Madcap Marathon Plan: The Last Laugh

I've discussed the marathon-length run done at a hard steady pace and the marathon-length run with the last 10-11 at marathon pace. The last step: do both every week (say, Tuesday night and Saturday morning)...

and nothing else!

52.5 miles per week works well for those racing between 3 and 4 hours. Those on the faster end might want to add up to two hours of cross-training per week, but no more runs. You need those 3.5 days to recover after each of these runs.

Strava did a study that found that 3 hour marathoners averaged 40-50 miles per week, most done at 7:31-7:48 per mile. I have a little more than that, done at 7:30 per mile.

Pete Pfitzinger suggests doing 20% of one's runs fast. 20% of 52.5 is 10.5, which is exactly what i suggest.

Marathoners from 2:30 to 4:30 run 75-90 minutes per week at race pace. 11 miles at 3:00 pace is 75 minutes and 10 miles at 4:00 pace is 90 minutes.

It all works!
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Getting there is the challenge, of course. You'd spend 8-12 weeks building up to running two marathons per week. Once there, assume that you're running at 85% effort (if you're running really easy, it might be 80%, as hard as you need to for this plan is 90%) and then you can start with the faster running.

What about maximum oxygen uptake intervals? Don't need them.
What about threshold running? The last miles of every run will get you the same benefit.

It's so crazy, I think I have to try it.