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P&D - 70-85mpw - 18 week plan support thread

1 lurker | 87 watchers
Dec 2010
11:05am, 17 Dec 2010
133 posts
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~Ed~
18 weeks I mean!
Dec 2010
11:24am, 17 Dec 2010
697 posts
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MattTheRat
I think that's a fair point. Most elites/sub-elites would only follow a 10-12 week plan building on a base. And that was my intention this year. But then I looked again at the plans, and felt that the 18 week one worked better under this logic:

18 week plan:
6 weeks endurance - 3 tempo sessions, 1 MP long run
5 weeks endurance + LT - 3 tempo, 1 interval, 1 MP long run
4 weeks race prep - 4 intervals, 2 tune-up races, 1 M long run
3 week taper - 2 intervals

12 week plan:
4 week endurance - 2 tempo sessions, 2 MP long runs
3 week endurance + LT- 2 tempo sessions, 1 interval session, 1 MP long run
3 week race prep - 3 intervals, 2 tune-up races
2 week taper - 1 interval session

In conclusion I felt that the 18 week plan was essentially just 6 weeks of slightly more structured base-work (off increasing mileage) that prepared me for a 12 week program, whereas the 12 week plan is compressed too much by having the 4 week base phase.

An alternative would be just to jump in to the Endurance + LT phase of the 18 week plan if your base was big enough. And I have also peaked too soon before in London Marathon prep. In 2008 I ran a blinder at Wokingham, and was coming off the boil by London. I think this was caused by too much speed work too early. But last year I made the opposite error of not peaking at all. I missed all my tune-up races due to family stuff, and didn't do all the key speed sessions in late-Feb and March for the same reason.
Dec 2010
12:34pm, 17 Dec 2010
134 posts
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~Ed~
I think I'll stick to 18 weeks but keep the pace slow for most runs for the first 6 just to build up a good base of high mileage then focus more on intensity in the last 12.
Dec 2010
12:41pm, 17 Dec 2010
698 posts
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MattTheRat
Ed, that's pretty much my plan as well.
Dec 2010
12:46pm, 17 Dec 2010
699 posts
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MattTheRat
Today's planned session is 10 miles of General Aerobic running. My intention (working from home today) was to go out at 11:30 and come back for a nice lunch. But at 11am it started to snow, and by 11:30 it was a veritable blizzard (off the soft southern variety) so I postponed. The snow has stopped coming down, the fresh snow looks lovely in the garden, so I'll pop out in a minute for my run - just have a chore or two to finish for work.
Dec 2010
4:54pm, 17 Dec 2010
700 posts
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MattTheRat
Did my 10 miles this afternoon. Even in my Roclites it was still pretty slippy as the fresh snow had fallen on icy paths. Pace was slow, but it was really beautiful out there - crisp white show, blue skies, sunshine, cold, but no wind - lovely.

10 miles in 1:22 - 8:12mm @ 127bpm (66% MHR)
Dec 2010
6:03pm, 17 Dec 2010
4,563 posts
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Son of a Pronator Man
No running today. Office Christmas Party and I have just got home from an afternoon disco. Will catch up the missed 9 miles tomrrow then looks like the sunday long run will be 15 on the treadmill :(
Dec 2010
9:17pm, 17 Dec 2010
2,330 posts
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Bazoaxe
TBH I probbaly skimped on the MLR last time, it was hard to get up to 13/14/15 as I was doing these before work and I often stopped it a bit short.....

I did 9 tonight, but had a bit of pace around it as its been the forst time for a while I ve been able to run without theimpediment of snow or ice ad it was nice to go a bit faster. Figures with 6 reco very miles (and a massage) that I could allow some pace before Sundays LR
Dec 2010
2:03pm, 18 Dec 2010
701 posts
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MattTheRat
6 recovery miles in the bag. Went out before it started snowing again and had a great easy run in my Roclites down to the Olympic park and back. Listened to last week's episode of Marathon Talk, with an excellent interview with Andi Jones.

Cross-country cancelled this afternoon - and there's too much snow to drive the car. So I'll stay in and slowly do some DIY tasks. Then I'll watch the football - except that's been cancelled as well.
Dec 2010
2:08pm, 18 Dec 2010
2,332 posts
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Bazoaxe
Matt, nice run...we dont have the snow yet,but its mighty cold. 6 recovery miles for me today as well.

Snow is forecast overnight which could make tomorows 20 miles interesting !

Re Marathon talk, the interview with andi jones was one of the best so far...he was honest, spoke well, works damn hard and seemed like a decent bloke all round.

About This Thread

Maintained by MattTheRat
This thread was initially about the 70-85mpw 18 week training plan from Pfitzinger & Douglas's excellent book Advanced marathoning. It's since widened out to include all the plans from P&D for any marathon. Maybe one day we'll get the thread title changed.

Current and planned P&D plan followers include:

MtR 55-70mpw London
Mrs Jigs 55-70mpw London
TripletDad up to 55mpw Edinburgh
Alexv 70-85mpw London
Crave 70-85mpw Vienna
thechunkygentleman 55-70mpw Edinburgh
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Related Threads

  • marathon
  • methodology
  • plans
  • training

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