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One year marathon program

by Lauri
(Finland)

The 100 day plan as an all year program :

"This is really not a question, rather a recommendation to you. I just started to use your program, and in the advertisement I remember you mentioned that the program can be used for training periods up to 12 months. I am 58 and intend to run a marathon only once a year, not more. I have done it twice, and next year would be Berlin. I need a solid program for the whole year. I think it would be easiest for you if you simply adjust your pages (i.e. the proper chapters) so that you would include a straigh-forward advice how to adjust this program for a 12 month period leading to one annual marathon. There must be thousands of people like me needing that advice.

I did scan throught some of your answers to this topic, but - with all respect - they seemed a bit superficial.

With warm regards,

Lauri (Finland)"

Answer: Hi Lauri, and thanks for your question.

It can certainly be used for up to 1 year (and more, in cycles) I've answered it the best I can here : Long term marathon

Though it does not give a 12 month day to day program, if you use those guidelines it will cover that period the absolute best possible. I also want to note : I am not a big fan of strict 1 year programs, these needs flexibility. The longest I would stretch myself is as you can see in the 100 day plan - a cycle of about 1/3rd of the year which is a "normal" marathon cycle.

I know you want to see it all mapped out day-by-day but take the advice in these other answers, add some flexiblity there until the last 100 days (or 121 including intro weeks) before your goal marathon of the year.

I wish you all the best,

Kind regards,
Marius

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Through the whole year

by Roger Hisdal
(Norway)

Program through the year.

"Hello Marius

Thanks for a great program.

How can I use this program for training though the whole year.

Answer: Hi Roger, I've answered this question several times before. Do a search through the different posts (you see a serach function on top of this page) and you'll see at least 3 posts about it :)

Kind regards,
Marius

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All year marathon plan

by Geir

What is the best way to train between 100 day marathon plans - if you want to use the program as an all year marathon plan ?

"I have just finished my first marathon (New York) and started on the recovery training. I am planning to do a half marathon in 5- 6 month and a new marathon in a year. How should I link the different training periods.

Should I go start into a new period and just repeat the middel weeks before starting the specific race training, or should I just do some maintenance training first and start on a schedule the "normal" 100 days before the race.

My goal is to better my PBs (3:58 and 1:39)quite a bit. Previously I typically did 8-10 weeks of training before a half marathon and then stopped training for months before starting again before a new race. Now I'm hoping to utilize the training I already have put in for the marathon to improve my previous results.

Geir"

Answer: Hi Geir, I will give you two options to this question.

The first choice is to repeat the schedule year through and you can see my answer to this here : After the first 100 days

The other option you can try out is this - and for many it works better. My answer below is taken for a conversation with one of the other 100 day marathon plan runners who had the exact same question as you had. To sum it up, you can make the 100 day marathon plan general with just "picking sessions" from the schedule and then 100 (or ideally 121) days before your next marathon start using the specific plan again.

This was my answer to him :

For winter/spring training sessions if you want a general plan- consider the following : Pick 2-3 quality sessions from the 100 day marathon plan weekly and add in there the long runs (but run the easy runs EASY)

Aim for a flat structure, meaning that you actually pick sessions from all periods (one week can be one session from the 5k/10k phase and one from the marathon phase for example) This will help you going over the winter. IF you choose to run a marathon in May for example, 100 day before that repeat the 100 day plan to its fullest again. If not, keep this flat structure until 121 days before the next marathon (include the introductory weeks if you can - making it 121 days)

Point is that the general structure of the individual workouts in the 100 day plan will help you stay injury free, so no need to worry about that. And this gives you a more long term plan before going into the marathon specific work before a marathon.

Remember one thing on the way : never two hard workouts back to back and respect the easy workouts ! In addition to this, be careful with the absolute longest hard marathon "key sessions" as these should be preserved for only when preparing for the marathon (for example 40 min + 40 min + 40 min - all hard at different paces to quote the sub 3:00 schedule)


If you are planning a half marathon in there and want to do well on that, then you may use this solution about 80-100 days before a half marathon Half marathon schedule with the 100 day plan

Wish you all the best with you all year marathon plan !

Marius

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Long term marathon training

by Jouni
(Finland)

How can one build a long term marathon training plan using the 100 day plan ?

"I ran my "100 day" marathon last Saturday and did a good effort with 3h 3min in terribly windy conditions - thank you for this result, coach! I've really enjoyed this program and have already recommended this to many!

Now I'm following this first recovery week, but my plans are already farther. Being such a young man (soon 28) I'm wondering how should one go on in situation like this?

Sure I could take another 100 days straight from here but is that the best way to build up my long term fitness? Let's say that I'm trying to run purposefully for the next few years. For example would it be better to focus on shorter distances instead of full marathon, e.g. follow the 100 Day Marathon plan a few times finishing it after week 11 (half marathon) and then start it over again, do always the whole 15 weeks and then again from the beginning or what?

I've planned to take the next level and follow the 2:45 program and do some shorter distance races. I think (and hope!) that someone is wondering this same thing.

Regards,
Jouni"

AnswerHi Jouni and congrats with an excellent effort ! I've touched on this a little bit before on how to build a year plan with the 100 day plan check this posting out : All year marathon plan as well as All year marathon training

To be even more specific in terms of your situation - with a long term marathon goal over several years I would recommend an approach where you experiment with some parts of the year with a more 5k/10k focus and like you say, parts where you do the 100 day plan straight.

The key is this : some runners will respons extremely well to marathon specific training year around while some others have better results by splitting the year somewhat - with say a spring season/early summer with 5k/10k track work and a fall marathon training + race sort of topping this. But this is individual and something you can test out.

If you do decide to test out a bit of a longer period with 5k/10k work I would still use the general outline of the 100 day plan. You can basically cut down on some of the length of the sessions (especially the really, really long marathon Effort 3 and up), add in some more speed work but follow the same structure still. Remember that in the 5k/10k the anaerobic threshold is still the # 1 factor, just like the marathon if you want to run well. So you are sort of in the "same area".

You can also build this further - and instead of a 5k/10k phase, then half marathon, marathon, taper you can do it as a 1500 meter phase (faster work) then 5k/10, then long half marathon phase with some 5k/10k work in there before down again to 1500 work with some half marathon/5k/10k in there.

Point is to 1) keep the same type periodization as in the 100 day plan 2) keep the focus on easy days, hard days, easy days 3) have the same type variation in within the session as you see in the 100 day plan - within the area around the anaerobic threshold (Effort 3)

I wish you all the best with your training,

regards,
Marius

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All year marathon training

by Marco Chiappone
(Leiden, The Netherland (EU))

How to use the 100 day marathon plan on a year basis. What is the best way if you want continous improvement ?

"Hi Marius,

I really like your schedule. I've got a goal: doing the NY2010 Marathon in less than 3h and I'm a almost a beginner!!!

Since there's more than 1 year, I've this plan in mind:

1. till January 2010 following 5 hour plan to build simply endurance

2. Going to the London 2010 Marathon and run it in around 4 hours.

3. Going to NY and run it in less than 3 hours.

My question is how can I link all the plans together to reach my goal?

How can I move from plan 5h to the 4h one and then to the 3h?

I know that I can switch between the plans just using the right week, but which is the right progression (from 5h to 3h)?

Cheers Marco"

Answer: Hi Marco, you are on track with this. The plan leading up to London is perfect, through the 5 hour plan to the 4 hour plan.

What I recommend for the middle period though (when you hit the 3 hour plan (or you may consider the 3:30 plan over the summer) ) is to stretch the 5k/10k weeks (maybe do 4-5 of these) and half marathon period a bit out and limit the marathon specific work slightly. This is avoid over-use of your muscular system in the summer before you start getting to the 3 hour schedule that will start 100 days before NYC.

This will get you right where you want through a gradual increase in training condition.

Also, remember the "post-marathon" weeks after London.

And yes, at any time in the schedule you may switch between the different goal time schedules and go in there at the exact same week.

Wish you all the best,
Marius

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After the first 100 days?

by Knut
(Bergen/Norway)

Extending the 100 day marathon plan. How to do this ?

"Hi Marius.

First of all, thank u for making this marathon plan, my aim is sub 3:00, am now in week 4, and everything is going wery well.. But I need help. In week 11, I have a half marathon race coming up 5 of december 2009, just on the spot like u recomend in the schedule.

After 5 december, it is London marathon 25 of April 2010, exactly 100 days, from 7 december 2009.

What will be the best to do?
Should I start with week 1,from Monday 7 December, or should I already now beginn to plan ahead to April 25, 2010?

Kind regards
Knut"

Answer : Hi Knut, you are right on. You should start the schedule from the beginning again - at week nr 1. This way you avoid the # 1 mistake most marathon runners do - to have too much marathon specific work all-year through.

When you get back to 5k/10k work again, this will lift the performance further. You are then working perdiodization and adaption to the fullest.

All the top marathon runners in the world do it this way as well (especially Italians). Marathon race - recovery - brand new build up - marathon race.

Best of luck,

Marius

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