The Schedule that I have devised is on a spread sheet in Excel which can be down loaded onto your computer. It is totally interactive and can provide you with a 20 wk training schedule tailored to your particular capability and available training time.
I have suggested a schedule, so all you have to do is to enter your projected marathon time in Cell B100 and your schedule will be entered in each of the target cells. This will give you the number of hours you would have to each day, week and month.
I favour using time as a basis since many runners under estimate the distance they run, but you cannot under estimate time only the pace at which you are running.
For those more experienced runners, then if you wish, you can base your schedule on distance. To do this simply enter 26.2 into cell B100 and it will present you with a schedule based on miles.
The difference column will provide you with a + or – result depending on whether you have exceeded or not exceeded your time/mileage for that week, so giving you the opportunity to made up the difference the following week, although I would not recommend this, as you could end up by over training which could lead to injury or excessive tiredness or both.
Finally for those who might find this schedule too demanding or too easy you can replace the current figures in the target rows with your own and the schedule will be adjusted accordingly.
I would also suggest that within this schedule you work in some races to measure how your training is progressing. Some suggestions are the Cranleigh 21 the Reading and Fleet ½ marathons and the Bramley 10 and 20 mile races as well as the X country races,( it’s always good to get off road if you can), but since most of these are on a Sunday so extra miles should be run before or after these races. Maybe the Saturday run could be extended to make up the difference.
Click here to launch the spreadsheet
If you have any questions I can be contacted on 01252 843639 or michaelcloke@bt.com.
Enjoy your