Marathon, preparation: how to do it with 3 workouts a week

The 42 km require time, dedication and continuity, but with attention to detail it is possible to concentrate everything in 3 outings every 7 days. Here are the tips

Carlotta Montanera

@
Runningcharlott

We read it everywhere: to prepare for a marathon you need to dedicate time to training. So what if I only have 3 outings a week to dedicate to running? No marathon? This is not the case: let’s see how the race can be prepared in this case.

run a marathon

Let’s start from the basics and analyze the situation. To run a marathon it is good to have good aerobic conditioning and have the ability to “stand on your feet” for a long time. In fact, the first obstacle in finishing a 42km is not the speed at which you run, but the speed ability to run for a long time. And to learn to run for a long time you need to be gradual, you can’t increase the kilometers all together. For this reason, when talking about marathon planning, we recommend at least 4 weekly outings, in order to exceed 50km/week without exponentially increasing the duration of the long run. Obviously, however, this often clashes with the daily programmingwhich sometimes doesn’t leave that much free time.

3 weekly releases

So how can you set up a job based on three weekly releases? Let’s say we have three workouts available per week: our goal is to add volume, but we also have to think about qualitybecause if I only have 3 exits I still have to guarantee one qualitative stimulus, not just aerobic. Even though the fundamental rule of 80/20 has now been accepted, i.e. 80 percent aerobic work and 20% anaerobic work, if I have little time available I will necessarily have to sacrifice the slow regenerators, replacing them with rest or mild activity compatible with daily life, such as walking.

the program

So let’s say we have training days Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. First of all, it would be a good idea to carve out at least 1 hour and 15 minutes of time each week. This is because in this way we will be able to slightly lengthen the warm-up and cool-down, increasing the total kilometric volume without overloading the system. At this point it would be good to dedicate a quality work session, such as repetitionsto work on speed. The second session can instead be a fartlekeven by sensation, to improve aerobic power. On Sunday we are left with the long one, which must be increased gradually.

the importance of the long

The long in this framework takes on strategic importance, because it is the only session that allows us to work on our aerobic base and resistance. The problem however is that we can’t increase the kilometers too quickly. The advice here is to alternate two types of stimuli. In the first part of the preparation we will go to increase by 5-10% each time, maintaining a moderate speed. This will allow us to achieve good aerobic conditioning. In the second part of the preparation however, let’s say the last 6 or 7 weeks we will insert some rhythm variation, even long, to work on race pace. Obviously these variations must not be too fast, so as to be able to keep the length of the training unchanged.

how many km per week?

This is a complex topic to define, because it is very subjective and depends on the starting point. Let’s say that 50km per week can be an interesting numberto be divided into 12-14 km in sessions over the week and 20-25 or even 30 km on the weekend.





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