Most marathoners are ever on the prowl for that perfect last session before the race—one that’s long and hard enough to add a measure of confidence, yet short enough to fit sensibly into a taper. No standard workout seems to satisfy all of these requirements. A marathon-pace run is specific, but too long; 400s let you open up and blow off steam, but don’t apply to your goal event; long repeats are great for building anaerobic-aerobic power, but doing them this late in the game is risky, if not counterproductive.
One way to neatly address all of your body’s and mind’s needs—and spend less than 20 minutes in the process—is to do a burn-bracketed MP run. You should do this about eight to 10 days before your marathon; any closer and you won’t accrue any physical benefits, even if it doesn’t leave you excessively fatigued.
The workout:
- Warm up
- Run 800 meters at 5 to 10 seconds faster per mile than 5K race pace
- One-minute rest
- Run 1.5 miles at marathon pace
- One-minute rest
- Run 800 meters at 5 to 10 seconds faster per mile than 5K race pace
- Cool down
For example, if you’re capable of an 18:00 5K and hoping to break three hours in the marathon, after a warm-up of 10 or 15 minutes, run an 800 in about 2:45 to 2:50, jog for a minute, run 1 ½ miles at 6:50 pace, jog for a minute, and run another 800 in 2:45 to 2:50. Another 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging as a cool down, your last “real” workout is in the books.
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If you’re a “pure marathoner” with no recent 5K races to go by, you can simply convert your marathon goal from hours and minutes to minutes and seconds, knock off 5 to 10 seconds, and run your 800s at that pace.
At no point during this workout should you feel like you’re working terribly hard. You shouldn’t be fully recovered from the first 800 heading into the 1 ½ miles at MP, but if you execute it properly, you shouldn’t be breathing any harder at the end of that 1 ½ miles than you are at the start. And if you run those 1 ½ miles at a realistic goal MP, the one-minute rest that follows should be plenty to allow you to knock out one more fast-yet-controlled 800 without it being a struggle.
The Seeds
I first did this workout leading up to my first sub-2:30:00, and repeated it before every subsequent marathon, including my PR of 2:24 four years later. It made sense during a taper to get a number of things done on the same day: eke out some genuinely fast running while not doing enough of it to cause lingering fatigue, practice marathon pace while not completely fresh, and blow off a little steam.
Daniels’ Running Formula author and longtime top coach Jack Daniels has long advocated combining MP running with faster running during marathon training. For example, a workout he proposes includes 6 miles MP/1 mile tempo/6 miles MP/1 mile tempo/3 miles MP. This idea motivated me to aim for something shorter and faster but also involving changing gears multiple times.
Two-time Olympic marathoner and exercise physiologist Pete Pfitzinger, also influenced by Daniels, has employed a workout similar to the burn-bookended MP run for over 30 years. “The workout I’ve used is 2 x 1000 meters or 2 x 1200 meters, then 10 to 20 minutes at threshold and finally two more 1000s or 1200s,” Pfitzinger says. Pfitzy has used this workout in a variety of contexts. “It’s a great session for cross-country,” he says. “It’s also very good for triathletes, who generally race 10K just slightly faster than LT pace, and offers great variety for anyone doing races of 8K to the half-marathon.”
But Pfitzinger agrees that this type of workout also makes sense during a marathon taper, when runners seek to maintain the intensity component of training but at a somewhat reduced volume. “The session gives you much of the benefit of a larger volume VO2 max session with less stress, while also providing continuity to your threshold training,” he says. Experienced marathoners can bump the distance of the two faster reps up to 1000m or 1200m to provide a little more stimulus.
Exercised physiologist and elite coach Greg McMillan also sees the upside of such a session. “I certainly like some low-volume faster work in the taper phase plus some marathon pace practice,” he says. “This workout has both, and it may keep athletes from getting too frisky and leaving the race in training.”
The Rationale
The training theory informing this workout is straightforward:
Brevity: Clearly, you don’t want to hammer out more than about three miles at high intensity a little more than a week out from game day. In the burn-bracketed MP, you do 2 ½ miles of fast running and about five miles overall.
Specificity: Although you’ll only do six laps of the track (or wherever you run it) at marathon pace, the first 800 sets you up to be running on slightly tired legs. It’s not quite the same as banging out 10 stand-alone miles at MP, but it’s as good as you can do this close to your marathon.
Aerobic Power: As the two 800s are done at close to your VO2-max pace, they’ll add a tiny boost to the aerobic power component of your fitness. Some runners—generally more experienced ones—like to race a 5K seven or eight days out. The burn-bracketed 5K serves the same general purpose without being nearly as taxing.
Discipline: Because you only get a minute of rest between bouts, you can’t afford to let the nerves and excitement typical of a tapering marathoner run riot or else you won’t complete the workout as planned. And changing gears in the manner required, without going too fast or too slow at any point, keeps you mentally engaged and helps hone your focus.
