RunBayou: Prepare for Boston

RunBayou: Prepare for Boston

– Scientifically based –
– Goal driven –
– Run by you –

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan - Tom Landry

This 13 week training program is designed for folks who ran in the 2006 Houston Marathon (or other January marathon) and want to prepare for the 110^th Boston Marathon on April 17th, 2006. In addition to post-marathon recovery, the training incorporates four (4) races in the 2006 HARRA spring racing season.

Notice that the course drops ~400 feet in the first fifteen and a half miles. Yea, I know Boston is famous for the Newton Hills but they come AFTER you've been running downhill for over half the race. If your quadriceps aren't prepared that kind of pounding, you're in for a real treat on the hills (when you need those quads) and the last 5 miles when the quad pounding starts again.

General goals

	Improve downhill running Why? Because the first 14 miles and last 5 miles of Boston are a net downhill.
	Improve uphill running Why? Because miles 15-21 in Boston are uphill. The last hill in Newton is Heartbreak Hill. Any hill that has it's own name has got to be respected!
	Maintain and/or improve endurance running Why? Because a marathon is 26.2 miles!

Strategy

	Recover from the 2006 Houston Marathon
	Do lots of downhill running
	Hill bounding for ankle and calf strength
	Speed-work for the spring racing season
	Tempo runs and marathon specific workouts
	Taper

Training phases, mileage, and workouts

How do you build up your mileage? What workouts should you focus on? How many workouts per week? What pace should you run in each workbout? How many weeks are in each phase of the program? What race or training is coming up next week?

The answers to these questions can be found at these links.

	Mileage and Phase chart - shows the trends of weekly mileage, phase dates and lengths, weeks until the marathon, and 2006 spring series races. Note: The trend of weekly mileage is what is important...not necessarily the actual mileage.
	Training Calendar - shows workouts for each week in the program. Current Week
	Weekly workouts - Details for each week of the 13 week program.

Mileage and Phase chart
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13 week marathon training program

Legend

2006 Boston Marathon Training Program - Title of the chart

Miles - Miles per week; this is only a relative indicator; your mileage may vary (ymmv)

Week of training - Weeks begin on Monday and end on Sunday; The dates indicate the end of the week (i.e., 5 Mar is a Sunday, the last day of the first week of Phase 4)

Start of Phase boxes - Indicate the end of the first week of a phase and correspond to the large blue dots

	Recovery from Houston Marathon, 2 weeks
	Phase 2 & Phase 3 - Hill bounding and Repetition, 4 weeks
	Phase 4 - Intervals, 3 weeks
	Phase 5 - Marathon specific, 2 weeks
	Taper - Taper before the marathon, 2 weeks

Blue dots - Indicate total miles per week run; Large blue dots are the beginning of each phase

Blue Line - Indicates weekly mileage trend
Note: Mileage generally increases for 2 weeks and then decreases for 1 week
IMPORTANT: Mileage per week drops at the beginning of each phase AND on a race week; this is by design and helps reduce the stress when introducing new workouts.

Red dots - indicate distance of the long run for the week

Red Line - indicates the trend of the long runs for each week
Note: Long runs are ~33% of total miles per week.

Green triangles on Red Line - These indicate the following Houston area races; Buffalo Wallow (~6K cross-country), Hermann Park 5 miler, Bayou City Classic (10K), Bellaire Trolley Run (5K) respectively.

Green circle - Indicates the 2006 Boston Marathon.

Training Calendar
January February March April
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Below is a calendar of the runbayou training program.
Note: The program starts in the recovery week after the Houston Marathon on January 15th, 2006

Phase details can be found at the beginning of each week.

January 2006
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MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
2 Taper Week 1 Total mileage this week is ~52% of planned peak mileage Easy	3 Easy	4 Easy	5 4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests	6 Easy	7 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~10 miles easy OR Easy	8 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~10 miles easy OR Easy
9 Taper Week 2 Mileage this week to Saturday is ~30% of planned peak mileage	10 4x100-1200 at threshold pace with full recoveries	11 Easy	12 Easy w/strides	13 Easy or rest.	14 ~30 minutes easy Put out your race clothes, bib #, sports gel, shoes, etc.	15 Houston Marathon 26.2 miles as fast as you can!
16 Recover, relax and take it easy Mileage this week is ~30% or less of planned peak mileage	17 Recover, relax and take it easy	18 Recover, relax and take it easy	19 Recover, relax and take it easy	20 Recover, relax and take it easy	21 Recover, relax and take it easy	22 Recover, relax and take it easy
23 12 wks to Boston Relax or easy Mileage this week is ~50% or less of planned peak mileage	24 Relax or easy	25 Relax or easy	26 Relax or easy	27 Relax or easy	28 Relax or easy	29 Relax or easy
30 11 wks to Boston Phase 2 & Phase 3 Week 1/4 See weekly workouts for more details	31 1⁰ workout 3 sets of hill bounding, easy jogging, and wind sprints	Feb 1 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	Feb 2 2⁰ workout 3x200, 5x400, 3x200 work-bouts with full recoveries Important: Skip if racing on weekend	Feb 3 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	Feb 4 Buffalo Wallow CC race or Long Run of ~33% of total weekly mileage (Sat or Sun) OR Easy	Feb 5 Long Run (Sat or Sun) of ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy

February 2006
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MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
Jan 30 11 wks to Boston Phase 2 & Phase 3 Week 1/4 See weekly workouts for more details	Jan 31 1⁰ workout 3 sets of hill bounding, easy jogging, and wind sprints	1 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	2 2⁰ workout 3x200, 5x400, 3x200 work-bouts with full recoveries Important: Skip if racing on weekend	3 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	4 Buffalo Wallow CC race or Long Run of ~33% of total weekly mileage (Sat or Sun) OR Easy	5 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy
6 10 wks to Boston Phase 2 & Phase 3 Week 2/4 See weekly workouts for more details	7 1⁰ workout 3 sets of hill bounding, easy jogging, and wind sprints	8 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	9 2⁰ workout 4x200, 5x400, 4x200 work-bouts with full recoveries Important: Skip if racing on weekend	10 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	11 Hermann Park 5 miler or Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy	12 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy
13 9 wks to Boston Phase 2 & Phase 3 Week 3/4 See weekly workouts for more details	14 1⁰ workout 6x200 and 6x400 work-bouts with full recoveries	15 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	16 2⁰ workout 3 sets of hill bounding, easy jogging, and wind sprints	17 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	18 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy	19 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy
20 8 wks to Boston Phase 2 & Phase 3 Week 4/4 See weekly workouts for more details	21 1⁰ workout 18-20x200 work-bouts with full recoveries	22 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	23 2⁰ workout 3 sets of hill bounding, easy jogging, and wind sprints Skip if you're racing on the weekend	24 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	25 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy OR Race	26 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy
27 7 wks to Boston PHASE 4 Week 1/3 See weekly workouts for more details	28 1⁰ workout 6x800 @ interval pace w/3:00 active recoveries	Mar 1 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	Mar 2 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	Mar 3 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	Mar 4 3 mile tempo @ threshold pace, 1 hour easy, 3x1 mile @ threshold pace w/1 minute rests (Sat or Sun) OR Easy	Mar 5 3 mile tempo @ threshold pace, 1 hour easy, 3x1 mile @ threshold pace w/1 minute rests (Sat or Sun) OR Easy

March 2006
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MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
Feb 27 7 wks to Boston PHASE 4 Week 1/3 See weekly workouts for more details	Feb 28 1⁰ workout 6x800 @ interval pace w/3:00 active recoveries	1 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	2 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	3 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	4 3 mile tempo @ threshold pace, 1 hour easy, 3x1 mile @ threshold pace w/1 minute rests (Sat or Sun) OR Easy	5 3 mile tempo @ threshold pace, 1 hour easy, 3x1 mile @ threshold pace w/1 minute rests (Sat or Sun) OR Easy
6 6 wks to Boston PHASE 4 Week 2/3 See weekly workouts for more details	7 1⁰ workout 4x1200 @ interval pace w/5:00 active recoveries	8 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	9 2⁰ workout 4x1 mile @ threshold pace w/1:00 rests plus 3x1000 w/1:00 rests Important: Skip if racing on weekend	10 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	11 Bayou City Classic 10K or Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy	12 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~33% of total weekly mileage OR Easy
13 5 wks to Boston PHASE 4 Week 3/3 Total mileage this week is 100% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	14 1⁰ workout 6x1000-1200 @ interval pace w/~4:00 active recovery	15 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	16 2⁰ workout 6x1 miles @ threshold pace with 1:00 rests	17 Easy running or rest Down-hill as often as possible	18 20 minute tempo, 1 hour easy, 20 minute tempo (Sat or Sun)	19 20 minute tempo, 1 hour easy, 20 minute tempo (Sat or Sun)
20 4 wks to Boston PHASE 5 Week 1/2 Total mileage this week is 100% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	21 1⁰ workout 4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests	22	23	24	25 Law Week 8K or Marathon Pace Run workout (Sat or Sun) lesser of 15 miles or 2 hours OR Easy	26 Long run if you raced on Sat. or Marathon Pace Run workout (Sat or Sun) lesser of 15 miles or 2 hours OR Easy
27 3 wks to Boston PHASE 5 Week 2/2 Total mileage this week is ~83% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	28	29	30 20 minute tempo @ threshold pace, 5 minute rest, 2x10-12 minutes at threshold pace with 2 minute rest.	31	Apr 1 3x2 miles at threshold with 2 minute rests and 10 miles or 1.5 hours easy (Sat or Sun) If racing next week, to this workout today.	Apr 2 3x2 miles at threshold with 2 minute rests and 10 miles or 1.5 hours easy (Sat or Sun)

April 2006
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MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
Mar 27 3 wks to Boston PHASE 5 Week 2/2 Total mileage this week is ~83% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	Mar 28	Mar 29	Mar 30 20 minute tempo @ threshold pace, 5 minute rest, 2x10-12 minutes at threshold pace with 2 minute rest.	Mar 31	1 3x2 miles at threshold with 2 minute rests and 10 miles or 1.5 hours easy (Sat or Sun) If racing next week, to this workout today.	2 3x2 miles at threshold with 2 minute rests and 10 miles or 1.5 hours easy (Sat or Sun)
3 2 wks to Boston Taper Week 1/2 Total mileage this week is ~52% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	4 If racing Saturday: 4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests	5	6 If you did not do this on Tuesday, do it today 4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests Important: If racing on weekend, do this workout on Tuesday	7	8 Bellaire Trolley Run (5K) or Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~10 miles easy OR Easy	9 Long Run (Sat or Sun) ~8-12 miles easy OR Easy
10 1 wk to Boston Taper Week 2/2 Mileage this week to Sunday is ~33% of planned peak mileage See weekly workouts for more details	11 Easy	12 Easy	13 4x1000-1200 at threshold pace with full recoveries	14 Easy	15 Easy/Rest Fenway Park after the Expo.	16 Easy 2-3 miles in the morning and then Fenway Park in the afternoon.
17 Boston Marathon	18 Rest Recover" Easy	19 Rest Recover" Easy	20 Rest Recover" Easy	21 Rest Recover" Easy	22 Rest Recover" Easy	23 Rest Recover" Easy
24 Rest Recover" Easy	25 Rest Recover" Easy	26 Rest Recover" Easy	27 Rest Recover" Easy	28 Rest Recover" Easy	29 Rest Recover" Easy	30 Rest Recover" Easy

2006 Boston Marathon weekly workouts

These are the weekly workouts while training for the 2006 Boston Marathon. Details for each week leading up to the marathon can be seen by clicking on the related link.

Weeks until the 2006 Boston Marathon

Training week: Monday - Sunday

	1 week
	2 weeks
	3 weeks
	4 weeks
	5 weeks
	6 weeks
	7 weeks
	8 weeks
	9 weeks
	10 weeks
	11 weeks
	12 weeks
	13 weeks

	April 10th to April 17th, 2006
	April 3rd to April 9th, 2006
	March 27th to April 2nd, 2006
	March 20th to March 26th, 2005
	March 13th to March 19th, 2005
	March 6th to March 12th, 2005
	February 27th to March 5th, 2005
	February 20th to February 26th, 2005
	February 13th to February 19th, 2005
	February 6th to February 12th, 2005
	January 30th to February 5th, 2005
	January 23rd to January 29th, 2005
	January 16th to January 22nd, 2005

8 days to the Boston Marathon
Monday April 10th, 2006 to Monday April17th, 2006
Taper Final week.

Latest news

4/06

Workout objectives this week

	Decrease your weekly mileage. By Sunday, you will have run no more than ~30% of your peak weekly mileage.
	Thursday workout: 4x1000-1200 @ threshold pace with FULL recoveries. Click here for details of threshold paces.
	Monday workout: 1 very fast marathon
	Easy runs or rest all week. IMPORTANT: Train to recover!
	Include a few strides (4-6) during some of your easy runs this week. Strides are done after you've completely warmed up and run as follows: In the course of about 20-30 seconds, slowly increase your pace, hold for a few seconds, and then gradually reduce your speed to your easy pace. Focus on form. If you're flailing, you're going too fast. Click here for stride details.

Workout specifics

This is our final week. We'll do one threshold workout and a few easy runs during the week.

1⁰ Workout - Threshold pace workout

	Warm-up for 2-3 miles.
	4x1000-1200 @ threshold pace with full recoveries (i.e., you don't run the next work-bout until you feel you are ready)
	Cool-down for 2-3 miles.
	Total mileage = 7-8

2 weeks to the marathon
Monday April 3rd, 2006 to Sunday April 9th, 2006
Taper - Week 1 of 2.

Latest news

Workout objectives this week

	Decrease your weekly mileage. At the end of this week, you will have run ~50-55% of your peak weekly mileage.
	Thursday workout: 4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests. Click here for details of threshold paces.
	Saturday or Sunday workout: 10-14 miles easy
	Easy runs to make up the rest of your weekly mileage. IMPORTANT: Train to recover!
	Include a few strides (4-6) during some of your easy runs this week. Strides are done after you've completely warmed up and run as follows: In the course of about 20-30 seconds, slowly increase your pace, hold for a few seconds, and then gradually reduce your speed to your easy pace. Focus on form. If you're flailing, you're going too fast. Click here for stride details.

Workout specifics

This is our 1st week of a two week Taper - Final preparation - sharpening workouts. We'll do one threshold workout and one long slow distance run. All other runs during the week should be easy/rest/recovery runs.

1⁰ Workout - Threshold pace workout

	Warm-up for 2-3 miles.
	4x10-12 minutes @ threshold pace with 2 minute rests
	Cool-down for 2-3 miles.
	Total mileage = 10-13

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January 2006
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