My point is: I knew what I was capable of and knew to what extent I had to train my body to run 26.2 miles. My mileage load leading up to Boston via Strava Courtesy of Amanda Furrer I ran 6 miles, five days a week, did strength training three days a week, kneaded my muscles like pastry dough with a foam roller after almost every single workout, fit in a few 10K races to test my speed, raced a half marathon in January as an early tune-up, and had that mindset that I’d already run a marathon before. I Wasn’t Running 10s and 20s-But I Wasn’t Slacking EitherĪllow me to clarify: I may have omitted long runs from my training plan, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t training. So maybe I’m not some kind of marathon training savant, but with the help of Movold and John Honerkamp, RRCA and USATF certified run coach and former run coach for New York Road Runners, I learned a few key takeaways from my method that could help you find your own success.

My method likely worked because I’m no novice to our sport I’ve been a runner since I was 14, with 13 marathons and counting under my belt since 2010. “It worries me a little because I feel like it’s runner-specific to that person’s ability to be resilient to race-day conditions in terms of time on their legs,” she added.

“I think it’s, um, definitely efficient in terms of time.” Her first reaction regarding my no-long-run strategy was that it was.well…“unique,” she said. Had I cracked some kind of code? Should I abolish long runs from my training plans forever? I contacted Runner’s World+ coach Jess Movold to see if maybe I was some kind of marathon training wunderkind.

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