SILVER LAKE TRACK CLUB
14 WEEK MARATHON + HALF MARATHON
TRAINING PLAN
Being a responsible athlete is essential to success. Responsibility is simply the ability to respond. The ability to let go of ego and be present. The ability to run with intentional kindness and love which is the best fuel for endurance and the best tool for shaping your competitive edges.
There’s an unfortunate trend in running called TOO MANY F***ING MILES. It’s when a runner builds peaks for the sake of giant numbers on run apps but spoiler alert: it creates dead legs and slogs during training weeks and worse, on race day. Thanks Instagram and Strava! Yes, runners have hit PR’s doing those giant mile plans and buy em beer. Other shoe dropping: in my 30+ years in the run world, there is one things I am certain of: the athlete would be even faster with a lower mileage, focused training plan. This is true across all distances and field events so rock up and run with me so I can bore with my emperical training theories. So, this plan is for runners who want to train with efficiency and want to have a life outside of the training! The only thing you need for this plan is a good pair of running shoes, a 15-20 lb. kettlebell and a lack of ego.
BEFORE YOU START - SIMPLE BASE BUILDING IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Prior to starting any training plan, you should have 2-4 weeks of easy running 3-4 days per week. This is essential base building. Run 3 miles, 5 miles, 3 miles, rest 2 days and then run 10 miles. Throw in a 20 min strength workout once a week. Do this 2-4 weeks in a row. If you are base building for the Rose Bowl Half or LA Marathon in 2025, you should cycle through this whole training plan once and run it all at the Session Pace (90seconds or more slower than your goal race pace).
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, IDEAS? email us: silverlaketrackclub@gmail.com
FAQ FOR THE SLTC MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON TRAINING PLAN
Q: What do I need to start?
A: Running shoes, kettlebell and lack of ego.
Q: How do I know my marathon goal pace?
A: This is where base building comes in. You should spend 2-4 weeks running and getting a feel for your paces. Once you have 2+ weeks of run data on an app, average the paces vs miles and it should give you a minutes per mile average. Take that and add 15 seconds and that should be your goal marathon time. Once you run a half or full marathon, you’ll have more data to draw from. Another method is take a half marathon time, double it and add 15minutes. That is a great ball park indicator for a marathon finishing time.
Q: How do I get the most out of this training plan?
A: Do your best to follow the training plan calendar. Prioritize sleep, meal nutrition and hydration. Meditate and visualize race success. Read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.
Q: When I download the plan, it’s for a Marathon. How can I make this a Half Marathon Plan?
A: Do the plan but cut Wednesday and Sunday miles in half.
Q: What can I do for Cross Training?
A: Not everyone has access to bike or pool but you can replace every other Friday or Monday with easy swim or easy bike ride. Find a local pool, it’s usually $5 to drop in for a swim or for a bike, rent a city bike and rock it out. It’s fun. Focus on elongating arms and legs by slowly reaching when you swim and full, round pedal strokes when cycling. This program is pretty straight forward strength and cross training directives and that is by design. Those days are for routine and basic building. Progressions can happen for run training, the weights and cross training should stay steady and predictable for a marathon training arc.
Q: What the hell is a Yasso 800 and how the hell do I run the workout?
Yasso 800s are a track workout that can help predict your marathon time. The Yasso 800s are a great speed workout for marathon runners and can be helpful for many runners, not just marathoners. Besides the physical benefits of speed work, Yasso 800s offer something that is hard to find in training — simplicity. The full Yasso workout is 800m x 10. Work and build toward that. Once you learn how to do Yasso 800s, you can do them any time and use them as a tool to improve your running speed and endurance. The theory is whatever pace you can run ten 800-meter intervals (in minutes) is a predictor for your marathon time (in hours). So if your goal marathon time is 4:00 hours, run your 800-meter repeats in 4:00 minutes with 4:00 minutes rest jog between each interval. Complete this workout and this predicts a marathon time of 4:00.
Q: Hydration Tips?
A: We posted on Instragram that we would create this free training page and one of the best fuel and hydration sources in the world athletics, Maurten emailed us a link to their best practices (scroll down too, they sent a whole lotta info) We also love Offfield - they match our vibe. Water is lovely too. Whatever fuel you choose, Electrotyles help the body retain hydration by replacing lost salt from sweat and gels replace calories burned while running so keeping calories up, keeps your energy steady at long distances.
Q: I like the plan but the days don’t work for me.
A: Adjust the days but get the proposed weekly miles.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Here are suggestions from Maurten Fuel guide for common marathon training sessions
Maurten Fuel Guide: A good link to share that lists all sessions and fueling advice
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide
Long Run
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide/long-run
Progressive Long Run
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide/progressive-long-run
Tempo Run
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide/tempo-run
Intervals
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide/threshold-tempo-intervals
Hill Run