My Next Big Race…
It’s time to announce my next big race: Grandma's Marathon in June 2023!
I’ve never properly trained for a marathon. I’ve done two and several more inside of an Ironman, but I haven’t solely dedicated training (for a proper length of time) to a pure marathon block. Normal marathon training is roughly 18 weeks, or around 4-5 months. But, if I’m going to do it, I am going to do it the right way and build from the ground up and this will be a nearly 10 month process.
The plan is three major phases of training that will be roughly 3 months long. The shift in training will occur when the body is appropriately prepared for the next phase. (who knows, I might just have to stay in Foundational Health for the whole time!):
Three Training Phases:
Foundational Health
Base +
Threshold
Each one explained in more depth below.
Foundational Health
The main focus of this block is “training to train” and building a foundation for health both in and outside of athletics. This will focus on blood lactate in training and blood testing outside of training, along with strength and yoga.
Lactate: More on the two primary energy systems for endurance athletes later. For the marathon, we’re primarily using the aerobic system, although we’re near the top end of our mitochondrial capacity to utilize lactate. In order to handle the large volume of mileage and tempo/threshold work as the race approaches, it requires an extremely robust aerobic system. Focusing on staying below LT1 for most of the training and right around LT2 for specific workouts will be key.
Yoga/Strength: The high volume of miles and specifically 18-20+ mile long runs later in the build will also require fantastic connective tissue and muscular strength. Working on form specific strength, stability, and great range of motion will be critical.
Blood Testing: Even including workouts, overall health is the most important part of this current phase (and truthfully all phases, just extra emphasis to be in a good place before adding a larger training load). My blood levels of cholesterol (both good and bad) along with inflammation and liver enzymes are less than ideal for a young-ish semi-elite athlete. Fueling correctly and supplementation for health purposes rather than performance is the plan for this. This focus won’t “end” in three months, but hopefully forward progress is made, showing that the nutritional plan is working.
Base+
This is largely the same as the above with slightly more focus on the LT2 work along with a bigger emphasis on overall low-lactate/HR work via longer runs and long bike rides. With a strong foundation of health, the endurance of 3-6hr rides and 2-3hr runs can be built safely.
Shorter efforts and a small amount of racing (mile-5k) will be done with the main objective being to show that the low lactate/HR work is working even on the top end! It will allow confidence to be built for longer races without having to go to extreme lengths in training or fully taper for a race like a 1/2 marathon or 10 miler.
Threshold/Race Specific
This will be roughly the same as above (shocker!) but with the biggest difference being double threshold days! A running threshold workout will be done in the morning, and likely a bike threshold workout will be done in the afternoon.
The other difference here will be shifting long runs to be more race specific. This will gradually shift over the 3 months span from once every 3-4 weeks to once every 2 weeks or so.
June will be a gradual taper and transition into the race!
NOTE: This plan will be performed using a dynamic training system! Workouts and loading days will be performed when the body is appropriately ready to handle that training stress. This may mean some weeks have ZERO hard workouts, and others have 2-3 depending on readiness as indicated by HRV, RHR, motivation/mood, and how the body feels after warm ups (or even into the first set).
Excited to begin the process, more to come.
Happy training,
Coach Griffin