October fest

[El Gordo]

I'm going to stick my neck out and plan for a sub 5 hour - many will see that as a very poor standard,

And many won't

As for the training plan, you have pre-empted me as I was going to ask for advice on the Forum. I used Hal's mark 1 Novice last time, I have wondered about using the mark 2 Novice or maybe the mark 1 Intermediate? What would you recommend?

In some ways it was an unfair question on my part, as I'm finding that I no longer feel the need to stick religiously to one plan or another. I've tended to create a hybrid. Since last year, I've become a fan of the 3-runs-a-week approach advocated by the Furman Institute (Google "Furman FIRST").

The principles are:
-- quality, not quantity
-- each run should have an objective
-- inclusion of cross-training as well as just running

Without necessarily following every line of their plan, I think the principles are good.

I also like Hal Higdon's Novice II and Intermediate I plans.

So I personally might aim for the long run schedule of one of those plans, but adapting the midweek runs to include a max of 2 runs, with cross-training on the other days. With a rest day in there sometime.

What I like about the Intermediate I is that it includes more than one 20 miler which I think is a good idea. But I would play that by ear. Sometimes the reality veers away from the best-laid plans as I found last winter with the calf injuries and resulting lay-offs.

The less-is-more principle is particularly good for those of us who are relatively... mature...

There's quite a bit on the web about the 3-runs-a-week idea.