Full Marathon program: Week 16
This is a full marathon (42.195 km) training plan for Mumbai Marathon in under 4hr 10min and New Delhi Marathon in under 4hr, which, respectively, are in 3 weeks and 9 weeks away. I am of the opinion that anyone who is able bodied and is remotely fit, is capable of running these times with appropriate training. Remember, it’s about smart training, not over-training.
It is important to note that, this plan is applicable to those who have managed to do half marathon in last few weeks in under 2 hrs in last few weeks.
Tuesday: Tempo Run
Run 5 km between 25min 15sec - 25min 30sec. Rest for 2-3 min to recover completely. Repeat 5km twice more in the time suggested above.
Wednesday: Repeat exercises and drills from last week. 30-45 min walk or easy jog.
Thursday: 2 km repeat intervals in 9min 45sec - 10min. Do 5 to 7 repeats with 2-3 min long rest between repeats. All repeats need to be at the same pace throughout. Remember you need to maintain the same pace throughout all the repeats.
Friday: Today is an active rest day. Do 30-45 min walk. Please don’t exert yourself. Simply focus on time on feet.
Saturday: Repeat exercises and drills from Monday. 45-60 min walk - run with focus only on time and not on speed or distance. Take walk breaks for a min every 15 minutes.
Sunday: Today will be the longest run till Mumbai Marathon. Please remember to run only for time and not for speed or distance. Walk - run for 3hrs 30min to 4hrs. Its ok if you take longer breaks every hr, maybe 2-5 min. Idea is to be as fresh as you can be every time you restart.
Dr Rajat Chauhan is a student of running & pain and a Sports Medicine doctor who is an author of The Pain Handbook: A non-Surgical way of managing Back, Neck and Knee Pain. He has been organising La Ultra - The High, a 333km run in Leh-Ladakh for last 7 years now. Twitter: @drrajatchauhan
