Herding_Cats
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 4,993
Your doctor isn’t wrong. 



If you were to add a fourth day, then you could start to move the needle in terms of dropping that long run down. It is absolutely not too late to change plans. A traditional marathon plan is usually 16-18 weeks in length. Galloway's plans tend to be on the longer side due to the nature of them.
Thank you for all of this! I'm looking forward to reading through your posts, and checking out some of the resources you've shared. I clearly have a lot to learn, but after the year + we've all had, I really want this and I'm interested in learning as much as I can to do the best that I can.
I appreciate your sincere honesty. When we first discussed training, I was hesitant to commit to over 3 days because of what I let happen last summer. It's been a lesson to me that we're all human, life happens, but we have to pick ourselves up and move on! After reading @Herding_Cats 's training journal last night, I started to think about what I could realistically commit to. I'm most motivated and have the most time in the summer. I'm running 3 days now with Galloway and honestly wanting to do more because I have the time. I've been going on walks and/or doing strength or cycling classes on the off days. The fall is a different story, but I cut back A LOT with certain commitments already, knowing that I wanted to train for the marathon in January. I just got my first schedule and it's very reasonable. So why couldn't I replace that time with running? Looking ahead to the fall (when I'm usually the busiest), I was originally looking at sticking with Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (Thursdays being a little difficult but I can make it work) for Galloway. However, I now have Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays with no current weekly commitments. Wednesdays or Thursdays could work (Wednesdays would be ideal over Thursdays), and Fridays might work but I might have commitments every other Friday (schedule TBD). So honestly, I could (and should) really do 4 or 5 days a week. And looking forward, I think I'd rather put more time in regularly during the week as opposed to doing such long runs regularly in the winter...
The Galloway plan is pretty simple to follow, but I like more specifics, and I'm starting to feel it grow a little stagnant in the short time I'm using it. I know it's still early but I feel like the goal is to reach the marathon distance, and I'd like to see more than that as a result of my training. My goal is to run a marathon, but along the way I'd like to make improvements in other areas while increasing my distance.
@DopeyBadger, quoting my response here so that thread doesn't get derailed from its initial purpose. Is there any chance you'd be able to create or suggest a different marathon training plan? As mentioned above, I can definitely do at least 4 days a week, 5 could even work depending on the length of time. I truly appreciate all you've done thus far!
Hmm...What availability do you think you could reasonably commit to in October/November/December during the meat of the training plan? Like on a time per day maximum basis? Be specific. Like 30 min on Tuesday, or 90 min on Tuesday, or none on Tuesday? These are maximums and not what you would be doing the whole time. You could conceivably write something where you peak sooner during the time where you'd have more time, but that really depends on the length of time between the end of peak and drop off until the race. Because after about 4-6 weeks you'll enter a period of stagnation and things are going to take a downswing in terms of fitness.
You're at about 1:45 hrs of running in the last week, right? What's been your peak weekly duration in the last six weeks, and what about the last six months?
Hmm...
Maximum times:
Saturdays & Sundays - any amount of time
Mondays & Tuesdays - 2 hours
Wednesdays - 90 min (if it's not on a regular basis, I could probably get up to 2 hours every once in a while on a Wednesday)
Thursdays - 45 min
Fridays - 30 min
Yes, I ran about 1:45 hours last week with Galloway.
Peak in the last 6 weeks: 2:20 (week of 7/18)
Peak in the last 6 months: 5:35 (week of 2/14 - only because I did Princess virtually that week)
I think it’s reasonable. It definitely seems more attainable than what I was already doing. I’m not sure how I’d be in terms of burnout, just because I haven’t tried something like this yet! My current mindset is all in, and I’m determined to continue that through.Alright, let's say about 2.5 hrs is our starting point. We've got 23 weeks until race day. If we assume a 3-week taper, then that gives us something like:
1/3 - Race
12/27-Taper
12/20-Taper
12/13-Peak
12/6
11/29-Peak-30
11/22
11/15-Peak-60
11/8
11/1-Peak-90
10/25
10/18-Peak-120
10/11
10/4-Peak-150
9/27
9/20-Peak-180
9/13
9/6-Peak-210
8/30
8/23-Peak 240
8/16
8/9-Peak 270
8/2
30 min building is a reasonably aggressive build, but not too aggressive. So if you're doing 2.5 hrs max now, then I think the most you can peak at is around 6 hours. If we stretch the plan to two extra weeks, then we could get up to 7 hrs, but that longer length plan could backfire and lead to burn-out stagnation. How do you personally feel about the prospects of burnout? Do you feel like you tend to be someone who might have that feeling?
If we peak at 6.5 hours, then something like this:
M- OFF
T- 30 min max
W- 90 min max
R- OFF
F- 30 min max
Sa- 90 min max
Su- 150 min max
Is that something you feel like you could reasonably commit to? The 90 min W would likely only occur during peak weeks. I might play around with the numbers a bit on non-peak weeks.
I think it’s reasonable. It definitely seems more attainable than what I was already doing. I’m not sure how I’d be in terms of burnout, just because I haven’t tried something like this yet! My current mindset is all in, and I’m determined to continue that through.
No I haven’t, I didn’t think about it to be honest! I just came back from a 30 min run, but I could try to do one later if it would help!Remind me again, have you done a magic mile or 800m Galloway test yet to ensure current fitness pacing?
No I haven’t, I didn’t think about it to be honest! I just came back from a 30 min run, but I could try to do one later if it would help!
Okay, thanks! I’ll probably do the magic mile, I think I did one last year.Another day or one on the weekend. Just be sure to read the instructions from the Galloway plan to get an idea of what you're doing, and whether you're going with the mile time trial or the 800m huff/puff test (this one is on the 5k plan).
Thanks for the tips! If the leggings I ordered don't work out I'll look for those next. I still can't believe I placed that lululemon order to be honest, but I'm telling myself it'll be worth it if the quality is good! I'm not sure what type of UA leggings I got at the outlet, but they didn't have the drawstring inside so I'm sure they're not the same ones. They did have the side pocket, but when I went for a run in them they were sliding down, and the side with the phone in my pocket made it worse. I ended up running with my phone in my hand and accidentally calling someone three times in the processRe: under armour leggings. I ONLY run in their “fly fast” leggings (but not the ones that have zippers at the ankles) because they have a drawstring in the waist. I’m between sizes, but I’ve found the larger size to feel less like they’re going to cut off my circulation, and just tighten and knot the drawstring so they don’t ride down. Bonus: the ones I have all have a pocket on one leg (outer thigh) that will hold my phone. I’m way too cheap to buy lululemon stuff, so I just keep an eye on Sierra dot com and the UA outlet for the leggings. Or even Amazon on occasion!
@DopeyBadger I just realized your tentative schedule includes this week. Should I plan to run today? I was thinking about doing the magic mile today or tomorrow, but now I’m not sure if that would impact the plan you’re working on.
Got it, thanks! I’ll probably do it tomorrow within my regular run schedule.I won’t start writing until after the magic mile data. Plus I’ve got a few other plans in the queue at the moment. So I’d stick to your Galloway plan at the moment. But if you want to do the MM today, then go ahead.