Changing schedule 3 weeks ahead

by Christine
(Kuala Lumpur)

Changing the schedule close to the marathon :

"Hi Marius,
Thank you so much for your very useful program. I am running my first marathon in 3 weeks and have followed your 4 hour program until now (mainly because I wanted to run 4 times per week). I feel 4 hours is not realistic due to a few things: 1) Previously I have finished half marathons in 2:03 and 2:09, some of the hard sessions I have not been able to follow fully and also beased on my 10k test run 4 weeks ahead I ended up with finishing time 4:43 (again, I had higher ambitions, started way to hard and didnt finish).

I only have three weeks left, and wanted to change schedule to 4:30. I can see that these schedules are quite different (the 3:30 schedule have a 3 hour run - whereas the 4:00 schedule have a 2 hour run etc. the same day.)

Should I change the schedule now or is it better to stick to the 4:00 schedule?

Thank you so much!"

Answer: Hi Christine and thanks for your question.

I would in your situation probably stick to the 4:00 plan - just because it is so few weeks left and this would be a "safe" way of doing it. However, if you feel like going over to the 4:30 plan and your gut-feeling tells you that this is right at this time (looking at your times plus the overall training stress you've been through) then you can do this without worry.

I wish you all the best with the remaining weeks before your marathon !

kind regards,
Marius