Choosing The Right Schedule

Choosing The Right Marathon Schedule

By John Stannard, johnstannard@stevenscreekstriders.org

Not sure which schedule is right for you? Use this guide to help you choose a schedule that suits your goals.

Beginner:

If this is your first marathon, or you are currently logging less than 15-20 miles per week, the beginner schedule is the one for you. This schedule will get you ready for a marathon without tons of base mileage. You’ll notice there are no track workouts on this schedule – that’s by design. When you’re increasing your mileage this substantially (as most people in this category will be), you don’t really want to subject your body to the additional stress imposed by strenuous speed workouts. You won’t enhance your marathon performance very much, and you’ll be at a much higher risk for injury.

Intermediate:

If this is your second or third marathon, and you currently log less than 30-35 miles per week on a regular basis, the intermediate schedule is the one for you. It increases the mileage over the beginner program and adds some faster workouts – tempo and marathon pace runs. Still no track workouts – again, this is by design. If you fall into this category, chances are you can increase your marathon performance much more substantially by focusing on tempo and marathon pace runs than you will be doing faster workouts on the track. However, if you feel that your life just won’t be complete without regular track workouts, substitute track for your weekly tempo run every other or every third week, or do your tempo workout on the track.

Advanced:

Finally, there’s the advanced schedule. If you have run several marathons and your base mileage is 35-40 miles per week, this is the one you want. This program adds in tempo runs (also called lactic threshold runs), medium-long-runs midweek, more running at marathon pace, and some VO2max workouts later in the program. It’s considerably more strenuous than the other two schedules.