A Pace Day Followed by a Hill Interval Day?

I know I have already posted “The Plan is Merely a Guide,” but I am taking that to heart as I move into my next three weeks of marathon training. Recently, my friend @run_for_clarity asked me about my experience with the Run with Hal app. He started a week with a rest day (which was preceded by a long run). Then, the app scheduled two recovery days in a row, followed by a speed day, base day, pace day, and long run. He ultimately looked at the posted schedule on the Hal Higdon website, which looked much “saner,” and rearranged his runs to match the website.

Last week, I finished a step-back week with a 7 mile marathon pace run on Friday, a 10 mile long run on Saturday, and a 3 mile recovery run on Sunday. Monday’s run was scheduled as an 8 mile marathon pace run, and a 5x hill interval session was scheduled for Tuesday. I was puzzled by two intense workouts back-to-back. Wednesday was a rest day, Thursday was an 8 mile base run, Friday was a 3 mile recovery run, Saturday was a 16 mile long run, and Sunday was a 4 mile recovery run. I moved the 8 mile base run to Monday and kept the hills on Tuesday. I will run a 3 mile recovery on Wednesday and rest on Thursday. I will run 8 miles at marathon pace on Friday, 16 long miles on Saturday, and a 4 mile recovery run on Sunday. I know the plan likes to put pace runs on the day before the long run, so this modification to the app schedule makes sense to me.

As I look forward, the app schedule seems a little wonky. I need to modify it anyway because the app thinks that my tune-up Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon is on my typical long run day, but it's actually on Sunday. Up to this point, the app has scheduled recovery days on the bookends of the training week. In the future, I will mimic the plan's flow on the Hal Higdon website.

How is your training going? For those preparing for the Chicago Marathon, this week is most likely your peak mileage week. I would like to hear about it in the comments below.

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