Sunday Runday
On this weekly column, Wearables Editor Michael Hicks discusses the world of operating watches, health apps, and coaching developments, in his quest to get sooner and healthier.
Many operating watches provide marathon coaching plans. Now that I am signed up for the Garmin Tucson marathon in November, simply three months out, I’ve to determine rapidly which plan to attempt. Ought to I belief a smartwatch algorithm to present me a personalised marathon coaching plan, or use a operating coach plan from TrainingPeaks?
It has been a number of years since I final ran a marathon. When Garmin supplied a media invite to run in its first Garmin Marathon sequence, I knew I might should ramp up my mileage rapidly, however intelligently, so I do not overtrain and crash out.
I’ve reviewed just about each operating watch beneath the solar, however whether or not I exploit my Garmin Forerunner 970 or one other gadget, my success or failure will rely upon the exercise plan, greater than the {hardware}.
So I made a decision to take a seat down and examine each smartwatch marathon coaching plan, to see which might greatest put together me for the Garmin marathon sequence.
Each smartwatch-based marathon coaching plan for inexperienced persons
Only a few smartwatches advocate long-term coaching plans. Suunto outsources its plans to TrainingPeaks. Fitbit provides every day Run Coach recs, however nothing cohesive. Apple Health+ focuses on indoor exercises. I solely know of some operating watches with correct marathon steerage!
GARMIN: Obtainable by means of Run Coach, Garmin’s marathon coaching plans final 16 weeks. The newbie plan has zone-2 straightforward runs, zone-4 threshold tempo runs, and fartlek runs, with one future each weekend.
Between three weekly runs, Garmin recommends two cross-training days per week, for body weight workout routines, yoga, swimming, or biking.
The intermediate plan expects 5 exercises per week, however is not that completely different. It recommends weekly intervals and has extra back-to-back run days, plus longer lengthy runs, however nonetheless mixes in relaxation and cross-training days.
Garmin’s coaching load philosophy emphasizes low cardio and anaerobic selection to enhance VO2 Max, plus energy coaching to optimize your kind. I am usually all about this philosophy, however frankly, if I will improve my exercise days per week and hit my marathon goal, I must spend most of my time targeted on mileage. Subsequent marathon, I am going to fear about pace and energy.
COROS: COROS has 15 marathon coaching plans, concentrating on particular end occasions or 12-to-20-week schedules. Many goal professional runners that hit 50–100 miles per week, however COROS additionally caters to mere mortals like myself.
COROS’ 4-hour, 12-week plan expects you to run 5 occasions per week for 25–40 miles. Most are brief cardio endurance runs, with the occasional “marathon tempo” run and lengthy, quick runs on Sundays.
This 4:00 marathon tempo plan, conversely, schedules 4 runs per week for 15–25 miles. However almost each run has you mixing straightforward pacing with 15-second strides or 400m pickups, finally progressing to intervals and inverted pyramids. You get extra relaxation days, however not often take a straightforward run.
Both method, COROS emphasizes mileage over cross-training, letting you determine if you wish to concentrate on pace work or how far you are prepared to go per week. I am fairly impressed with what they’ve to supply.
POLAR: The Polar operating program has you enter what number of days per week you are prepared to run and the way lengthy, plus how arduous you sometimes discover operating. It then creates a 100-day marathon coaching plan.
In case you’re a Gentle runner, Polar has you do a medium run each Monday and Friday, intervals on Wednesdays, and a future on Sunday. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are reserved for cross-training: Energy, mobility, and core workout routines, respectively.
In case you’re a Strenuous runner, you swap in a tempo run on Wednesdays and intervals on Saturdays, which means you are doing three medium-to-hard runs in a row from Friday to Sunday. You continue to do not get relaxation days, solely cross-training train days. Both method, these inflexible plans are for individuals who work out day by day.
SAMSUNG: The Galaxy Watch 8‘s Working Coach has ten coaching ranges; Degree 10 goals for runners to complete a marathon in beneath 4:48. To qualify for stage 10, you have to move Samsung’s 12-minute operating check with unknown standards.
The Working Coach beta is sort of a large number. You possibly can’t merely select a marathon coaching plan; if Samsung ranks you decrease, you will should spend weeks, if not months, leveling up. But when Samsung finally lets runners choose their goal distance and tempo manually, nevertheless, the Working Coach has an awesome number of run varieties like Fartlek, repetitions, intervals, and lengthy runs that will profit newbie marathoners.
AMAZFIT: Zepp Coach has you select a goal marathon tempo and date, then describe your weekly mileage and common tempo. With that, it generates a three-month program of straightforward, arduous, interval, fartlek, and lengthy runs, grouped by HR zones or tempo relying in your desire.
It is not probably the most complete or diversified coaching plan, nevertheless it’s obtainable for super-cheap watches just like the Amazfit Bip 6 or Energetic 2, which is nice for frugal runners.
Which marathon coaching plan I am going with
All of those marathon coaching plans are “free” after you purchase your watch, so we won’t complain an excessive amount of if they seem to be a bit restricted. You’ll find 1000’s of TrainingPeaks marathon plans if you wish to pay for one thing higher.
Personally, in spite of everything that looking out, I am leaning towards an easy Hal Higdon novice coaching plan, that are common with first-time marathoners. Fairly than concentrate on sophisticated speedwork or strengthwork, I am going to simply verify off 4 runs every week of about 20–30 miles and hope for one of the best.
I am a number of weeks behind his 18-week schedule, however I am hoping I can hit the bottom operating, so to talk, as a result of I’ve already been coaching. Then, as soon as I’ve conquered this Garmin marathon, I can go into one other marathon with a extra superior plan.
However you probably have a favourite marathon coaching plan that helped you hit a PR, I might love to listen to your suggestions within the feedback!
