Remember, that the trainings resemble a gold chain – if you break it you should repair it. And if you break it more than two times it would be harder to repair it. So, get concentrated and think of what you want to achieve and whether it’s worth a moment disconcentration to ruin your dream. If you fall ill, or get injured, immediately consult your doctor and reduce the trainings, replacing them with easy and short jogs just to maintain your motive activity of the muscles. When you recover, repeat the last week, that you have finished before you’ve got ill and then return to the plan.

The last two weeks before the marathon
They should be easier in order to gather strength for the upcoming competition. It’s better to succeed easy 10 – 14 km crosses with easy 8 km fartlek. So you should have two farleks, for example on Tuesday and Thursday and three crosses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the week before the last you should include a run at marathon pace (on Saturday or on Sunday). The seventh day is for recovery. In the week of the marathon you should have two crosses and two fartleks. The last two days before the marathon you should have easy 3 – 4 km jogs with several sprints after that. Some people prefer to rest during these two days. If you have the possibility it’s a good idea to run on the race course or to drive on it. And remember you can’t improve your form; you just have to keep it. So any experiments are useless. Think positive, think of the rhythm of the running – it’s very important for such competitions. After the successful finish of the marathon (I have no doubts about this) you should have three – four weeks for recovery. It’s not a joke – in the first two – three days you’ll have difficulties even to walk. During this period you can go out for an easy and short jog or to train something different to change the muscle groups. You should have in mind that the muscles recover for 2 – 3 weeks, but it takes a month for your whole recovery.
After that you should return to the training program from the ninth to the twelfth week and repeat the trainings with some changes several times. You should increase the week volume, adding 2 – 5 km to the longest crosses. The long interval trainings should be changed also. For example, 3 x 3 km fast with 1 km easy run between, 8 x 1000 m fast
with 600 m easy run between. You should improve the results of the pace trainings and also take part in different competitions and on different distances. Remember, that even the best training couldn’t be compared to the competition. If you want, participate in another marathon but you should know that the elite competitors participate in maximum three competitions of this kind a year.
It is presumed that with this training program during the first year you’ll manage to run the marathon in 3:30 and 4:00. Your next aim should be to reach a result within 3 hours. This will be your goal in the second year of your preparation. You’ll find the training schedule in the next issue of “Atheletics” magazine.

Boyan Iv. Boytchev