2014 Marine Corps Marathon

My 2014 Marine Corps Marathon Training Plan

Since I began running in 2008, I've read LOTS of contradicting articles, bought a shit load of Runner's World magazines, and tried and tweaked my routine many times. 

When I began, I started by running four days a week. When I trained for the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, I was running four days a week and I trained for six months for the marathon. That was the year I developed problems with my left lateral meniscus. Since then, I have decided that four days a week was too much, and a six month marathon schedule was just too much for my body.

By the time I was training for the 2012 MCM, I was running three days a week, and I had pared down my marathon training to three months. The three days a week routine was working fine, but in hindsight, a three month marathon training schedule was too short....it did not allow for rest weeks in between two or three weeks of gradually increasing mileage.

That brings me to present day (April 2014). Right now I seldom buy running magazines anymore, as every new article I read now looks like every other articles I have read in the past. I have also learned to ignore most expert advice, and came to realize that every runner has unique physiological characteristics and needs their own equally unique training routine. I have now been running two days a week....one short and one long. I have also raised my short run mileage and raised my long run mileage, but without raising my weekly total mileage. When I used to run three days a week, I ran two 5Ks and one 10K a week for a total of 12.4 miles a week. Now I run one 4-5 miler and one 8 miler a week, for a total of 12-13 miles. My body seems to respond well to this new routine, as I get faster, and get less sore after an 8 miler, and recover from my runs much more quickly that I did when I ran three days a week. I'm not saying that this is the best routine for everybody....it's just a routine that seems to work best for my unique physiology, genetics, diet, and age (I was born in 1970....you do the math).

Below is the marathon training plan that I drafted for myself this year. It's four months long, increases weekly mileage by increments of 2 miles, keeps the same mileage for two weeks (for the most part) before going up again, incorporates a recovery week every three weeks, and keeps my two runs a week routine. Here it is:

Week 1: Short run 4 miles, long run 8 miles (this is my present base already)
Week 2: Short run 5 miles, long run 9 miles (14 miles total)
Week 3: Short run 4 miles, long run 10 miles (long run incremented up, but weekly total still 14 miles)
Week 4: Short run 5 miles, long run 6 miles (recovery week)
Week 5: Short run 4 miles, long run 12 miles
Week 6: Short run 5 miles, long run 13 miles
Week 7: Short run 4 miles, long run 14 miles
Week 8: Short run 5 miles, long run 10 miles (recovery week)
Week 9: Short run 4 miles, long run 16 miles
Week 10: Short run 5 miles, long run 17 miles
Week 11: Short run 4 miles, long run 18 miles
Week 12: Short run 5 miles, long run 14 miles (recovery week)
Week 13: Short run 4 miles, long run 20 miles
Week 14: Short run 5 miles, long run 12 miles (taper begins)
Week 15: Short run 4 miles, long run 8 miles
Week 16: No short run, long run 26.2 at 2014 MCM