Please Review My Schedule

[MothAudio]

You'd think given my experience I'd have things down to a science by now but as I get older [53 YO] things change and you have to be open to new ideas if you hope to maximise your potential. Profile: Averaged 2300 mpy for last 5 years, coming off a P.B. last year [3300 miles]. During my Winter base phase I averaged 90 miles for 10 weeks and after 13 weeks this year I'm averaging 66.6 miles. I have two goals for this year, to run a sub-20 5k and a 3:19 marathon in the Fall. My last 5k was a 21:03 in early December, I also ran a 3:28:13 marathon in October on an abridged 6 week schedule [best time in many years]. I have a 5k targeted for June 5th, so that gives me 8 weeks, and while I'll continue to race at that distance throughout the year I'm looking at a serious sub-20 attempt after the marathon.
 
I'm on pace to run 3500 miles this year so due to the base I've built over the Winter I'm forging a traditional base phase. Three weeks following the June 5k I'll begin a "Lydiard: 28 weeks to a PR" schedule; 8 week hill / speed phase, 6 week sharpening phase, 10 day taper. For the last 5 weeks I've been working on transitting from the threadmill to outdoor running. After a mid-month slump I'm feeling strong again and have been able to add some up tempo workouts and get my mileage back where it should be [mid-60s]. The pace of my workouts are equal or better than they were this time last year and my mileage is up. I feel good to go and ready to jump into more aggressive running.
 
Any comments on what I've sketched out would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
MikE   

[Andrew A.]

If I am understanding correctly from how it is written, it seems workable to me. 

[Double]

Mike,
 
You have a very large base.  You have and are willing to put in the work...the totals don't lie.
My experience is you come off a large base and really crack it down.  Dare I say, almost forget
mileage totals.  The biggest mistake I see people make like you and me is become a slave
to the log book.  I could shoot this of in a dozen discussions about training theories, but the
bottom line is you have to turn this base into speed.  Base work = Strength = ability to harvest
more speed.  Like Ryan has mention, the bigger the base the higher the peak.  You have this.
Mike Platt has said your biggest mileage totals should be 6 months before your goal marathon,
not the few months leading up to it.  This is my experience as well.
 
I did those Lydiard schedules in 1978 as a kid.  No idea what I was doing, made tons of mistakes,
but still had some break through runs.  Dare I say, those types of regiments are almost for someone
under the eyes of an experienced coach.  At 53, you have a much shorter recovery window.  I would
seriously look at a much shorter window than 22 weeks or whatever.  Older guys who have success
are investing time in fast workouts.  You have to drive down your cruising speed.  Find a schedule
or regiment with an emphasis that allows for two fast workouts a week (dozens of ideas come to
mind) geared towards marathon training.  Maintain a medium and longer run...and get rest. 
 
People ran fast a lot back in the day.  Those same people run fast a lot today and do well.  They
just have less fast runs.  Go get fast.  Do it in an orderly manor...and go nuts once-in-a-while. 
Your a much experienced runner.  If you desire faster times then start cutting loose.  That is the best advice I can offer. 

[Ryan]

I was hoping someone else would respond before me because I wasn't quite sure where to go in an initial response.

You do have a much better base than most runners have at this point. That's a great position to be in. To me, the base is the bread and butter. The rest is just details. So you have the hard work done. Now, almost any schedule you do that will unlock some speed should reap some nice benefits. In that regard, the Lydiard plan is workable.

However, like Double, I would have some concern about the duration of the plan you're looking at. It has been my experience that 2-3 months is a good timeframe for getting the best results from high intensity training after already establishing a base. Based on what I'm counting out, you have about 15-16 weeks of training there. I think, with a good base, you could come out of that very strong. However, my fear is that you might find yourself peaking a month or so early.

In my opinion, it's better to peak late than early. It seems like we have a gradual build up to peak but the drop off after hitting peak tends to be dramatic. I definitely think the plan you follow is workable and would likely lead to some good results. At the same time, I wonder if a more condensed plan might lead to even better results. If you're comfortable with the Lydiard plan, though, I'd say don't hesitate. We're all studies of one, maybe it is the best plan for you. In the worst case scenario, given the base you've built, I don't think you'd experience bad results.

[MothAudio]

I appreciate the thoughts [and compliments] guys. Funny, you mentioned a shorter schedule because last year I admittedly jumped into the marathon at the last minute [with 6 weeks training] and still ran my best time in years. My thoughts during last Winter were to basically do something similar by continuing to work on my speed [5k time] and power [400m-1 mile time] and then 13 weeks before the marathon begin a marathon specific schedule. As I learned last year I don't need an exhaustive series of long runs [I did 4 last year] and one of my concerns / issues is getting burnt out on a more lenghty schedule. Then I recalled the Lydiad schedule. The difference between teh two is about a month which as some of you are saying may find me off peak for my October marathon. The 1st phase of the Lydiard schedule is geared toward hills and speed which I suspect won't be that much different than I'd be doing otherwise. Driving down my cruising speed is something I worked on last Winter and here just lately as I've added some mile time trials I've noticed my GA pace get faster with no increase in effort. I suspect I'm benefiting from the big miles I ran a few months ago along with the small percentage of uptempo running I've added. Since endurance comes easy to me improving my speed, especially at my age, is my main focus. I'm hip to not running peak miles in the months before your goal marathon as I front-load miles with my longest run about 5 weeks out. Thanks again.

[grasshopper]

Something closer to Clohessy's Complex System might worth considering.
http://www.lydiardfoundation.org/training/publishedArticles/peaking_hoax.aspx