Choosing a faster marathon plan if you're adding more time to the 100 day plan

by Matt Pell
(Colorado Springs, CO)

Is it ok to choose a faster marathon plan if you are adding in there more marathon training weeks ?

"Hi Marius,
I was wondering if it would be a viable option to choose a faster plan if I will be extending the 100 day plan? In other words, does more training time mean I can aim for faster plans?
For example, In chapter 3, picking a schedule, I'm leaning towards choosing the 5:00 plan because I'm a beginner but fit. If I have an extra 8 weeks of training and therefore repeat weeks 2 through 9 as suggested in chapter 5 section 6, is it ok to aim for a faster plan such as the 4:00 hour plan? In other words, is there a "rule" for adjusting plans based on amount of training time?"

Answer: Hi Matt and thanks for an excellent question.

There are a couple of ways to approach this. The one that may be the best is to get a heart rate monitor and then pick the 4:00 plan, and follow it according to heart rate those first weeks - before starting with the 5:00 plan and run by times (if you prefer that - or just continue with heart rate) once you are 100 day away from your marathon.

Then : use the 5k race planned in there to find exactly which schedule is the right one for you. If it shows you're capable of a 4:30 marathon according to it, use the 4:30 schedule for example - for the following weeks.

Remember that the plans are parallell planned, meaning you can go back and forth between them at any time you find out that one is too fast / too slow. It makes it real flexible, so no worries at all on what schedule you should start off from !

I wish you all the best,

kind regards,
Marius