My 2019 New York City Marathon Training Plan

Prologue

In May, I finished the 2019 Cleveland Marathon in 3:56:40 (9:02 pace).  It was a brutally hot day and only a few weeks after I completed the 2019 Boston Marathon, so I decided to run easy for a few weeks.  In contemplating a fall marathon plan, I wasn’t going to make the 2019 New York City Marathon my goal because I would be taking a long work trip at the end of August.  But after a week of doing a lot of miles on the treadmill and realizing my last race was almost two months ago, I suddenly felt as though the break had gone long enough.

The Plan

Looking back at my spring marathons, I just don’t think I ran well on low mileage plans like Hansons Marathon Method by Luke Humphrey.  I ran well at the 2019 Boston Marathon but really struggled in the last third of the race.  The 2019 Cleveland Marathon was so hot that I’m not sure there is wisdom to be gained other than not to run 80 degree marathons!  On a positive note, I ran a good time at the 2019 Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon, which might indicate my speed endurance isn’t completely gone.

Choosing or Designing a Plan.  Having recently followed the Hansons Marathon Method by Luke Humphrey, I felt hungry for an increase in mileage.  I thought I would try merging the 12 weeks, 55 to 70 Miles Per Week Plan from Advanced Marathoning, Second Edition by Pete Pfitzinger (aka “Pfitz”) with the 50-Miler Training Plan from Running Your First Ultra by Krissy Moehl as the foundation for this training cycle with the idea of running the Brazos Bend 50 Miler is five weeks after the 2019 New York City Marathon.

Setting a Start Date.  Sunday, August 4th is 13 weeks away from the 2019 New York City Marathon, which is on Sunday, November 3rd.

Scheduling Mini-Cycles.  Moehl’s plan has four week blocks with three weeks of mileage building followed by a recovery week.  After a base phase, it focuses on speed, hills, endurance, and then fine tuning.  The Pfitz plan, by contrast, has a four week endurance phase, a three week endurance phase with lactate threshold workouts, a three week race preparation phase, and a two week taper.  Here’s how they fall on my calendar:

Base/Endurance Building
Week 1. Sunday, August 4th to Saturday, August 10th. 48-52 miles.
Week 2. Sunday, August 11th to Saturday, August 17th. 52-56 miles.
Week 3. Sunday, August 18th to Saturday, August 24th. 54-58 miles.

Endurance + Lactate Threshold
Week 4. Sunday, August 25th to Saturday, August 31st. 56-60 miles.
Week 5. Sunday, September 1st to Saturday, September 7th. 58-62 miles.
Week 6. Sunday, September 8th to Saturday, September 14th. 62-66 miles.
Week 7. Sunday, September 15th to Saturday, September 21st. 50-54 miles.

Race Preparation
Week 8. Sunday, September 22nd to Saturday, September 28th. 62-66 miles.
Week 9. Sunday, September 29th to Saturday, October 5th. 66-70 miles.
Week 10. Sunday, October 6th to Saturday, October 12th. 70-74 miles.
Week 11. Sunday, October 13th to Saturday, October 19th. 70-74 miles.

Taper
Week 12. Sunday, October 20th to Saturday, October 26th. 44-48 miles.
Week 13. Sunday, October 27th to Saturday, November 2nd. 40-44 miles.

After the 2019 New York City Marathon race, I’ll take a few days of recovery and then… train for the Brazos Bend 50 Miler!

Arranging Workouts.

Long Run.  Moehl puts the longest weekly run on Saturday followed by an easy run on Sunday, which is what I will plan to do.  (When I’ve done the Pfitz plans in the past, I’ve moved my long run to Saturday and doubled on Sunday, so this aligns well.)

Speed and Strength Workouts.  During the lactate threshold phase, I’ll do two longer marathon-pace workouts during Week 4 and Week 6.  For the race preparation phase, I’ll do long intervals as my mid-week quality run.  (Or, race during Week 10.)  As far as scheduling, I’ll only do one hard workout during the week – probably on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Selecting Tune-up Races: The Pfitz plan has a 8K or 10K race in early to mid October.  Given the intensity of this schedule, I think should go with an earlier race:

Saturday, September 21st – 2019 Ragnar Sunset Washington DC
Sunday, October 6th – 2019 EX2 Adventures Fall Backyard Burn 10 Mile Race #1: Lake Fairfax

(My Complete Racing Schedule.)

Designing a Cross-Training Program.  Moehl prescribes core strength exercises each week.  Pfitz also has a section on flexibility drills.  The range of motion through my hips and knees could definitely improvement, so I will incorporate both into my training.

Contemplating a Race Goal.  I have a non-guaranteed qualifying time for the 2020 New York City Marathon from the 2019 Boston Marathon.  But, if I could run a sub-3:38 (8:20 pace) would give me a guaranteed spot.

With all of this in mind, I created a training plan on RunningAhead and officially kicked off my training last week!

(My Guide to the New York City Marathon.)