Brighton Marathon Plan

With Barns Green behind me it was time to start looking to my next 'A' race, the Brighton Marathon. This isn't until April, but I've written out a full training plan from today till then. Found Here. Obviously this will change as time goes by but it gives a framework to start with. As well as allowing you all to glory at the magnificence of the plan, this post also provides an opportunity to talk through some training theories I follow, as well as some things I'm trying out.

The basic principles are from 'Run Faster', focusing on working the extremes of endurance and speed work, before focussing in on race pace work late on. It also relies on adaptive running, the idea that each workout changes to match the results of those before. Obviously I'm paraphrasing heavily, and recommend getting the book for those who want to know more.

I've also split the plan into three phases. The first is conditioning, in order to build tendon strength and allow my calf to heal once and for all. This consists of lots of long slow distance, which will also help build my aerobic death. When I wrote the first draft of the plan I was expecting my calf to be much sorer after the half marathon, so there's a chance this phase will be shortened.

The next phase is where the main work is done. Ideally this would include longer, slower work than the race, as well as faster work. However it's a bit difficult to go further than a marathon, so some alternative's are included, mostly mixing harder work into a long run. This includes continuous hill work, an idea taken from men's running, and partly inspired by my issues with the hills in Barns Green.

The other change is scheduled core work. I've always done bits and pieces of core, but I'm hoping by assigning a specific day to it I'll be a lot more consistent.