Tag Archives: Hanson Brothers

Aug 15 2019
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Marathon, Running, Training

Want to do the Hanson Marathon Method Without Speedwork?

I’ve had some people inquire lately for info on trying to run the Hansons Marathon Method without speed or tempo work (which I’ll refer to hereafter as just speedwork).

First of all, the Hansons did write a plan into the 2nd edition of their book which they called Just Finish. It’s a beginner’s version of their plan, without speedwork.

However, there’s a substantial issue with that plan: It’s clearly just a lightweight version of the other plans. There doesn’t appear to be any real adjustment for the loss of speedwork. The total volume of the plan is far too short on mileage volume to adequately prepare a runner for the marathon. The average mileage is about 30-40 miles, which wouldn’t be so bad except there’s no speedwork to make up for that shortfall.

The less speedwork you do in a training plan, the more important regular and long aerobic runs, plus a large training volume, becomes. The effectiveness of the medium aerobic Hanson weekday runs and 16 mile max long run is logistically contingent on you completing a speedwork session and extended tempo run during the week.

Still, people like the scheduling, run frequency, and the spread of the Hanson plan, though understandably prefer to avoid the lengthy, demanding speedwork and pace sessions.

Is there a way to follow some variation of the plan without speedwork, in more robust fashion than following the lightweight Just Finish plan, without totally undermining the plan?

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Dec 24 2018
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Marathon, Running, Training

Hansons Marathon Method: Who’s it good for?

HansonBookI want to talk a bit about the Hanson Brothers’ training methods, which are outlined in their famous book Hansons Marathon Method.

I won’t go as far as to review the book in this write-up, but I do want to talk about the Hansons’ training approach relative to other training, my experience with marathon training and where I see this approach working well or not so well. I suppose it’s more of a review of the training method than a review of the book. But the book itself is a good read with some unique ideas, and if the approach may work for you I totally recommend checking the book out.

The basics of the Method, in a nutshell:

  • Over 18 weeks, you run six days a week… except for the 1st week, where you begin the plan in midweek instead of the 1st day of the week.
  • The plan strictly regiments each workout, with all quality workouts and days off happening on the same day each week.
  • Unless you do the novice “Just Finish” plan, you are expected to do a speedwork session and a marathon tempo run every week. These workouts are expected to be done during midweek, on Tuesday and Thursday.
  • The weekend long run ranges in distance from 8 to 16 miles, but is not supposed to go longer than 16 miles. As many running minds do, the Hansons emphasize maxing out the long run at about 2.5 hours.
  • The day off always falls between the speedwork and marathon tempo run. The speedwork precedes the day off, and the marathon pace tempo run follows the day off.
  • Long runs are always preceded by back to back medium-long regular runs.
  • The authors strongly recommend the long run be run at a more moderate pace (not quite race pace, but a bit faster than other easy runs), contrasting most advice to do long runs at a very easy pace.
  • The speedwork intervals in the early part of the plan are done at 5K or 10K pace. But later speedwork features longer intervals at a “strength” pace that’s about 10 seconds faster than marathon pace, akin to half marathon pace.
  • Unlike most plans, The Hansons’ plan does not include tune-up races, and the authors strongly discourage any racing during the 18 week training plan.

Cynicism Time! Who does the method not work for?

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