I never mentioned the actual name of the marathon I’m running on 9/11. It’s the Leigh Valley Marathon (or Via Marathon). It’s a point-to-point course starting in Allentown, PA and ending in Easton, PA. The course was designed by the wonderful Bart Yasso! I love Bart!
I wanted to do a review of the FIRST training plan, which I used for the NJ Marathon. For a description of the plan and the modifications I made, please see this post. Overall, I really liked it and will be using it again (with modifications) for the LVM.
What I liked:
1. The FIRST program has specific Boston qualifying plans. For NJM, I used the 3:50 plan and I liked that all my workouts were focused on getting me to run a 3:50 marathon.
2. Nothing but quality workouts. There are 3 key runs per week: speed, tempo, and long. I added a 4th run each week (an easy run) to increase my overall mileage. These key runs were hard but since my overall mileage was lower, my body could handle them.
3. The speed workouts each week nearly killed me; but they absolutely without a doubt made me faster.
4. The tempo runs were manageable and I was able to do them without too much difficultly.
5. I felt the long runs were a little easy. I often ran faster than I was supposed to but I generally do that anyway (see this post for an explanation). My endurance is much greater than my speed and this training plan made that very apparent as I was sucking wind at the track!
6. I only had 1 case of “brick legs”. Usually when I train for a marathon, this happens a few times. Again, I attribute this to less overall mileage.
7. Running 4 days a week allowed more time for yoga, which I desperately needed during this training cycle.
What I did not like:
1. Even though running 4 days a week was a plus, I had to get over feeling like a lazy slug. I have always run 5 days a week, with 2 rest days. But I really wanted to make yoga a top priority so I kept to the 4-days-a-week running regime. With 3 tough runs a week and 1 easy run, I don’t think running a 5th day would have any added value.
2. My overall mileage was low. I had to get over this too. I maxed out at 43 miles per week! My body doesn’t thrive well on high mileage (I consider that to be 60s and 70s) but in previous training cycles I was getting into the 50s. It was hard to not see those numbers climb higher than 43 but I think my legs were thankful.
3. This wasn’t an issue for me but I want to give warning to anyone thinking of using this plan. There is no base building phase. Most plans have you build mileage first (slowly and safely) before you do speed work. With the FIRST plan, you literally “hit the ground running” (pun intended) with speed work. I wouldn’t recommend this plan for beginners. If you don’t have a strong base of 30 miles per week established add about 6 weeks onto this training plan to get your base building time in. You’ll be less likely to get injured.
What training plan are you currently using? Or are you winging it? I love seeing what plans people use to train. It’s such a matter of preference.
I based my training plan loosely on the FIRST method, but the baby requires much more flexibility than any training plan can offer, so I make it up as I go for the most part.
Also, there are almost no 50K training plans, so I just wing it for that too. 🙂
Hey Kristy! I’ve been following your blog for a while. I’ve been using the FIRST training program too! I’ve only used it for two half marathon so far (my first full is in November & I plan to use it then). I loved it. I hated the speed work – but it worked, like you said! I beat my first half marathon time by 13 minutes on this plan! For me, running three days a week actually helped me because I have issues with my IT band. Now that I’m training for my third half (2nd on the FIRST plan) running & the spin bike every other day is starting to get to me. My motivation is low & maybe I’m just board with it. So I’m trying to switch it up some. Did you run into this? Any suggestions?
Congratulations on NJ by the way!! You did awesome!
Hi Meredith! It can get a bit boring since you know each week you’re doing speed, tempo, and long. I found for me that a little speed work goes a long way and sometimes I would swap a speed session for an easy run (to give myself a break) or do a tempo instead. I really try to follow the plan but I do modify. You could also swap the speed work with hill repeats or just a hilly run. Hill work makes you so much stronger. Good luck…what marathon are you running in Nov?
I’m a total beginner, but I’m following the Fitness magazine Intermediate plan. When I started, I was sort of between the Beginner version & Intermediate. I am trying to build a base and increase endurance, so this is working for me. I don’t think it would be as helpful for an experienced runner.
You’re doing exactly what you should be doing! So many beginners want to try and do it all (speed + endurance) and ultimately, get injured. Once you build a nice base and your body adapts to the increase in mileage, then you can “fine tune” with speed work.
I appreciated your review…I have enjoyed the FIRST plan as I have no injuries and have gotten faster. I too struggled with the 3 days a week and added an easy day.
M marathon is this weekend, so i will have a rview of it too! 🙂