Marathon Training Insight by Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein

source: Runningtimes.com

Training: For me, coming from a track background, I think I can only train for the marathon for 10 to 12 weeks. If I train more than that I get stale. What happens in the marathon prep weeks is that I’ll raise my volume up to 120 to 130 miles per week for most of those weeks—maybe eight or nine of those weeks will be high—and then the workouts just become specific to marathon pace. They will be very long. I’ll run like a 24-mile tempo run that is within ten seconds per mile of my marathon goal pace. I’ll do a lot of things like that. I’ll need a lot of recovery. So I’ll end up doing a huge amount of volume a couple days a week with rest days afterward, and then I’ll do it again. There’s no goal on a specific amount of mileage per week or that I have to run the workouts on a specific day. It’s on a day-to-day fashion. I think you can only train like that for a limited period of time

Rehearsing: Everything’s down to a science as far as when you drink and how many calories you take in. We practice all that. We rehearse, even down to wearing the race-day uniform to ensure no chafing.

Recovery: For the recovery, I’ll take a nap every day; I’ll take an ice bath every day; I’ll get a massage three times a week. It turns into this thing that it’s so focused, if you do it for too long, you just become so obsessed. It turns into a mental drain more than anything else. That’s why I think if you train longer than you need to, it can wear you down mentally. For me, my coach and I try to use the analogy that it’s like a prize fight. You train 12 weeks all for one thing

Note: Dathan is currently preparing and looking for a fast time at the London Marathon April 26.

2008 London Top 10
1 1 1 » LEL, MARTIN (KEN) M25............................. 2:05:15
2 1 4 » WANJIRU, SAMUEL (KEN) M20............... 2:05:24
3 1 10 » GOUMRI, ABDERRAHIM (MAR) M30.......... 2:05:30
4 2 3 » MUTAI, EMMANUEL (KEN) M30 ..................2:06:15
5 2 11 » HALL, RYAN (USA) M25............................ 2:06:17
6 3 5 » MERGA, DERIBA (ETH) M25....................... 2:06:38
7 3 9 » KIFLE, YONAS (ERI) M30........................... 2:08:51
8 4 2 » LIMO, FELIX (KEN) M25.......................... 2:10:35
9 5 13 » SOKOLOV, ALEKSEY (RUS) M25............ 2:11:41
10 1 6 » RAMAALA, HENDRICK (RSA) M35........... 2:11:44

(Wanjiru went on to win Olympic Gold in Beijing)