[…] run under 2:30 at the same race the next year. As with all runners I advise, I asked Joe for samples of his past training, present fitness, and future goals. Looking at his past training logs, I noticed that Joe seemed to break down on aregular basis. His training log indicated that Joe ran too hard on his easy days. He could handle high mileage; it was a matter of finding the proper mix of lactate threshold and VO,max-enhancing workouts that would be the key.

After a month of advancing Joe’s aerobic capacity with a steady dose of relaxed mileage, I began to incorporate LT workouts once a week. Joe was about a 35-minute 10K runner at this time, so I wanted him to do his 4- to 5mile runs and long intervals about 10 seconds slower than his 10K pace, or 5:50 per mile. The rest of his weekly miles were to be run no faster than 6:40 pace, preferably more in the 7-minute range.

After two months of this, along with an occasional road race, Joe set his sights on the marathon. I wanted Joe to build up to doing 10 to 15 percent of his weekly miles at LT pace, which by June of 1995 had dropped to 5:30 per mile. I also wanted to give Joe a taste of VO,max training, so I introduced biweekly workouts, which involved running 2.5 miles of intervals at 5K pace, which was about 5:10. Intervals ranged from 400 to 1,200 meters with a 400meter recovery jog between each.

In September, I introduced LT training aimed at a sub-2:30 marathon. Table 5 depicts Joe’s training in August, 1995 during this phase. Notice how the long run is extended to 20-plus miles—this is the most critical training element for the marathon. The long run is where your body adapts to running distances beyond your goal race distance. Also notice the use of tempo training (LT runs) to teach the body to run hard aerobically and to help rid the body of lactate. This is the most critical leg speed training for the marathon.

In September 1995, I reduced the total weekly mileage from 55 to 45 miles because Joe was getting worn down from his previous month’s training. This is the taper phase of his training for the Chicago Marathon in October.

Joe ran 2:29:31 at Chicago, just missing his goal. But he had improved from 3:06 to 2:29:31, a 36.5-minute improvement!

TAPER TRAINING

As stated above, Joe’s training shows a reduction in weekly mileage in his last month before the race. Notice how the long run remains at 18 miles to retain the fitness Joe had built, but the daily runs and intervals are reduced dramatically. The reduction helps Joe recover from months of hard training, giving him fresh legs and a strong mental outlook on race day.

This taper phase is very important to all marathoners. Many runners want to continue high mileage right up to the race, afraid that any reduction might mean a loss of fitness. The reduction is not a loss of fitness—it’s a recovery phase.

The adaptation to training occurs during recovery, not during the training. As long as you maintain some intensity in your training, your aerobic capacity will remain intact during the taper. The taper results in improved performance on race day because of fresh legs, good glycogen storage, and confidence.

As mentioned earlier, the last training run before the race can include 2-4 miles at your goal marathon pace. This trains the CNS to remember goal pace and further reinforces your confidence. The day before the race, do an easy 2-3 mile run to loosen your legs. The morning of the race, do an easy warm-up of 1-2 miles before the race start.

Mark Conover, an exercise physiologist and certified running coach, is the founder of Boulder Center For Sports Medicine and Physiology and is Head Cross Country Coach at theUniversity of Colorado in Boulder. He is co-author of The Competitive Runner’s Handbook and The Competitive Cross Country Runner’s Handbook. He has run 66 marathons and has a personal best of 2:16.