DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
I am about 95% sure I am going to try for a PR in December at the Kiawah Island half. My husband and I loved the island and the course was beautiful so I am excited to go back. I am also probably 75% sure I want to try for a marathon PR at the beginning of next year, but I need to reach out to coach @DopeyBadger to figure out what would work best. I've been so busy with moving and trying to get started on this house build that I keep forgetting to email him. Maybe now that I have typed it here it will actually happen.
Alright, so a few options that are kind of intertwined.
Option 1: Two separate plans
The Kiawah HM is December 14th. A normal length plan of 16 weeks would put the start around 8/24/19. You could probably go as little as 10-12 weeks and still be good here (so starting 10/5/19).
Then a week off means the marathon plan would start 12/23/19. With another normal length plan, the marathon would be around 4/13/20 (16 weeks).
Option 2: One plan to cover them both
I like a HM PR attempt to fall within a M PR attempt on two very specific weekends. I normally design the training plans on a 4 week cycle (Peak, Moderate, Peak, Recovery). I also typically give a 21 day taper unless someone has reason to aim for 14 instead. So that leaves a typical design as (when counting backwards):
Marathon Race Week
Taper
Taper
Peak A
Mod 1
Peak B
Recover
Peak C
Mod 2
Peak D
Recover
I like to hold Peak A and B steady as our attempts at max long runs. And then Recovery week is a necessity to attack those Peaks well. So that leaves us with a window of Peak C, Mod 2, and Peak D (or 8-10 weeks out from race day).
So if we placed the Kiawah HM at 8-10 weeks out from the M, then you would be looking for something between Feb 8th and Feb 23rd.
But last I heard you were dreaming of Minnie Mouse on the WDW Marathon medal. That would place Kiawah on Mod 1 (between the two peak weeks and 5 weeks out from race day). It's certainly cutting it close, but it truly is the last week I'd consider racing if you did so.
ETA: Forgot to say that this single plan would probably start around 18 weeks out from the M if it were the Feb races (so 10/5 to 10/19). If it were for Disney, then it would probably start 9/8 to 9/22.