Adaptive training for marathon in 6 months time

Yeah, that's it, Stamina fields include Stamina Time and Stamina Distance, which you can only see during a run activity. Can look near the beginning of the run or towards the end if you add what you've already done to the totals.  

Now I regret that I have not looked at it at the beginning of my training program

Tough luck getting sick just before your A race. After that many races you know when things just aren't right. Hope you can find another race soon and make use of the fitness you've built up.

I'm still 23 weeks from my A race marathon, a long build for certain, though i do have B races in 4 weeks and 17 weeks, both HM distance.

I had a bit of a wobble last week when a wisdom tooth infection spread to the rest of my body, dropped 50 mpw down to 10 miles. On the way back now.

I'm keeping an eye on the suggested workouts, really like picking off the juicier sessions (intervals and threshold etc) usually selecting them a few days early. I'm doing my own thing for weekly long runs, and adding a tempo/MP session. MP pace is current predicted marathon pace, goal pace would be too hard at the moment, but over the weeks the two should come together. 

According to Garmin, I've moved from Preparation phase into Base phase. As you might expect it focusses on base runs (e.g. three 1hr 15min runs on consecutive days!) and has reduced the required Anaerobic load (as shown on Load Focus by the dotted target window).

Otherwise though, with a selection of the well known sessions each week, there isn't too much to vary.

So is that marathon getting close ? ;-)

I followed the "adaptive" training plans for a couple of races but it was a bust, first one was an HM that was a complete failure (a first for me in 10 years of racing) already discussed in detail and the second one was a 10k and "on me" since I went down with the flu a few days before the race. Hard to draw any conclusions on the plans in these circumstances.

I'd programmed a 15k for the end of February and was following the plan but wasn't particularly impressed. For a start it's always the same sessions, more or less (regardless of the distance you're preparing, like doing M Pace/Tempo runs, I mean they're nice but how relevant are they to a 10k ?!), and while you do see some "adaptations" compared to what was planned, it still suggests runs that are rather useless, like a 30' base run, what kind of benefits do they think you can get from such a short run, 40 minutes should be set as a bare minimum.

Anyway I've gone back to the Venu 2 and will be selling the 955 so won't be able to comment further. My take away is that these "adaptive plans" sound great on paper but rely on data that's "questionable' (like HRV of late) and will be mostly useful for people who don't know where to start. As for others I think the good old 80/20 with IPace, TPace and RPace and MPace for marathon preps will do just fine ;-)

My A-race is still 11 weeks away. Yes, this is the longest build up in (my) history! 

I'm feeling some frustrations and dissatisfaction similar to yours.

The single biggest woe is that it keeps cancelling or downscaling my long run. The slightest bump in sleep or stress and my Monday long run disappears. We all know messing with your long run is not the way to get a good marathon time, regardless if my body missed a couple of hours sleep, it's just not done. Have a beer on Saturday, Garmin thinks you can't do a long run on Monday. 

As for most people with a 955 on their wrist, i have an idea what i'd like to do already (any other training plan will be similar). Monday long, Wednesday speed, Fri Tempo/Thresh (moving to MP nearer the race), maybe a Parkrun on Saturday, rest day on Sunday, float/easy Tues/Thurs. As most runners, i like the routine, i dont want that messed around. But i would like my clever watch to balance the float days, tell me if i am getting worse, maybe change the number of repetitions. It's fine tuning not putting a red pen through workouts, i can do that myself. 

I can't honestly tell the difference between the different phases either. Garmin says what the purpose of each phase is for but doesn't tell us how it will implement. 

Maybe adaptive training isn't aimed at me, or my type of runner, or anyone else who has an idea what structure they want in their weekly plan, but then who is it for? Not many beginners would follow (or stump up GBP 500), and certainly not any elites either. 

I still keep any eye on what it's suggesting. I enjoy picking off the tempo/threshold/interval sessions a day or two before they are due, that part is quite fun, but the rest just does not fit what i what to do, or normally do (no adaption moving the suggestions to match my historical schedule).

There are too many unanswered questions: how does it select how many days/miles per week to suggest, does it change the training balance targets depending on the race distance, does it use the feedback scores to modify the next sessions (reduce weekly load if too many sad faces), does it reduce speed or HR targets if you miss them often enough, will it give me a MP workout during any of the later stages,.... As far as i can tell Garmin hasn't said a jot on what to expect. I had been been using it for 4 months and following it 6+ months and i'm none the wiser.

Fine, if i dont like the suggested session then i can do my own, but then it isn't adding much value. It's easy to say that A.I. will never know your own body as well as you do but actually thats what i want it to do, use science/data to make me better that what i can do on my own.

Yes, it looks like a missed opportunity...the silence is deafening as they say, both from Garmin and potential users, apart from us ! But of course there is always a silent majority, like Nolman88 who seems to have made it a mission of his to downvote all my posts of late- ;-)

For me the Adaptive Program is working. I will write something more during the week, don't have time right now.

So is it still working ? I sold my 955 and went back to my Venu 2 for the screen and size/weight/convenience so I'm no longer distracted in my training by odd suggestions ;-)

I've moved to "Peak Phase" and can't really see any differences, much like the other phases. I'm glancing at the suggestions now and then, seeing what's offered, but following my own plan now. 

A couple of weeks ago, after a few easier days, good sleep etc, I had Training Readiness score of 90, about as ready as you can get. The watch suggested a 1hr 10min long run. Eh? I'd already clocked 2 runs over 3 hours. What's even more annoying is that Garmin has my data back to 2007 including 7 previous marathons, so it knows exactly what i did before, including that which got me to p.b. condition. Would be nice if it took that into account. 

Looking towards race day, I've had ~5 unplanned breaks in the key build weeks so can only acheive 60% of my normal volume. No chance of a p.b. this time so I'm going to enjoy Manchester Marathon for the experience, not be obsessed with splits and HR. Looking forward to that. 

There may not be much more to say about adaptive training now. I enjoyed using it to start with. It suits off-season, general fitness, B races or coming back from a break, with effortless planning and easily cycling through all the key workout types. It's not smart enough for anything beyond that though which is a missed opportunity. I'm sure what it needs could easily be programmed, all the data is there after all.