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The Boston Marathon

THE LANCE PLAN

He's running strong, and aiming for (another) PR -- this time at Boston. And his coach has a few things to teach you about marathon training.

By Chris Carmichael

Photographs by Tim Marrs

PUBLISHED 03/24/2008

Stay Lean

After retiring from cycling, Lance strength- trained five days a week and packed on 15 pounds (remember those pics of him with Matthew McConaughey?). That weight made his first marathon even harder, so for his second race, he stripped off 10 pounds by cutting back on his strength work and his calorie intake. Lance plans to show up at the 2008 NYC Marathon at about 165, around eight pounds lighter than last year.

Be like Lance: Being lighter saves a runner tons of energy, but be careful not to cut calories too severely. You need a caloric deficit of 350 to 500 per day to lose a pound a week, but you also need to consume enough energy to support your workouts. To achieve both goals, focus on pre-, mid-, and postworkout nutrition to optimally support your training, but reduce portion sizes and eliminate snacks at other times of the day.

Maintain Fitness

During Lance's Tour de France years, he never let his cycling fitness drop by more than 10 to 12 percent because it would have been too difficult to regain any more than that. But after his first marathon, injuries and lack of motivation meant he lost the majority of his racing fitness. To avoid the same scenario this year, Lance was back to running three or four times a week after finishing the 2007 marathon, which gave him a solid base for his 2008 training.

Be like Lance: If you're targeting more than one race this season, focus on recovery after your first event so you can get back to training two weeks after a 5-K or 10-K and four weeks after a half or full marathon. Do light, low-impact exercise, such as swimming or cycling, in the days after the race; even 15 minutes will get the blood flowing, which speeds recovery.

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