Oh, just re-read the second part of your post Mike. I'm doing Paris in the spring. It will be my third marathon. I've been running about 4 years but only really upped the mileage last year, when I did my first two marathons and four halves. I'm not fast; my marathon PB is 4h 15m. I'd like to knock ten minutes off that in Paris, which seems realistic if all goes to plan.

Hi Mike.

With FIRST training for the marathon the long run starts at 13m and quickly gets to 20m by week four. The pace is derived from the runners 5k time (using VDOT type tables plus X seconds extra per mile). Is starts quite gently but get a lot faster once an endurance base is established. It is always within the steady range however, but often at the top end of it. There are 5 x 20m runs and two x 18m, with almost no cut-back weeks. The other runs are an interval session and a tempo run, with all of these paces being strictly derived from 5k pace. I cross train on a static bike and do two strength training sessions.

I have many reservations about this plan. It seems wrong to put such a high % of weekly miles into the long run - over 60%. The total weekly milage doesn't get greater then 35m, which seems low.  The whole plan is very bossy and prescriptive, which can seem quite demotivating sometimes.

On the plus side I save time and don't have to get out the door so much during the winter months. I am generally less tired between runs with the greater recovery times. It also just shakes things up a bit. I'm normally very bad at making myself run faster and I fall into the trap of running almost very thing at a wishy-washy steady pace. No chance of that with this plan and I find I am getting fitter, faster and my tolerance levels are improving.

I won't be using this plan for every marathon but right now it's doing some good and the process is interesting so I'll stick it out. Only another 10 weeks until I can taper!

Ali

I have never used the Furman route to a marathon and it must work for some or else it wouldn't still hit the screens, if you see what I mean.

My observations; if the three runs are pacy, where does the long run fit in? The long run is key and has to be at a steady pace to make the body adaptations required to complete the marathon If your runs are too fast, you will be in the wrong training zone. You also need to be able to run hard when you are tired. My worry is that this schedule will leave you too tired to get the quality (fast) sessions done correctly.

What do the two non-running days entail? Are these complimentary to your goal - running a marathon? Yoga & pilates while helpful, will not get you fit for example, and riding a stationary bike hard will get you - well, nowhere except tired again! Swimming can be relaxing and aerobic, but is not running specific.

An alternative plan might look like this:

Mon - rest; Tues - interval session; Wed - easy; Thurs - tempo session; Fri - rest (or weights); Sat - easy or parkrun; Sun - long run 

There are plenty of free alternative plans available on line including from the VMLondon Marathon website; Runners World/Asics and others.

I hope you end up with the right plan for you.......which mara are you running and what is your running CV like so far?

I'm thinking of using the FIRST training plan for my spring marathon. Does anyone have any experience of this? (for those who aren't familiar with it, it involves 3 runs and 2 cross-trainings each week, but with each of the runs at quite a challenging pace).