It’s impossible to train for a marathon and not learn significant life lessons. 

Goal: To train for and run the 2022 NYC Marathon while feeling great, looking great, and performing feats of greatness. This program includes 3 days per week of resistance training so the goal is to not lose strength or muscle mass as too many athletes tend to do when they decide to run a marathon.

Equipment: Traditional Gym Equipment – Bench, Dumbbells, Barbell, Cable Stack, Pullup Bar, Bands, Ab Cart, Physioball. Running shoes would be a good idea also.

Workout per week: 6 total (3x Runs, 3x Lifts)

Gym Membership Required? Yes. Or a well stocked home gym with the equipment listed above.

Length: 14 weeks

The intention of this program is to build you up to run the NYC marathon while maintaining your strength and lean muscle mass. You’ll be running 3 days per week and doing resistance training 3 days per week. Weekly mileage ranges from 16-35 miles per week and the program includes a 2 week taper.

For your training runs, you’ll have an EASY RUN each week, an INTERVAL DAY, and a progressive LONG RUN.

Easy runs should feel comfortable. Somedays you’re going to run a bit faster. Somedays you’re going to run a bit slower. That’s normal. Most runners need to be reminded to slow down their easy runs. The intention here is more about accumulating miles and less about running fast.

The hard pace on your interval day should be challenging but consistent. In other words, the final interval shouldn’t be slower than the first interval. These will be the fastest you run all week. If you’re new to interval training, I’d rather see you start bit slower than you might expect and finish strong versus starting fast and pooing the bed. Longer intervals will be at a slightly slower pace than shorter intervals. I call this Maximum Lactate Steady State Pace or MLSS. The goal here is to improve your ability to deal with the metabolic byproducts of running at a faster consistent pace. The Pace Chart below will help clarify your speed for each different type of run.

Most of your long runs should be done at an easy pace. I like to pick one long run per month to treat as Race Prep. These can be done at or close to your Marathon Race Pace and are a nice way to test your current level of fitness.

Here’s a pacing chart to help you dial in your various training speeds:

As always, around if you need me.

When your legs get tired run with your heart,
Rob

Phase 1

Feel free to move your training days around if necessary, but try to follow the same cadence of non-consecutive runs and lift.

As for Lift A, B, and C…