2 Hours Fast
2 Hours Fast
Intensity — 92% of Goal Marathon Pace
Recovery — none, continuous
Exertion — 8/10
Training Period, Training Block — Performance Period, Stabilization Block
Context & Details
According to Pfitzinger & Douglas in their book Advanced Marathoning, there are 5 Key Physiological Attributes of Successful Marathoners:
High Lactate Threshold
High Glycogen Storage and well-developed Fat Utilization Ability
Excellent Running Economy
High Maximal Oxygen Uptake Velocity
Rapid Recovery from training stimuli
Pfitzinger & Douglas also remind the reader, “No one physiological factor makes a successful marathoner. It is the combination of all of these, and other, physiological factors along with biomechanical variables and psychological strength that combined determine marathoning success.”
I think it’s a really good book with simple, straightforward, and useful information on marathon training — if you’re interested you can buy a copy here.
In many ways, effective marathon training is about enhancing how our bodies create, process, and recycle energy to sustainably fuel our desired running speed over 26.2 miles.
This workout comes from the mind of famed elite marathon coach, Renato Canova. His runners have led the charge in the rapid improvement of marathon times over the past 10 years due to his advanced understanding that a major key to effective marathon training is upgrading how the body produces and uses energy.
What Canova realized is the traditional marathon training diet of long, slow miles doesn’t advance the key physiological attributes as well as once thought. His marathoners rarely run more than 70 - 80 miles a week in training, and yet are regularly the best in the world.
Instead of focusing on running an overall high volume of miles, Canova’s marathoners focus on running a high density of fast miles (88% - 110% of goal marathon pace) in training. Key characteristics of Canova’s marathon training is the easy days are short and easy (1 - 2 runs of 40 - 60 minutes at 8 - 9 minute mile pace) but the workout days are frequent (4 - 3 days a week), of medium to high volume (12 - 20 miles) and always within about +/- 10% of goal marathon pace.
Why this style of marathon training is so effective is it drastically shifts the body’s fueling preference from our default fueling preference, glycolytic, which can be thought of as a high octane super-fuel, but very limited in supply, to lipid (fatty acids) and lactate, which are far more abundant in supply in our bodies but requires significant conditioning to make more accessible.
Lactate can be either friend or foe. There are a lot of myths about Lactate (read: 5 Common Myths about Lactic Acid), but for marathoners, you want to condition the body to interpret lactate as a friend, which fuels your running, rather than a foe, with which you must tolerate (read: Lactate Threshold vs. Lactate Tolerance Training).
Specifically, this workout of 2 hours of “fast” running at 92% of marathon pace happens in the final weeks of the marathoner’s training (about 4-5 weeks before the target marathon). The workout is kind of a final diagnostic check to make sure the desired fueling advancements in the runner have been realized. For Canova, this run provides evidence to establish race day expectations of what pace the marathoner will be realistically capable of sustaining for their 26.2 mile race.
You can learn more about the training technique of Coach Renato Canova by joining The Scholar Program to take the in-depth Renato Canova Course which has over130+ different lectures, training programs, podcasts, and more.