No climbs to slow you down, no descents to manage, no obvious reasons you shouldn’t be able to lock into your goal pace and cruise straight through the finish line. However, these courses can be deceptively difficult if you’re not prepared. A course with few elevation changes gives runners fewer forced resets.
An ambitious pace may feel comfortable in the opening miles of a flat marathon. But after hours of the same stride pattern and muscle use, fatigue can definitely sneak up on you. Flat courses are not inherently tougher than hilly ones, explains Janet Hamilton, CSCS, an exercise physiologist and the founder and head coach of Running Strong in Atlanta.
But they do demand something different from the body: Can you hold a sustainable rhythm without relying on the terrain to keep your effort in check? The goal of your training should be to answer this question with a confident yes. To find out how runners can get there, we spoke with three experts for the key strategies you need on your plan when training for a flat marathon.
Here’s the good news: You don’t need to turn every run into a pancake-flat outing to prepare yourself adequately for a flat marathon. The point is to make the training sessions that most closely resemble race day look more like race day. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier and founding coach of Runnersfix.
For flat marathons, he coaches his runners with the same philosophy: Put marathon-pace workouts and long runs on flatter routes. Mott recommends one of these sessions per week. For example, if you have both a marathon-pace workout and a long run on your schedule every week, Mott recommends alternating a flatter marathon-pace session one week with a flatter long run the next, and keep the other workout on whatever terrain you choose.
This approach gives runners a chance to practice sustaining their effort without the natural shifts that come with rolling terrain. Hamilton agrees, suggesting long runs on flat ground are especially helpful for runners with a time goal for their race. Most runners should make a conscious shift toward prioritizing flat terrain at least eight weeks before race day, says Daren Lake, a Sydney, Australia-based VDOT- and Australian Athletics-certified run coach.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
