Manitoba Marathon 2014 – Scheduled miles versus actual comparison

This page is a comparison of scheduled training versus actual for the 2014 Manitoba Marathon and the 2014 WPS Half marathon. The first part will be a presentation of the comparison schedule versus actual and the second will be the schedule as it was written up.

PART 1 – ACTUAL

To start off with one of the big things to see is that from Feb 12^th to June 15^th only 17.35 training miles were missed. This is significantly better than my training period for the 2013 Manitoba Marathon where I missed 226.4 miles of training – definitely was more focused this year and it showed in the race and in my training times. For the 2014 Goofy Challenge training period I was around 27 miles over schedule. So I might not be as high up as last fall but while I have missed more miles I actually had more scheduled in the period so I am still ahead. Plus I finally managed to beat my 12 year old half marathon PR this spring as part of this training schedule – this put me 74 seconds faster on the half in May this year versus October last year.

Most of the lost training miles this year were due to a hamstring issue in late May otherwise I would most likely have been over schedule for this period as well.

This plan worked well for me (as did being focused). By following the plan and watching my diet I actually managed to set both my half marathon PR in May (breaking a 12 year old PR) and my full marathon PR in June (breaking a 9 year old PR).

Link to my 2014 Manitoba Marathon race report to see my thoughts on how I did.

And likewise a link to my 2014 WPS Half Marathon race report.

Was 231.5 pounds going into 2013 Manitoba Marathon – was 222 going into this one.

PART 2 – Original Schedule

With the 2014 Goofy Challenge completed in January, I decided I needed to come up with a plan to take me through to the Manitoba Marathon in June 2014. That plan is below…but first a couple links to older plans that I have used in the past:

This training plan is a modification of the Hal Higdon Intermediate 2 plan – available here:

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51140/Marathon-Intermediate-2-Training-Program

and the Lee Hoedl Goofy Challenge training plan – available here:

http://www.hoedlshaven.com/DISNEYMARATHON/goofychallenge.html)

I highly recommend both of the plans above and Lee Hoedl’s Disney World Marathon videos are awesome – look him up on YouTube – his All Along The Route videos are great to show you the kinds of things to expect if you have never done a runDisney race before or to give a bit of nostalgia and motivation if you have.

The Plan (as it was originally written and put on the 18 week training plan page)

I am in pretty decent shape at this point, in fact near the best I have been for running marathons (even if I can’t get that to translate in a race…) and I want to make sure I build on that and finally break my PRs on the half and full marathon distances this year. My half PR is 1:46:11 set in 2002 and I got within 63 seconds of that in October 2013 and my full PR is 4:15:01 set in 2005 and I think I could have broken that at the Walt Disney World marathon in early January 2014 but I had some issues that made me miss the time.

So considering I am in a good spot I want to build on that. At the point of writing this I am back from the 2014 Goofy Challenge, have done near to 50 miles since we got home (even while fighting a flu) and will shortly be heading out on a weeklong family vacation. Once I get back from that vacation though training begins in earnest for May and June races.

I am currently signed up for the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) Half marathon in Winnipeg taking place on May 4th, 2014 and it will be this half I will be looking to to finally beat my half PR. (edit May 12, 2014 – Done! 1:46:00 new PR!)

I have been thinking about the Fargo Marathon the following weekend but I’m not sure it will happen at this point. But if I do it the week 13 of the training plan below will be adjusted to account for that race. (edit: May 12, 2014 – did not do the Fargo Marathon)

I will be doing the 2014 Manitoba Marathon on June 15th, 2014 as well. This will be my race to finally beat my marathon PR. (edit June 15^th, 2014 – done 4:09:44 in bad weather)

After that race is done I will glide into the summer trying to maintain the level I am at at that point while enjoying as much time as I can in the pool with the kids. I still need to work out what my fall schedule will be but a lot of that will depend on if I do the 2015 Goofy Challenge (current plan to give me my 5th Goofy Challenge during the 10th anniversary of the race) and if I don’t quite break my PRs and I feel I need redemption. (edit May 12, 2014 – forgot to update the page – I am actually signed up for the Dopey Challenge for January 2015 now. So my 5th Goofy Challenge will be part of that race challenge. If I stay healthy my marathon PR should go down at the Manitoba Marathon in June and then I will be training to do the Dopey well but not trying for a PR on the full there – I want to just go and run well and get as may pictures with the characters as I can this time!)

Tuesdays and Thursdays are speed and hill work to improve my cardiovascular level and train for faster running.

Wednesdays and Saturdays are for practicing race pace and putting in the mileage and strengthening the legs.

Sundays are the long runs to build endurance and train the body to run for long periods of time.

Some things to think about when looking at the plan

So some things I have learned (which I also put in the Manitoba Marathon 2013 analysis page):

Short runs – need to do these runs to get the cardiovascular level up and train the body to run faster.

Medium runs – I tend to go out too fast at the start of a race – the medium runs are a good time to practice race pacing to try to correct that.

Long runs – this is where you go long and slow and train your body to be ready for the distance of the marathon – missing some of these longer runs will impact your endurance on race day.

So combined with what I learned from the 2013 Goofy Challenge I would say that you can miss some training miles and it is ok but don’t miss any of the long ones – those are vital. For the shorts and mediums each individual one of those runs is maybe not as important as the longs but they have a purpose and if you find yourself consistently missing one or the other you should take steps to correct that. They each train your body and your mind differently than the long runs do and that is important on race day.