PUBLISHED 06/27/2005
Be a FIRST-Timer
Official participants in Furman's marathon program undergo lab testing, attend monthly meetings, and receive individualized advice, and sometimes even daily e-mails. But anyone can adapt and use the program's basic principles. Just follow the eight rules below, and the 16-week FIRST training plan (at left). For more information, check out www.furman.edu/FIRST.
1. Run Efficiently, Run for Life
Bill Pierce is a tough, performance-oriented guy, but he insists on explaining the FIRST program from a fitness and philosophical perspective. He believes that a three-day running week will make running easier and more accessible to many potential runners and marathoners. It will also limit overtraining and burnout. Finally, with several days of cross-training, it should cut your injury-risk substantially. This may lead to faster race times. More importantly to Pierce, it adds up to a program that many time-stressed people can follow healthfully for years. "Our most important objective is to help runners develop and maintain lifelong participation in running," says Pierce. "Our second goal is to help them achieve as much as possible on a minimum of run training."
2. Run Three Times a Week...And No More
This is the centerpiece of the entire FIRST program. FIRST runners do only three running workouts a week. This decreases the overall time commitment of the program, and the risk of injuries--important considerations to many runners. Each of the three workouts has a specific goal. That's something few runners have considered. "With most runners, when I ask them what they're hoping to accomplish on a given run, they look back at me with a blank stare," says Pierce. "I don't think they've ever thought about this question before. We have." The three FIRST workouts?a long run, a tempo run, and a speed workout?are designed to improve your endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed.
3. Build Your Long Run to 20 Miles
The FIRST marathon training program builds up to two 20-mile workouts, the second one taking place three weeks before your marathon race date. But covering 20 miles is the easy part of the FIRST program. The harder part is the pace--60 to 75 seconds slower per mile than your 10-K race pace. Many other marathon programs allow you to run slower than this, by as much as 30 to 40 seconds per mile. "It's true that our long runs won't let you admire the scenery as much," says Pierce. "But they aren't painful either. They just push you a little beyond the comfort zone. If you're going to race a marathon, you have to do some hard long runs to get the toughness and focus you'll need on race day."
4. Run Three Different Kinds of Tempo Runs
The tempo run has become a mainstay of many training programs, but the FIRST program carries the concept a little farther than most, adding more variety and nuance. FIRST runners do three different kinds of tempo runs?short tempos (three to four miles), mid tempos (five to seven miles) and long tempos (eight to 10 miles). Each of these is run at a different pace. "We've found that the long tempo run is particularly helpful," says Pierce. "You're basically running at your marathon goal pace, so you're getting maximum specificity of training, and improving your efficiency at the pace you want to run in your marathon."
