My 2022 Erie Marathon Training Plan

Prologue

Back in November, when I created my training plan for the 2022 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, I wrote about how much I wanted to return to the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately, I found out in March that I didn’t get into New York.

So, that leaves Boston!

If the Boston Marathon’s pre-COVID-19 registration practices hold, registration for the 2023 Boston Marathon will occur the second week of September.  Using MarathonGuide, I settled on the Erie Marathon as a good race to run before the qualifying race window closes.

Long-term Goals

In addition to re-qualifying for the 2023 Boston Marathon, I would like to get a qualifying time for the New York City Marathon to return to that event.  I don’t like hoping I win the lottery.

About Me

Self-assessment

I finished my previous training cycle by completing the 2022 Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon in 1:53:23 (8:40 pace).  Eight days later, I completed the 2022 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in 1:22:39 (8:16 pace).  I promptly went on a two-week trans-Atlantic vacation.  I kept my fitness up by running on the treadmill almost every day, but I feel rested going into this next training cycle.

Looking back on that training cycle, except for some low mileage weeks when I lacked motivation, I ran very consistently and mostly hit my pace goals.

Strengths:

• Experience.  I know what it’s going to take to get this done, and if I set my mind to it, there’s no reason I can’t reach this goal.
• Health.  I continue to feel more like my old self.  My blood pressure is under control, and the lab work from my end-of-year visit to the doctor came back within normal ranges.

Weaknesses:

• Endurance. My biggest weakness is my ability to race beyond a half marathon, but if I can work on that this summer, I should be in good shape by September.
• Consistency.  I have more going on with family and work and will need to plan more.
• Weight.  I gained about 10 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic and need to get some of it off.

The Plan

Choosing or Designing a Plan

While I’ve strayed from time to time, Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas has had my favorite training plans.  I felt I had to go with it for this training cycle because re-qualifying for the Boston Marathon is riding on it.

However, the “Up to 55 miles per week” plan would feel too easy.  Plus, I don’t want two days off from running.  But, I think the “55-70 miles per week” plan would be too hard.  In the end, I decided to follow the latter but cut the mileage, so I peak at around 60-65 miles per week.

Because I will be altering the plan, I did not copy either schedule into a training plan on my training log, Running Ahead.  Instead, I only entered the first two weeks and will make the plan for the other weeks as I progress.

Setting a Start Date

The 2022 Erie Marathon is on Sunday, September 11th.  Eighteen weeks from that date is today – Monday, May 9th!

Arranging workouts

Long and Medium-long Runs.  I will try to build up to 18-mile long runs in the first training block. I will do the 20 milers in the later blocks but will likely skip the runs over that distance.  The Pfitz plan also has a mid-week, medium-long run.  I will start at 10 miles for those workouts and
work up to 12.

Lactate Threshold Runs.  These runs appear in the schedule roughly every week or every other week in the early part.  These will be difficult in the heat and humidity of Washington D.C., so I will do some on the treadmill. (More on that below.)

VO2Max Runs.  My goal is to keep the speed workouts more or less intact.  These runs are mostly 800m @ 5K pace, and they come closer to the race preparation phase of the training schedule.

Establishing training paces

I will use the suggested training paces from the McMillan Pace Calculator based on my 1:22:39 (8:16 pace) from the 2022 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and guidance from Advanced Marathoning.

Recovery	Long	General Aerobic	Marathon	Threshold	5K
No faster than 10:25	9:55-10:10	9:10-9:45	8:40-8:55	7:55-8:10	7:30-7:40

Contemplating a race goal

My times from the 2022 Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon and the 2022 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (1:22:39 or 8:16 pace) convinced me that I’m not far from being able to  re-qualify for the Boston Marathon.  The McMillan Pace Calculator suggests that I could run a marathon in 3:52:00 (8:51 pace) with my current fitness.  Given my Boston Marathon qualifying time and the likely cut-off times, a time of sub-3:50:00 (8:47 pace) should be good enough for the 2023 race.

Selecting tune-up races

There are three tune-up races scheduled in Week 6 (Saturday, July 30th), Week 4 (Saturday, August 13th), and Week 2 (Saturday, August 27th).

It is challenging to find races in July and August in Washington, DC because it is so hot and humid.  However, I found one that would make a good time trial:

• Sunday, August 28th – South Lakes 10K. Goal is sub-50:00 (8:01 pace).

For the other two races, I plan to run one of the local Parkrun 5Ks.

My Racing Schedule

Other Considerations

Supplemental Training

I will not schedule any additional, regular cross-training in the program. However, I will try to stretch and weight train on occasion.

Summer Training

Whether it’s age or my high blood pressure, I have had a tough time with it these past two summers. Anticipating this one could be equally rough, I purchased a treadmill back in March. I bought the Landis L8. On scorching hot and humid days, I will do my longer workouts indoors at home.

Final thoughts

I know there will be low points during the training cycle – weeks when my professional work or home life is stressful, and it’s 80+ degrees outside and 80+% humidity. The key is going to be desire and persistence. If I want this thing, I can have it. But I’m gonna have to work for it!