How to Train for a Marathon

This post is entirely for my own benefit. I'll just save the info in a public forum. That way perhaps you can benefit.

Abel Kirui; July and August training leading up to winning September 4th, 2011 World Championship Marathon.

Nate Jenkins lead up to his first two marathons (2:15 and 2:14; scroll down into the comments for the workouts).

Gerlindo Bordin before winning Seoul Olympic Marathon in 1988, again trained by Canova.

Random Renato Canova training threads.

Bill Rodgers training 1973-1975 including his first Boston win which was a 10 minute PR 2:19 to 2:09.

Thats about it for the night.

The point is, the training that the best runners out there did or do, is available. Neglecting to read I train for a fast marathon is ignorant. There are many paths to fast times, but there are many similarities. Lots of race pace training (or racing short distances are close to marathon pace), a decent number of miles (I've not heard of a top marathoner doing less than 80 per week), and consistency. You don't decide to run a fast marathon next month and do it, it takes years of aerobic base and workouts improving your lactate threshold and V02Max. Read up!