It is the dream of every marathoner to be able to go below 4 or at least a 4 hour. The thing about 4 hour is that , it does not come naturally. At least for most normal human beings with no athletic base in the younger days and you further abuse it by having bad lifestyle after you start to work in the society. Many people blame it on their jobs, not enough time to work out etc etc. Those are simply excuses. If there is a will there is a way. Especially for now, we have so many 24 hour Gym opening in Major cities in the world. There is always a venue for you to do that training.
Now that it is the lieu period, I found myself Googling for the ” Manual to make a 4 hour marathon ” happen. There are many many information inside the internet. Really glad that these days social media and internet has make it easier for us to retrieve information and gain knowledge.
Stumbled across this article
How to Run a Marathon in Under 4 hours.
Website: http://www.runnersgoal.com/how-to-run-a-marathon-in-under-4-hours/
Here are some of the main points from the article.
Long Run –The long runs are essential for the marathon training. Most will recommend at least a 35km trial before going for a FM. But simply doing a long run without planning and build up can cause injuries. This can be detrimental especially if the injury can land you to non participation for the race itself. There are those that suggest that the benefit of the long run is really time on your feet and pace is not important while others will tell you that it is necessary to run your long runs not tangibly slower than your anticipated marathon pace. Something in the middle will be good. Make sure that you do not over train. This is very important, and no books or information in this world can teach you how not to get yourself into that, this is because we are all made differently and the tolerance level of one varies. The time of your feet aspect of the long run is important as that is the way you are going to build yourself up to a point of being able to take the beating of marathon day.
Marathon Pace Tempo Runs – Aside from the long run, the marathon pace tempo run is really the next most important workout for marathon success. The marathon pace for a sure 4 hour marathon is about 5:35min/ KM. Sound like really fast. Well , you have to pace yourself out, are you the short bursts type or the long going type. I have seen people who sprint for 10 km, walk for 0.5 km and sprint another 10km , making it 4 sets and still make that 4 hour marathon! But of course a consistent pace will be the best especially for safety concerns.
Speedwork – Speedwork can take many forms but every variant is focused on helping your body learn how to run at a fast pace, faster than the lactate threshold pace. This in turn helps you improve your VO2max (or body’s oxygen utilization efficiency) and speeds you up. The importance of VO2max or speedwork in your training is directly proportional to distance so the shorter the distance of your race. Since the marathon is a long race, speedwork is important but not as important as the other elements of a successful training program. In other words, if your week is going to pot, drop the speed workout from your training plan first so you can still get your tempo and long runs in. Usually doing your speed work in a track is the best, this is because you can totally concentrate on the speed and not be disturbed by the environment around ( cars, bumpy roads etc.). Do try to incorporate the speed work into your regular runs In such a workout, one would warm up for a mile and then alternate running at 5k-10k race pace for either 1k or 1 miles before settling into a jog for an equivalent distance as the interval (i.e., 1k to 1 mile) before starting the process again. You would repeat this until you completed the number of intervals that your plan calls for.
Recovery Runs – These are what they sound like they are. One should never do two hard workouts back-to-back. You are going to want to break those up with a recovery run where you are just going out for a run and doing what your body allows you to do. On these sort of runs just do what you can as the objective is to get out and run for the enjoyment of running and while you are at it working out the residual effects of your harder efforts.
Strength Training – You do not need to go crazy here. Keep it simple. All you are trying to do here is to strengthen your core and joints to increase your power and make your body more resistant to the wear and tear of a marathon training program. No need to get a gym membership and really all you need to do is what you learned in gym class. I am talking push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, lunges, squats, etc. What I have found that works for me is to do these sort of exercise 2-3 times as week for the biggest bang for your buck. If you can just read up on some simple stretches ( esp Yoga like poses ) are really good.
Recovery Massage- You do not need to spend a bomb here. Simply tennis balls and golf balls will do the trick. Keep rolling along the tight and strained areas. Runner’s quads and hamstrings are really tight and tensed. We need to get those loosen up. After a long run, try as far as possible to soak your legs in some cold water. After that the rest of the week, go for some nice warm foot soaks. Treat your feet like your face, a lot of tender loving care. This is also esp so for the toes and the nails . Keep them short and clean.
Sample for a training programme for 4 months.
|
Day #1 (Recovery) |
Day #2 (Speed) |
Day #3 (Recovery) |
Day #4 (MP Tempo) |
Day #5 (Recovery) |
Day #6 (Long) |
Day #7 (Rest) |
|
| 1 |
6 Miles |
3 x 1k |
4 Miles |
4 Miles |
4 Miles |
8 Miles |
Off |
| 2 |
6 Miles |
2 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
5 Miles |
4 Miles |
12 Miles |
Off |
| 3 |
6 Miles |
4 x 1k |
4 Miles |
6 Miles |
5 Miles |
14 Miles |
Off |
| 4 |
6 Miles |
3 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
7 Miles |
6 Miles |
12 Miles |
Off |
| 5 |
6 Miles |
5 x 1k |
6 Miles |
5 Miles |
5 Miles |
16 Miles |
Off |
| 6 |
6 Miles |
3 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
7 Miles |
6 Miles |
14 Miles |
Off |
| 7 |
6 Miles |
6 x 1k |
6 Miles |
8 Miles |
7 Miles |
18 Miles |
Off |
| 8 |
6 Miles |
3 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
8 Miles |
6 Miles |
16 Miles |
Off |
| 9 |
6 Miles |
6 x 1k |
6 Miles |
8 Miles |
8 Miles |
20 Miles |
Off |
| 10 |
6 Miles |
4 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
9 Miles |
8 Miles |
16 Miles |
Off |
| 11 |
6 Miles |
6 x 1k |
6 Miles |
9 Miles |
6 Miles |
22 Miles |
Off |
| 12 |
6 Miles |
4 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
9 Miles |
8 Miles |
16 Miles |
Off |
| 13 |
6 Miles |
6 x 1k |
6 Miles |
10 Miles |
6 Miles |
20 Miles |
Off |
| 14 |
6 Miles |
3 x 1 Mile |
5 Miles |
10 Miles |
8 Miles |
12 Miles |
Off |
| 15 |
6 Miles |
4 x 1k |
6 Miles |
10 Miles |
6 Miles |
8 Miles |
Off |
| 16 |
6 Miles |
4 Miles |
4 Miles |
Off |
2 Miles |
Race |
Off |
Always plan your races early and wisely, unless you are very seasoned runner, running back to back marathon is not really recommended for beginners.
