Too Many Marathons Too Soon
Many MCRRC members have just completed the Marine Corps Marathon, Chicago, Twin Cities, or one of the many other marathons offered this fall. For those planning their next marathon before the spring, especially Northern Central Trails in late November, I offer this simple advice — FORGET IT!
Here are some simple facts about the stress that a marathon places on a runner's body. A runner needs to taper for three to four weeks before the marathon to recover from the pounding the legs receive during training. Studies indicate that the optimal recovery period after a marathon should be about one month before one resumes training and speed work. Otherwise, scar tissue may accumulate in your legs and years from now leave you so damaged that you will have to give up running. Accordingly, if you run two marathons a year, you should be spending four months each year in a taper or recovery mode thereby leaving only eight months for training. Run three in a year and you will only have six months available for training.
The other downside to running more than two marathons a year is that the pounding makes it very difficult for runners to improve their times. I have been approached by a number of folks who run multiple marathons each year seeking advice about improving their marathon pace. In general what I have noticed is that they do not race shorter distances. They may run an occasional 10K but rarely do they make an all-out effort. I believe the problem is that long, slow distance training by itself trains runners to become very good at running long and slow. While long, slow distance training has a definite place in building a base, runners who want to improve their marathon pace have to add anaerobic threshold workouts to their training routine.
Let me describe how I worked with one of my runners who was a chronic marathoner. He had run a relatively fast second marathon in the late 1980s (a 3:19 at age 40). He ran 21 marathons over the next seven years in pursuit of a sub 3:10. However, 3:19 remained his PR. He would try speed work, but it did not agree with him, in large part because he was always doing long runs. His 10K PR was around 42 minutes. Admittedly, he shied away from running 10Ks because short races were uncomfortable compared with the plodding of the marathon.
Once I got him to train with a heart monitor, major changes started to happen. I told him not to run a marathon for at least one year and to limit his long runs to twelve miles. I put him in a 10K training schedule. Over the course of a year, I put him through several training phases, some of which included anaerobic threshold workouts such as 3 times 1 mile at 80-85% of maximum heart rate (roughly 10 mile race pace) as well as 20 minute anaerobic threshold runs also at 80-85%. The result is that within a year he broke 39 minutes for the 10K, 65 minutes for 10 miles and 19 minutes for the 5K. Only then did I let him run a marathon — with the happy result of a PR of sub 3:10.
What happened to this fellow is that he got fresh legs. All that marathon training, especially those 18-22 milers take a real toll on a runner's legs, especially when he averages less than 60 miles a week. By running more than two marathons a year, this runner never let his legs completely recover from the marathon because he was off training for the next one. Once he had fresh legs, he could engage in anaerobic threshold training. Improving your anaerobic threshold is the best way to run a faster marathon and you simply cannot do quality anaerobic threshold training with dead legs.
My recommendation is that most runners limit themselves to one marathon a year or two at the most. Run a fall marathon and then race 10Ks in the spring. Not only will your legs thank you, but you may also find your race times coming down.
Coach West is a licensed coach, affiliated with MCRRC, and available to coach motivated adult runners. A portion of his coaching fees for MCRRC members is returned to MCRRC. For further information about personal coaching opportunities, contact Coach West at kirtwest@comcast.net.
