Marathon training after heart attack

[Doubleaxe]

I found my way here by mistake from the British Heart Foundation forum, but am hoping to find a suitable Marathon training program.

Six months on from my heart attack & stent I am now jogging ~5km+ on most days each week. I am lucky to live in the Peak District with a choice of hilly trails outside my front door and have time to run or cycle most mornings. To give it all a bit more purpose (as well as investing in staying alive) I am thinking of training for a marathon. I did a little running ten years ago – but dismissed the idea of a marathon due to dodgy knees, ankles and excessive weight and so did more walking and cycling touring. GP seems to be supportive and I see my consultant in a couple of weeks. Assuming he is cool about it, I obviously have to monitor bpm carefully. Current advice from cardiac rehab is essentially to limit effort to under 120 bpm. Which is not a lot for getting up the steeper hills or going any faster than a jog but age and Beta Blockers take their toll.

I am quite comfortable with (the idea of) the long runs and the time commitment. What does concern me however is the nature of the weekday runs. All the marathon training schedules I have looked at are suggesting much shorter daily distances and durations than I already do, but with much more intensity. They also contradict advice from the rehab staff to keep a good aerobic curve / profile i.e. a steady warm up , increasing effort gradually and then decrease and cool down. All those pace sessions, intervals, walk / run strategies are difficult to achieve without exceeding the magic 120 bpm, but I can currently manage to keep down for a couple of hours up and down hills so long as I take it steadily.

So I am looking for advice please! Is there a suitable training plan that fits with this – perhaps with shortish (45 – 60 mins?) ‘easy’ runs during the week and a long run at the weekend? Being realistic, under 6 hours seems a sensible target to start with. All advice welcome!

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

If you're managing decent length runs in the week at your pace why not just stick with those and do extending long runs at the weekend, start by adding 2 miles a week to your long run and see how you get on.

Fantastic area to have on your doorstep and huge well done for getting back out there, many people get too worried to get back moving again, which is of course even worse for health!

[Doubleaxe in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

Thanks Jo-Jo - and everyone else too for the advice. It is all beginning to make a bit more sense how to build a plan. I will let you know how I get on....

[Hidden]

A lot of training plans incorporate interval training to build up speed, strength and fitness. In your situation I would do a couple of easy runs in the week (5k first run up to 13km for second run) whilst increasing your long weekend run by 1-2km each week. Instead of intervals you could do some cycling or weight training to add strength which shouldn't increase heart rate so much. Every four weeks have a cut back week to allow recovery. Most marathon plans aim for 3hr or about 20 miles rather than the whole distance as further requires more recovery time. Also look into fuelling your long runs and hydration.

[Doubleaxe in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Runfasterdoyle - I like this advice. I am much encouraged by the idea of running a 5k & 12k during the week. Seems to make up in time what I cant do in intensity. And the simple recipe to build the long runs. Not sure the cycling counts as less intense - I live at the top of a 1:4 hill! But I can always take the bike elsewhere. Thanks.

[Whatsapp Half Marathon]

The main thing is to build up the long run each week. All the interval/hill/fartlek type runs are very good they are really there to try to improve your speed.

Keep you mid-week runs how you have built them into your base and gradually extend your long run eack week. You don't need to follow an off the shelf plan. Just looke at the date you want to do the marathon and therefore the distance you want to acheive and build your plan backwards to now.

Fit in a bit of wriggle room, and try to incorporate reset weeks, when you can drop your weekly distance for a week to allow for a bit of recovery.

[Doubleaxe in reply to Whatsapp]

Thanks Whatsapp, This sounds good - I like the reassurance to build my own plan. I am far more likely to follow my own plan than try to follow a published one. And the reset weeks sound like I will need. Cheers

[backintime 10 Miles]

london-marathon.s3.amazonaw...

this one looks reasonable - it's from the London Marathon website

It doesn't have much interval training - there are some tempo runs, but you could adjust to your allowed effort

in the "want more" section, it suggests to run continuously if you can sometimes, or gives some extras

not sure if that's ok for you but it's an idea

[Doubleaxe in reply to backintime]

Thanks - there are definitely bits in here to help build a plan that works for me. A timely reminder too that Easy really should mean easy. When I started a couple of months ago, even the easy bits were hard. I am better at it now.

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon]

I have trained using a polar training plan following heartrate training that is downloaded to the watch. For me 120bpm is zone 2, a very slow gentle run, but depending on what your max heartrate is you may be in a different zone. Heartrate training essentially gets you to run faster eventually but with less effort so this might be worth looking into. I have run 3 times a week; an hour in zone 3, an interval run, or a 5k run, and then a 2hour longer run in zones 2 and 3. The plan adapts based on your data too. The watch can be pricey but I would totally recommend it.

[Doubleaxe]

Thanks, I do have a Garmin watch with a similar sounding program. But that is what sparked this query because I found I could not do the mid week drills without overdoing it as far as heart rate. Having said that, the fitter I get, then the more i can achieve in zone 2. As per the other feedback, I think I shall need to get creative and make my own plate. Thanks.

[uncle_wiggy Half Marathon 10 Miles]

I don't have enough background to offer any training advice Doubleaxe but I offer you my serious respect!!

Just don't be too keen to prove things to yourself and overdo it & set yourself back (I should try listening to that myself right now too!) You only have one body, remember to be kind to it 😉 Good luck

[Doubleaxe]

Sound advice. It can be difficult to restrain myself when everything feels good. I got really quite competitive at a Parkrun last week.