Maintenance: A regular marathon runner who is looking to keep their performance, but not intending to work hard on improving their time. Length. The longer the plan, the more time you have to adjust to the training load. However, a longer plan also requires a greater time commitment. Brothers Keith and Kevin Hanson are responsible for creating the Hanson Method. What makes this plan unique is that the longest run you’ll complete in training is 16 miles long (where most other plan has you running at least 20 or more miles for a long run.) It is instead based on a cumulative fatigue premise (which I explain fully in this article). Different people will respond differently to any given training plan. Some people will respond well and become fitter, some will not be stressed enough and won't improve, while others will be stressed too much and become injured or unable to Supercompensate. A plan that has a higher level of training stress will produce a greater benefit in the subset of the population that can withstand the stress, but will have a larger number of people that become injured or unable to adapt. Thus, a harder plan may have strong advocates, but it may not be suitable for a wider population. The same goes for form drills. If you’re used to doing them, it’s fine to do a short sequence in the week before the marathon. As with flexibility training, the drills help you feel looser during your taper which can provide peace of mind while you’re reducing your running. Again, don’t suddenly add new exercises or increase the amount of drills you do during your taper. Conclusion

To work out your HRR you need your resting heart rate and your maximum heart rate (you can use figures off the internet for maximum if you have no idea). What's on your bookshelf? I've looked at a many of the popular marathon training plans so you don't have to. The table below gives some high level guidance as to the suitability for the different plans for different types of runner. In the table, the numbers 0-5 indicate suitability with 5 being more suitable. There is a lot of individual variability, so a plan that is marked low for a particular type of runner does not mean it won't work for anyone in that category, but it's less likely to be a good candidate. Likewise, a rating of 5 does not mean it will work, just it's a better candidate. As always, I'd like to hear from anyone that disagrees ;} Some of the plans have different number of days assigned to different activities as the plan progresses, in which case I've used a rough approximation.If you’ve set your sights on shaving minutes off your time, it’s time to ramp up your training with Advanced Marathoning, Third Edition. In addition to the many physiological benefits, tapering also offers positive psychological benefits. It can help improve in mood and reduce the perception of effort during training. An effective taper should leave you feeling mentally refreshed with increased motivation to reach that finish line. Photo by RF._.studio from Pexels

One key difference is his advice on how to pace your regular training runs. Some other plans neatly divide all of your miles into workout miles and easy miles. For the easy miles, it doesn’t matter how slowly you run – the emphasis is on not running too fast. But Pfitz distinguishes truly easy runs – recovery runs – from what he calls “endurance” runs. For these runs, you target a pace that’s somewhere in between your marathon pace and an easy pace. A GA (General Aerobic) run is up to 10 miles and should be run at 15-25% slower than your marathon pace My resting heart rate is 44bpm and my max is about 188bpm. The difference is therefore 188-44 = 144bpm.To give you an idea of what this plan looks like, here’s a look at week 5 from the 54 to 70 mile plan: If you just wish to finish, then yet again Galloway is a great option, or you could consider the Higdon's novice plan. Hard and/or long runs can vary in pace but require a significant amount more effort from you in either terms of speed, mileage or both. Any quality (speed) work that you do or long runs (including medium long runs) that you do fall into this category. These runs are tougher on your body and require recovery. I tried to keep all my tempo runs to at least the calculated 15k pace , whether 4m or 6m, rather than slowing for the longer tempo