The 60 miles per week plan

I've been thinking about how I can progress my training for Boston. Having tried the Pete Pfitzinger/Scott Douglas schedule it's been valuable in teaching me a few lessons:

Mileage is good! I can cope with 60-70 miles per week, but at that mileage it's easy to overdo it

Schedules can't fit everyone - the good bit is that they encourage you to run when apathy might have held you back (a problem I don't have!), but the bad bit is you might end up running with niggles and picking up injuries when you'd be better backing off a bit. There were times when I was too tired, and I don't think I was getting the best from the training

I can do a long slow run the day after a speed session - 2 hard days in a row - something I've never done before. I think the key here is keeping variety - don't do 2 long runs or 2 speed sessions together

The schedule gave me fantastic endurance: lots of long runs and 15-mile midweek runs are the way to go

A schedule can be a lonely time if you stick to it and avoid doing club runs - most of our club runs are way too short

I can't justify this, but I felt I could have done with more marathon pace sessions

So for Boston, I'm going to do my own thing, but incorporating elements of the schedule I used for Cardiff. I want to achieve the following:

Get comfortable running regular 60-70 mile weeks

Stick with aerobic runs (base training) for at least the first 3 months

Have at least 1 marathon pace/steady run per week and another faster session

Try to fit in around the club sessions of a group run on Tuesday and an interval session on Thursday

15 mile midweek runs

Weekly gym sessions

Weekend long runs at least 15 miles with lots of 20-milers (fortnightly?)

I can't get everything into 1 week, so here is what a typical fortnight looks like. It's not a schedule as such, but a 'principle'. One thing I need to do is know when I'm overdoing it and back off if need be:

Monday	4	Recovery
Tuesday	7	Gym session am, steady marathon pace club run pm
Wednesday	15	Slow
Thursday	5	Recovery (with club - need to ensure I don't get pulled along too fast!)
Friday	8	Tempo - middle 3 miles at half marathon to 10k pace
Saturday	5	Recovery
Sunday	20	Slow
Monday	0	'Rest' - gym session
Tuesday	11	5 slow am, 6 steady pm with club
Wednesday	6	Recovery
Thursday	7	Intervals with club - long reps (aerobic)
Friday	12	Slow
Saturday	6	Recovery
Sunday	17	Slow

Each month I'll incorporate a recovery week where I drop the mileage a bit and maybe add a rest day or 2 (that's proper rest - not gym sessions!).

I'll build gradually to this through November, hold this through mid-December onwards, and maybe add some sharpening/VO2max sessions in March.