So here I am, 12 Weeks into Hal Higdon's Marathon Training plan, having a crisis of confidence.
I'm not getting faster, that's fine. But I'd like to break 4 hours in my upcoming Marathon. Except for getting hurt and taking about 3 weeks with almost no running I've been following the plan pretty closely.
Hal's advanced plan starts at a 16km long run on Sunday, and Peaks at 32 km long runs. It's roughly 30+ km in week one and peaks at about 85 km in a week. That seems like a lot. In fact, it feels like a lot.
So today I pick up the latest Canadian Running Magazine, which incidentally is a pretty good magazine, albeit a bit earnest. Well, a lot earnest.
In it, in this article where they are too f'ing cheap to post the actual plan. (Gotta buy the magazine) Their "low mileage" plan starts in week one with a 26km Sunday run, with a total Mileage of 67km! It peaks at 90km.
The "High Mileage" plan starts at 85 km/week and peaks at 122km/week.
So I don't get it. Hal Higdon, god of marathon training, thinks you don't need to do higher mileage to get better, and this John Hill guy, coach at the Vancouver Falcons Athletics Club, has a plan at a whole other level.
Either someone is wrong, or the mileage doesn't really matter all that much. Or perhaps they are targeted at different levels of runner. Someone please explain it.
------------
Anyway, today is tornado day in Toronto. In honor of this I took the family to High Park so the kids could visit the animals in the Zoo, and I ran up and down a hill, feet flapping the whole way.
It's funny, my heart rate, didn't peak quite as high as it as in the past, and I was definitely slower doing this than I was a month ago. I really don't know what to think.
Perhaps eating more ice cream will help.
Comments