Thoughts on the Hansons Plan

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After years of following the Pfitzinger Advanced Marathoning (Pfitz) plans, I tried a Hansons marathon training plan for the California International Marathon (CIM).  I wrote about that decision in early July and about how I was adjusting to the training program a couple of weeks later. I ran a disappointing 3:27:09 (7:55 pace) at CIM – a slower time than I ran at the Boston Marathon in the spring.

My Deviations and Mistakes

Before critiquing the Hansons plan, I want to acknowledge my own deviations and mistakes since they could have impacted my training and result.  I followed the plan pretty precisely, however, I made three significant changes:

I think it’s interesting that all my changes to the plan were for races. Did I suffer from excess fatigue after those races?  It took at least a week after the NYCM for me to train at the same paces as before the race, so I certainly did in the short-term.

In retrospect, I also made at least one pretty big mistake:

  • I used sub-3:20 (7:38 pace) as my goal marathon pace.

I’ve been chasing sub-3:20 for a while now but my recent race times didn’t support it.  Coming out of the summer, my marathon race equivalent based on the Parks Half Marathon and Crystal City Twilighter 5K was probably closer to 3:28:50 to 3:30:18 (7:59 to 8:02 pace). By setting such an aggressive target, I ended up running most of my workouts harder than I should have.

Thoughts on the Plan

Having acknowledged how I contributed to a less than outstanding result at CIM, here are some of my thoughts on the Hansons plan.

Easy Runs.  The easy runs in the Hansons plan were a little longer than what I normally run for a program of similar mileage.  For most of the schedule, the easy runs were 8 miles.  The longest was 10 miles, which I wished was a double instead.  It took some getting used to running that far and still feeling like the run was easy.  The pace range for the easy runs is 1-2 minutes slower than goal marathon pace.  I realized, probably too late in the plan, that I needed to run them at the slower end of that guideline if I had any hope of finishing the other workouts that week.

Long Runs.  Despite the popular notion that the Hansons plans limit long runs to 16 miles, it’s more accurate to say the long run is proportional to the overall mileage. The plans also follows the well-regarded guideline that long runs over 3 hours do more harm than good. Finally, the Hansons want the long run to feel like the final miles of the marathon, not the early ones.  The plan builds marathon endurance through overall mileage and cumulative fatigue. The plan I followed maxed out at 85 miles/week and had six 18 milers and six 20 milers. Going into the training cycle, I thought that was a good amount.  However, in the final weeks before CIM, I didn’t think my endurance was what it should be.  I felt like I was in excellent shape for a half marathon, but had my doubts about a full.  Now, pouring over my training log and both plans, the number and distance of the long runs in the Hansons plan I followed isn’t much different than the Pfitz plan I’ve relied on over the years.  The only significant differences I can see are:

  • I may have benefited from some longer long runs.  The Pfitz plan that I followed in the past has a few 22 and 24 milers.  Pfitz seems to agree that long runs that are too long can hurt speed and cause injury.  However, he recognizes that they might be beneficial for experienced marathoners who aren’t injury prone. I’m putting myself in that camp. Plus, I think those longer runs serve as confidence boosters going into a marathon.
  • I may have been too tired during my long runs to get the physiological benefits.  Towards the end of the program, I was too tired to hit goal pace during my long runs. The mid-week tempo run followed by 16-18 miles of “easy” running left my legs by the time I got to the long run. Again, this was mostly my fault because I set such an aggressive goal marathon pace

Speed and Strength Workouts.  Most of the variety in the Hanson plan came in the speed workouts.  I think these were the most enjoyable parts of the training plan. Generally, I thought these workouts were challenging but not too taxing.  Towards the end of the training cycle, I was actually looking forward to them each week.  Sample workouts include 10 x 400m @ goal 10K pace and 2 x 2 miles @ goal half marathon pace, which became my favorite time trial.

Tempo Runs.  The mid-week tempo workout was the hardest part of the Hansons plan.  And, it was my undoing.  After a few warm-up miles, the plan called for up to 10 miles @ goal marathon pace, and then a short cool-down.  I can see how, over time, this workout could create a great marathon time.  It locked in that pace and effort so that it’s almost automatic.  I credit my consistency during the first 20 miles of CIM to these workouts. But, I struggled to hit goal marathon pace week after week.  Initially, I was alright with the failure because I’ve struggled with this pace range in the past.  But as the book suggests, if I couldn’t do the workout then my goal pace was too hard.  I waited too long to concede to that fact.

Cutback Weeks.  There were no cut back weeks in the Hansons plan.  The plan stresses cumulative fatigue, so I can see why. But, it’s another reason why choosing an aggressive goal marathon pace worked against me. I found myself in a hole that kept getting deeper.

Taper. Philosophically, I’m not against a two-week taper. However, I wasn’t quite sure when my taper started in this plan! I thought the mileage and intensity was still pretty high during the taper but again, I was pretty beat down by that point.

Take-Aways

While the plan didn’t lead to a personal record for me this time, I would follow the Hansons plan again – but with some modifications.  I would integrate a few longer long runs and add a couple of races. Here’s my general advice to anyone thinking about trying one of the plans:

  • Start with a realistic goal marathon pace. I beat myself up for months trying to hit goal paces that my body clearly couldn’t handle.  If I had started with a more realistic goal marathon pace, the process would have been more enjoyable and I may have seen some improvement.
  • Go with a lower mileage level than you might otherwise. Looking back, despite running 80+ miles in previous marathon cycles, there was more speed and tempo work in this plan than I was used to.
  • Run the easy runs on the slow side of easy pace.  The quality workouts and lack of cutback weeks will wear you out so take every recovery opportunity you get.

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