On a whim a posted a plot on Twitter. It shows a marathon training schedule. This post explains the story behind the graph.
I downloaded a few different 17-week marathon training schedules. Most were in imperial measurement and/or were written for time at a certain pace, e.g. 30 min Easy Run etc. I wanted to convert one of these schedules into a proper plan where I input my pace and get an idea of the distance I need to run (in metric). This means I can pick routes to run each day without having to think too much about it.
Calculating the running paces was simple using Jack Daniels’ VDot calculator and verifying the predicted paces with my running database. I constructed a spreadsheet from the plan, and then did the calculations to get the distances out. Once this was done I wondered what the rationale behind the schedule is, and the best way to see that is to plot it out.
From this plot the way that the long run on each Sunday is extended or tapered is reasonably clear. However, I was wondering about how intense each of the runs will be. Running 5K at threshold is more intense than a 10K easy run. To look at this I just took the average pace for the session. This doesn’t quite tell us about intensity, because a 10 min easy run + 2 intervals + 10 min easy run is not as intense as doing 4 intervals, yet the average pace would be similar. But it would be close enough. I used a colourscale called VioletOrangeYellow and the result was quite intuitive.
The shorter runs are organised in blocks of intensity while the long runs are about building endurance. From what I understand, the blocks are to do with adapting to the stresses of increasing running load/intensity.
Feedback on the plot was good: runners liked it, non-runners thought it was psychotic.