Hi, I'm a FR235 owner and want to use the marathon level II HR training program. A potential problem I see is with the times they recommend for the runs. My best marathon time is 5:27 and I'm worried that if I use the Garmin training program that I won't be getting enough mileage in. Does anyone know the average pace they use to determine these training programs and if/how they can be altered to account for us runners who are not running marathons at an 8-9 minute pace (their long runs are 180 minutes which would only get me to mile 16-17 once I think)? I really want to use the Garmin program because it's easy to use with my watch, but don't want to bonk at mile 14 either. Any help/advice would be appreciated!
I suspect that you are right about the plan - I think it has been written with a faster pace in mind.
Despite the convenience of the Garmin Training plan I think you would be better served by searching the net for a plan that is based closer to your target time such as the one below
If you want a HR based program then again you'll need to do a bit of research to create the workouts with HR ranges rather than pace ranges
It is a great shame that Garmin have not made available more plans or a means to create your own. I believe that there are some training plans that you can purchase that are uploadable but I have always been too mean and have created my workouts manually from available information. I had in the past used uploadable plans from Runners world which have now been discontinued.
thanks JSRUNNER... I appreciate the link - I just can't believe that there aren't more plans out there you can tailor to your heart rate zones and pace - seems like that's a market that is being overlooked. I'm going to definitely check out the plan you sent and go from there - thanks so much!
thanks JSRUNNER... I appreciate the link - I just can't believe that there aren't more plans out there you can tailor to your heart rate zones and pace - seems like that's a market that is being overlooked. I'm going to definitely check out the plan you sent and go from there - thanks so much!
You can always create your own training program by mix and matching systems. I combined Hal Higdons intermediate plan with a Plan from RunKeeper. Then uploaded the workouts to GC. I don't base it of HR, but I do try to keep my HR between 82-85% max for most runs. Recovery runs closer to 80%, and interval runs at 90%. So far so good, and my first marathon is scheduled in a few weeks!
