Hello Boston Marathoners,
Let’s go! The 16 weeks ahead are going to be a ride, so buckle up. Your body and mind are going change, as will the link between the two. Your distinction between mental, physical, and emotional experience will soften. Time and space will gain texture, and feel more malleable. All that sounds grandiose, but it’s true. If you invest the footsteps, you and your relationship with the world will change.
We think of the Coach + Coffey readership as a team, and the strength of this team is its diversity. On this team we have first time marathoners, World Major star-chasers, and Olympic Trials hopefuls. Some of you are jumping into this season just weeks after finishing your last marathon, and some of you are looking at the miles ahead thinking impossible….what have I done?? Whatever your path, please know that it affords you special knowledge and vision.
If this is your first Marathon, these 16 weeks will overflow with revelation and intensity and understanding. You’ll often think you can’t the mileage, then you will. You’ll make every excuse, looking for a way out, then you’ll get it done. It won’t always be easy or pretty, but sometimes it’ll be gorgeous. You’ll experience the physical evidence that change is possible, even when the way things are seems forever. Savour this first time, and remember you’ll never be able to do it again.
If you’re experienced—whether you’ve done one marathon or 50—please bring your hard-won knowledge and wisdom to this Marathon. You have special information that no one can teach you—how your energy ebbs and flows over the miles, the tricks you play on yourself, and your own personal areas of talent and challenge. You earned that self-knowledge, so claim it. If you’ve been injured, you learned from that. If you trained too much or too little, you learned from that. If you made mistakes in fueling, effort, consistency, scheduling, etc, you learned from that. Don’t discount what you know.
Here at the start of training, take some time to look over the coming weeks in The noname Program manual. This Substack will follow the basic schedule outlined there, with more precise explanation and instruction and options for more advanced mileage and special cases.
In thinking about how far and how fast to run, keep in mind that there’s no “right” answer. YOUR ideal might be anywhere between 3-6 days a week and 35-100 miles a week. In order to determine how far and how fast YOU should run, look backward. A good rule of thumb is to make jumps in mileage by 10% per season. So, if last season you peaked at 45 miles a week, this week plan to work up to 50.
In the manual you’ll find many more tips for deciding how many days a week you should run, how long those runs should be, and how fast. You’ll find example weekly mileage layouts at the back, and three charts for determining your ideal paces.
Here in Coach + Coffey we’ll talk through more decisions in coming weeks: whether to incorporate cross training, strength training, or Physical Therapy, whether to do 1 speed workout or 2, how to amend workouts to be harder or easier than written, and how to differentiate between “good hurt,” and “injury pain.”
This first week, keep it simple: Everyone will do one speed run. You should bike/swim/row/strength train if you’re used to it, but don’t add anything new. This week, the new element is the running. Don’t overwhelm the body. This is just a handshake—body, meet marathon training.
Here in week 1, we want you to focus on three things:
Set your habits. Once you’ve figured out how many days a week you’ll run, decide where you’ll place them in the week. What days? What time? Will you meet up with a teammate/friend? If so, reach out and tell them you’re excited! If not, I encourage you to pull someone in on the journey with you. Will you text HEADED OUT to friend who’s cheering you on? Will you post a triumphant selfie to social media afterwards? Ask for help! People want to help you!
Whatever your plan, nail it down put it in ink where you can see it. It can change as you go, and you may add extra elements. But, it’s important NOT to rely solely on willpower during this journey. Use habits, accountability, and a collected cheering section.
Look for your “why?” What brought you here? Even if signing up for this marathon felt like a lark, something made training for 16 weeks for a 26.2 mile race seem reasonable. It’s not! It’s a totally wild adventure! So, why are you here?
Your answer may be brief. Maybe just one word. Or, it may be long and meandering, something you can’t quite put your finger on. Either is good, and both will change. Throughout training your “why” may gain depth and lose clarity. It may be more of a feeling than an explicit purpose. It may be clearer to your loved ones than it is to you—ask them!
We’ll talk more about this as we go, but start the process now. Journal before you head out and/or after you come back. Text with a buddy who helps you think. Don’t be afraid of complaining. Allow in fear, excitement, and hope. All of these are clues as to what the heck you’re doing out there.
The first 4 weeks of this program are PRESEASON. Think of this as the get in shape to get in shape period of your marathon season. During this time, we’ll introduce your body to all the paces, workout types, and the weekly cadence you’ll use throughout training. Then, during the next 12 weeks of training, nothing will be new, only more.
While the work is new and unfamiliar, think of your own body as a baby—it’s confused, cranky, learning fast and changing so quickly. Whether this is your first marathon or your 50th, these first steps back into focused training are a period of major change, and they should always be baby steps. Be patient with your body, feed and water yourself well, and when you get too whiney put yourself to bed with a kiss on the forehead.
These first 4 pre-season weeks, appreciate and keep in mind that the step from not Marathon training to Marathon training is the largest of the season. Don’t worry about pace. Don’t worry if a workout feels harder than it should. As long as you put in the footsteps, the adaptations are happening regardless of pace or effort. The big mileage and the fast times in later weeks will look more impressive on your watch, but the adaptations your body is making now are just as significant. These miles will make those miles possible.
One specific case:
If you’ve finished a marathon less than 4 weeks ago, be gentle with yourself. Take a look at the training ahead and you’ll see that it’s feasible for an experienced marathoner to pop in on week 4. Many runners use a 12-week marathon build, so if you need more time to recover, TAKE IT! This marathon will be faster and more fun if you start the season excited to go and refreshed in the body and the mind.
This week you will run 3-6 times, with 1 Speed Run and 1 Long Run
These runs may be done on any days, with two caveats: 1) Run the Speed Run earlier in the week than the Long Run, and 2) follow the hard-easy-hard principle, which means never running back-to-back hard days. Instead, separate hard (speed or long) runs with easy runs or rest days.
In future weeks, we’ll add in a 2nd optional Speed Day, but this first week everyone will do just 1.
Speed Run: 20 minute Speedplay – 10 x (1:00 “on,” 1:00 “off”)
Method:
1. Run 5-20 minutes of easy warmup running.
2. Do 5-10 optional minutes of dynamic warmups + strides.
3. Run 10 x (1:00 on, 1:00 off) for a total of 20:00
This workout is a “speedplay,” also known as a “fartlek,” which means speedplay in Swedish. The workout was developed in the 1930s by Swedish Olympic Coach Gösta Holmér as a way of training agility and athleticism into pace work.
Rather than the start/stop of typical interval workouts, the speedplay moves between faster/slower paces. There are no stops. No sprints. No extremes. It’s just one unbroken run, moving back and forth between faster and slower minutes like waves.
In this workout includes 2 paces: the pace of the “on” intervals and the pace of the “off” intervals.
If you’re comfortable running strictly on feel please do that! No paces, no thinking—just let the body pick the pace, and adjust on the go if you realize that you started too fast or too slow. Tuning into the body here at the start is a great way of introducing speed work.
If that degree of freedom feels overwhelming, think about doing the “on” minutes around 5k effort and the “off” minutes around the slower end of aerobic run pace—available on pages 17 and 19 of The noname Program manual. BUT, once you get the hang of your paces, I encourage you to hide your time and just run hard, then easy, then hard. By releasing yourself from the constraint of pace, you’ll strengthen your relationship with your body. In the end, you’ll be faster and fitter for it!
4. 5-20 minutes easy cooldown running + dynamic cooldown, just like at the start.
Aerobic Runs: 1-4 easy runs for aerobic development
Check out the Coach + Coffey Marathon Program for help choosing how many runs per week, how many miles to run, and how fast to run them.
Long Run: 7-12 Aerobic Miles
Find your aerobic pace range on page 19 of The noname Program manual, and don’t be surprised when this pace feels too easy! Your primary goals here are 1) to train your heart, lungs, peripheral circulatory system, and blood to deliver and carry oxygen more efficiently, and 2) to train your bones and connective tissues to withstand the pressures of extended time on feet. These are incredible changes to be asking of your body, and it will respond beautifully AS LONG AS we don’t muddy up the process by making too many additional demands.
If you run too fast, your muscles will start to contribute to this process at a rate that will cross the aerobic threshold and begin to collect muscular byproduct (measured via lactate.) Your blood will then have the extra task of clearing out that byproduct, thus splitting its energetic focus.
This program (and every professional athlete’s program) is built around specificity. Every day has a specific purpose. Each run of the week is different, and every pace contributes to your growth distinctly. If you WANT to run hard and fast every day, you’ll get faster initially. Then, you’ll plateau and/or get injured. You’ll also be denying the sophisticated genius of all your body’s interconnected systems, and leaving minutes on the table. Why would you do that?!
7-12 miles is a big range, so let’s talk about it!
This first long run shouldn’t be hugely intimidating. You may be quite rusty or out of shape, and that’s fine. But, the mileage number shouldn’t be totally unfamiliar. We’ll spend this season taking pragmatic steps forward, and for these steps to create a physiologically productive series of adaptations, we need the first ones to feel solid and manageable.
Whatever mileage number between 7 and 12 feels like a good day but not a strain, do that! These first 4 preseason weeks should not feel like specific marathon training—they should feel like getting in shape. Most first timers will do 7!
If your run is longer than 1:30, we suggest you take gels! Your body carries enough glycogen to power about 1:30 of sustained effort, so after that you need to fuel as you go. We’ll go into more detail here as the runs get longer, but plan on taking at least 60 grams (240 calories) an hour—we suggest taking a gel every 30 minutes for all runs longer than 1:30.
Reach out if you have any questions or comments, and we’ll see you next week!