Marathon You Can Do It

The June issue of Runners World magazine (RW South African Edition) had a detailed plan of how Lance Armstrong plans to run November 2008 New York marathon in the low 2:30s.

In 2006 Lance finished NYC marathon in 2.59, in 2007  he jumped to 2.46, his coach, Chris Carmichael shared the following weekly training plan for his client on how to train for a 2.30 marathon.

MONDAY

60 minutes  hard cross-country with repeats between 30 seconds to five minutes or 30 second pick ups on small hill. Alternative track work outs: 12 x 400 or 6 x 800 at 1.15 to 1.20 per lap.

TUESDAY

2 hour night mountain bike ride

WEDNESDAY

12 to 16Km tempo run at 3.19 pace.

THURSDAY

Rest

FRIDAY

3 to 4 hour road ride

SATURDAY/SUNDAY

Long run or ride and a rest day. Long runs are about 24Km and may go up to 32Km

Lance: How to Train for Your first Marathon

Interesting stuff from the article was how Lance Armstrong trained for his first marathon: 5 – 8kms three times a week; His longest run was 21K!

Chris Carmichael Advice to runners :-

If your goal is to run a fast race 

Do at least one, but ideally two, fast-paced runs a week.  These prolonged periods at hard but sustainable intensity train your aerobic and muscular systems to run faster or longer before fatiguing.

Be consistent

Many runners have a lot going on in their life. When you’re running low on time, a short run is better than no run.

Stay lean

Being lighter saves a runner tons of energy.

“I have to have something that forces me out the door. I can sit around for a year and do a 10-K, no problem, even a half marathon. But the marathon is scary and intimidating enough that you can’t just phone that in. You have to train” Lance Armstrong

Pain is temporary 

Related posts:

1. My Training Plan For 2008 StanChart Nairobi Marathon
2. Lance Armstrong Marathon Training Plan

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written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Lance Armstrong, Marathon, Marathon Running, New york marathon, Resistance, Running, Training