NOW that we are in to the New Year, athletes of all ages and abilities will be preparing for Spring and summer competition. And what better a challenge than the Edinburgh marathon on May 25?
Alternatively, you may have a place in the London marathon or are planning to run the Lochaber 26.2 miler in April. Whatever your choice, now is the time to start your build-up if you have not already done so.
Planning is paramount in the marathon. Your starting point is to work out the number of weeks between now and the marathon of your choice then count back 12 weeks. This is the date of the start of your specific training for the event - which is different from base training.  

For example, a  world-class marathon runner like Scotland's Hayley Haining, who has a personal best and Olympic qualifying time of 2 hours 30 minutes 47 seconds, prepares along the following lines over a 12-month period.

Phase 1a:  -  10 weeks base training.
Phase 2a:   -   12 weeks specific training, including taper and Spring marathon.
Phase 3a:   - 4 weeks post-race recovery.

Phase 1b:  - 10 weeks base training.
Phase 2b:  - 12 weeks specific training, including taper and autumn marathon.
Phase 3b:    -4 weeks post race recovery.

The first phase (base) of each cycle involves running weekly mileages of between 70 and 80 miles while the second phase (specific)  sees the athlete increase the work load and cover between 80 and 100 miles a week.  

Specific sessions like 10 to 15 mile tempo runs at marathon pace are included in this phase. And the total distance of fast repetitions in the schedule will increase from about 6000 metres to 10,000 metres at or faster than 10K race pace.
The post race recovery phase includes easy running, gradually building up mileage to base training loads.

A typical training week in Hayley's high-mileage specific training phase would be:

Monday:  90 minutes fartlek eg 1 x 5 minutes (2 minutes jog recovery )  + 2 x 4 minutes  (2 minutes jog recovery) + 3 x  3 minutes (90 seconds jog recovery) + 4 x 2  minutes (1 minute jog recovery).
Tuesday:  6 to 8 miles steady.
Wednesday: 10 to 12 miles steady.
Thursday:  2 miles steady + track session eg 2000 metres (2 minutes recovery) + 1000 metres (90 seconds recovery) x 3 sets. The 1000 metres are run about two to four seconds faster per lap than the 2000 metres + 2 miles steady.
Friday: Rest or 30 to 40 minutes easy run.
Saturday: 2 hours 30 minutes to 2 hours 45 minutes long steady run
Sunday: 60 to 90 minutes easy running.

In addition, runs of 40 to 50 minutes are done most week days in the morning or at lunch time.

Step down weeks of around 40 to 50 miles are included  every fourth week or so.

During my coaching career I was involved in the training of Eileen Masson (Kilbarchan AAC) who won two Scottish women's marathon titles during the '80s and whose personal best time of 2 hours 43 mintes 52 seconds is still in the top 20 best ever by a Scottish female athlete.

While Hayley Haining was a top-class athlete as a school girl and competed in several world championship cross country events, Eileen came into the sport comparatively later in life, taking up running and completing her first marathon aged 24.

Eileen's personal best time at the start of her marathon running career was 3 hours 35 minutes but by dint of hard work she knocked nearly an hour off her time and would have, I believe, broken 2 hours 40 minutes had she not given up the sport for family reasons. Her programme was as follows:

Monday: 80 to 90 minutes fartlek eg 10 x 3 minutes with 90 seconds recovery jog.
Tuesday:  6 to 8 miles steady.
Wednesday: 10 to 12 miles steady.
Thursday: 6 to 8 miles steady.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 15 to 20 miles steady road run.
Sunday: 2 to 3 hours cross-country running.

Unlike Hayley Haining, Eileen trained just once a day, did no track work and used long cross-country runs in her training - something which Hayley no longer does because of its injury risks.  I use these two examples to show how different training approaches can achieve success.

As a matter of interest, here are the training programmes of other elite marathon runners. The amount of work done shows just how much effort the top men and women put into their training in their determination to attain their goals.

RICHARD NERURKAR (GB & NI)  

Personal best - 2 hours 8 minutes 36 seconds.

Day 1: (pm)  21- 22 miles steady run.
Day 2: (am)   10 - 11 miles easy; (pm) 5 miles steady plus easy striding.
Day 3:  (am 1) 5 miles easy: (am2) 7 x 1 mile fastish with 3 minutes recovery; (pm) 6 miles easy
Day 4: (am) 21 - 22 miles steady;
Day 5: (am)  8 - 9 miles easy: (pm) 6 miles easy;
Day 6: (am)  10 -11 miles easy: (pm) 5 - 6 miles easy plus strides;
Day 7: (am1) 5 miles easy: (am) 15 miles at marathon pace.

Total 135 - 138 miles.

MOSES TANUI (KENYA)

Personal best - 2 hours 9 minutes 16 seconds

Day 1: (am) 100 minutes steady.
Day 2: (am) 70 minutes steady; (pm) 60 minutes steady.
Day 3: (am) 25 minutes steady + 5 x 3000 metres (2 minutes recovery): (pm) 50 minutes steady.
Day 4: (am) 70 minutes steady; (pm) 60 minutes steady.
Day 5: (am) 23- 24 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes.
Day 6: (am) 70 minutes steady.
Day 6:  (am) 25 minutes steady + 25 x 1 minute fast/1 minute slow.

Other sessions include 12 x 1000 metres with 2 minutes recovery and 1 x half-marathon uphill in 1 hour 28 minutes.

GERARD NIJBOER (NETHERLANDS)

Marathon Olympic Silver Medallist 1980;  Marathon European Gold Medallist 1982.

Monday: (am) 7 miles @ 9 mph: (pm) 13 miles including 10 x 1000 metres in 3 minutes;
Tuesday: (am) 8 miles @8 - 9 mph; (pm) 12.5 miles including 2 x 15 minutes fast.
Wednesday: (am) 5 miles @ 8 - 9 mph; (pm) 18.5 miles @ 8 - 9 mph;
Thursday: (pm) 14 miles including 3 x 10 minutes fast.
Friday: (am) 7 miles @ 10 mph; (pm) 9 miles @ 10 - 11 mph;
Saturday: (am) 17 miles fartlek
Sunday: (am) 5 miles @ 8 - 9 mph; (pm): 5. 5 miles cross-country and road race in 28.03.

I use these case studies to show just how important intelligent training for a marathon is, irrespective of age, ability and experience. Planning is crucial whether you are competing at an Olympic Games or simply aiming to complete the course.

As a rule of thumb, I suggest novices get in a year's training before tackling their first marathon, especially if they are starting from base and including walking and easy jogging in their training.

For athletes who have a reasonable amount of training behind them, I recommend the base training and specific build-up approach as described above. This means you must identify the date of your marathon and calculate how your training time will be allocated and how to progress your programme.

The idea is to gradually increase the number of miles you run each week as well as the distance of the long run. Every fourth week could be a step down week, both in terms of weekly mileage and the length of the long run.

For example, a typical four week cycle could be Week 1 - 40 miles; Week 2 - 45 miles; Week 3  - 50 miles: Week 4  - 30 to 35 miles before moving on to the next mileage increase.

The long runs during these four weeks could be 10 miles/12 miles/ 14 miles/8 miles. Obviously these distances will vary from athlete to athlete but the principle of gradual progression then consolidation and absorption of training gains is applicable to all levels of ability.

Marathon aspirants should aim to train at least five days a week with three key sessions in their schedule - (1) the long run; (2) the medium long run: and (3) fartlek.

The synchronisation of these key sessions will develop your VO2 Max (that's the amount of oxygen that can be processed by the lungs, heart, blood, arteries/veins and muscles in the conversion of chemical energy into mechanical energy).

The sessions will also increase the number of capillaries (small hair-like oxygen-carrying blood vessels in your body) and strengthen will-power and mental fortitude.

The medium long run should be about two-thirds of the time/distance of your long run. So, if your long run is 15 miles, your medium long run will be 10 miles. The fartlek  session will include faster efforts ranging from two to 10 minutes or more, all run at around 3K, 5K and 10K pace, interspersed with jog recoveries of between one and three minutes.

The three key sessions should be spread out over the training week (eg Monday, Wednesday and Saturday) with other sessions being confined to easy recovery runs of about 20 to 30 minutes or complete rest days.

The amount of miles run per week and the length of the longest runs will depend on your age, ability and time of the training/racing year. Elite athletes like Olympic double gold medallists Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia) and Woldemar Cierpinski (German Democratic Republic)  included long runs of 30 miles and over in their training.  Others, including Liz McColgan, are quoted as having seldom run above 16 - 17 miles for their longest runs.

Elite athletes, as we saw above, cover up to 140 miles per week in their training while others run less than 100.

Many athletes, including Hayley Haining (Kilbarchan AAC) run for their target race time and add on about 15 minutes during their longest run eg. target time 2 hours 30 minutes/longest run 2 hours 45 minutes. The training pace is about one minute slower per mile than race pace.

It is recommended that club athletes and first-time marathon runners do not run further than three hours during their long runs. Too much of this kind of work can cause injury and lead to stress-related ailments and the breakdown of the body's immune system. It could also leave the athlete tired and drained by the day of the race.

It is recommended that the weeks of highest mileage are the third and fourth before the marathon with the penultimate week seeing a reduction of one-third in the training load then a further one-third decrease in the week before the race eg. Week 9 - 60 miles; Week 10 - 65 miles: Week 11 - 40 miles; Week 12 - 20 miles. Likewise, the longest single run should take place no closer than three weeks to the race with similar reductions eg Week 9 - 15 miles: Week 10; - 18 miles; Week 11 - 12 miles; Week 12 -  6 miles.

Running a half-marathon no closer than three weeks to your marathon can be a good idea. Apart from a good workout, you can calculate your marathon time and find out how you should pace yourself.

A tried and tested formula is half-marathon time x 2 + 10 to 20 minutes depending on your fitness. Some athletes have an even lower figure. Again, using Hayley Haining as an example:

Half marathon pb = 71 minutes 18 seconds x 2 = 2 hours 22 minutes 36 seconds + 8 minutes 11 seconds = marathon pb 2 hours 30 minutes 47 seconds.

Looked at in another way, Hayley's half-marathon splits in her marathon pb race averaged 1 hour 15 minutes 23.5 seconds. This means she ran her 13.1 mile splits just 4 minutes 12 seconds slower than her personal best time for one half-marathon. This indicates a very high V02 Max and lactate threshold ie the fastest pace at which an athlete can run before incurring large lactic acid/hydrogen ions accumulation.

This type of forward planning benefits athletes of all levels. The biggest mistake - and it happens even at international level - is for athletes to feel good during the early stages of the race and run too fast. This leads to disastrous consequences later in the race when they hit the wall ie run out of glycogen and get progressively slower and maybe even grind to a halt.

So stick to your chosen pace and do not carried away, especially as you can be over-encouraged by cheering crowds and are feeling fresh and fit because you have tapered for the race and taken on more energy-supplying carbohydrate during the final three days.

Here is a typical training week for an athlete aiming to break three hours and with the race four weeks away ie the ninth week of the specific training phase. He/she will be training once per day;

SUB-THREE HOURS

Monday: 8 to 10 miles fartlek eg 4 x 7 minutes @ 10K pace with 2 minutes jog.
Tuesday: 5 - 6 miles easy.
Wednesday: 10 to 12 miles steady
Thursday: 5 to 6 x 1000 metres at 5K pace with 90 seconds recovery    
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 20 to 22 miles steady.
Sunday: Easy 30 to 45 minutes recovery run, preferably off road.  

Your pre-race meal - something like breakfast cereal, toast with marmalade/jam and a couple of cups of tea or coffee - should be taken three hours before the race. An energy bar or banana two hours before the klaxon will maintain blood sugar and carbohydrate levels.

You should aim to drink around 500 millilitres of fluid, preferably isotonic, during the hour before the race, with a further 150 millilitres every 20 minutes or so. Athletes who will be out on the course for more than three hours are advised to carry high-glycaemic foods like jelly babies or jaffa cakes - but watch they don't melt - to maintain glycogen levels.

SUB-FOUR HOURS

Monday: 6 to 8 miles fartlek eg 8 x 3 minutes @ 10K pace or faster with 2 minutes recovery jog.
Tuesday: 5 to 6 miles steady.
Wednesday: 8 to 10 miles steady.
Thursday: 6 to 8 x 800 metres at 5K pace with 90 seconds recovery.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours steady.
Sunday: Rest or easy 20 minutes recovery jog

SUB-FIVE HOURS

Monday:  5 to 6 miles fartlek eg 10 to 12 x 2 minutes at faster than marathon pace with 1 and 2 minutes alternate jog   recovery
Tuesday:  Rest.
Wednesday: 6 to 10 miles steady.
Thursday:  8 to 12 x 400 metres at faster than Monday night's pace with 1 and 2 minutes alternate jog recovery.
Friday:  Rest.
Saturday: 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes steady.
Sunday: Rest or easy 20 minutes jog.

As always, these sessions must be modified to suit your own circumstances.

In conclusion, training for and completing a marathon is one of the most memorable experiences in anyone's athletics career. I was 53 years old when I ran my first marathon in London and the memories remain evergreen more than 10 years later.

During the next few weeks of your marathon training, visualise yourself running along the finishing straight of your chosen race then crossing the line to pick up your coveted medal and T-shirt. It will be something you will remember for the rest of your life.
And the first key steps are taken today.

Derek Parker

Derek Parker is a UK Athletics Level 4 Coach and former Scottish Athletics Federation Performance Coach of the Year .