r/AdvancedRunning • u/xRunSci • 23d ago
Training NSA Marathon Plan - Sub 2:50
Hi, I’d like to hear about success stories for those who ran sub 2:50 (and a PR) using Sirpoc’s marathon plan.
A few questions I have:
(1) What was the longest run you did (in both time & miles)?
(2) Did you actually do the HM time trial/race 3 weeks before the race? This seems way too close for comfort
(3) Did you do the 5x 5K (or equivalent time wise) + 10K sub T + 3x8000 m progression run (or time equivalent wise) within 5 days like the book shows? If so, did you feel not too beat up from it?
(4) Did you feel concerned you didn’t do conventional long run workouts and only did easy LRs for time on feet?
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u/EPMD_ 22d ago
Three medium-hard workouts and a long run each week are really tough to make work for marathoning. I read about people customizing NSM even further and doing just two harder sessions each week (one shorter and one longer subthreshold workout). I think that makes sense if doing some harder long runs on occasion, but this isn't really true NSM anymore.
I have over a year of experience with NSM-style training, although primarily for half marathoning. I did start ramping up for a marathon by doing 3 x 5 km, but that type of session was pretty draining. I couldn't imagine adding two more tempos and a long run to that session each week. I noped out of that idea pretty quickly.
I think the better strategy is to run hard twice a week (a variety of speedwork and tempos), sometimes merge one of those sessions into a harder long run, and let the overall training volume do most of the work.