The Knighton Runs Podcast · Chris Knighton

77 | Q&A: What to Do Between Marathons? How to Modify Training Plans? Winter Running Advice?

·34 min·2 clips

Coach Chris says the simplest 60-to-70-mile modification is adding one to two easy miles to each run.

Coach Chris opens bundled up against 27-degree weather. He says he is in two sweatshirts and a hat, and the house feels cold too. The episode is a Q&A built from nine questions Scott sent in from the Night in Runs training group. He uses those questions to focus on what runners should do between marathon cycles, especially between the fall and spring races. He also checks in on what he is doing since Chicago and what he is looking toward in the months ahead. The first coaching thread is paces. He tells listeners to start from their most recent race result and use that as the base. He points them to his website calculator at nightandruns.com/calculator. The calculator gives an estimated marathon time and training paces from a half marathon finish time. It also gives paces for workouts like one mile, 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. He says the closer the race is to your target distance, the more accurate the estimate tends to be. Results farther apart can drift more. He makes the same point another way by saying the marathon is very different from everything shorter than it. A runner may be able to match shorter-distance predictions more easily than the marathon number. For the marathon, weather, preparation, and smart pacing matter a lot. He then answers Scott's question about adding a half marathon into a marathon build. He does not set specific race dates inside the marathon plan itself. Instead, he works from the marathon finish date and lets the race placement fit the larger training picture. He keeps the advice practical through the rest of the Q&A, including the questions about winter running and how to adjust training when the season changes. He ends by thanking listeners, mentioning Patreon support, and pointing them to his book, Run Faster Marathons, The Proven Path to PR.

As heard by us

Practical winter advice for runners between marathon blocks.

Coach Chris spends the episode on a simple problem: what comes after a marathon when the next goal is still far off. He answers nine listener questions with practical guidance on the in-between weeks, cold-weather adjustments, and how to move from one block to the next without…

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You need a sane plan for the weeks after marathon day.

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