Shift Workers schedule

Hi,

I'm after some general advice and tips please.

All of the schedules for training for marathons I've come across aren't suitable for me. I work Shifts of days, lates and nights and my week is basically ten days long so I can't find the time to squeeze in what they say.

My first marathon isn't until October so I have plenty of time. I'm just currently trying to fit in some short quick runs and some longer slower runs, increasing over time, into the ten day period.

Does anyone else have the same issues, does that sound ok ?

Thanks.

P.S. Sorry for bad spelling etc, written at 4am on one of my night shifts

Look at the training plans and see how they work - gradually building up the distance then with an easy week every (approx) 4th week. This easy week is to allow your body to recover from the effort of the previous week.

If you can stick to ond Long Slow Run (LSR) a week, of increasing distance then your other runs can be shorter. even if your LSR is every 10th day I don't think your training will suffer that much. Use a 10 day plan instead of a 7 day plan. - You'll have to compose it yourself.

The training plans are for guidance, they can be broken so long as you keep the important elements.

hello

i do days late and nights at gatwick, ive found what works for me is a small 6 mile run after the second day shift then have the two lates with no run then a 10mile or more on the morning of your first night then have 3 off then your rest days get a long one in its worked for me for my training schedule.

im training for the london so i have to follow my one

hope this helps

Obviously it depends on your shift pattern.

It's years since I worked "proper" shifts, but as a surgeon, I know how sleepless nights affect me.

I would suggest keeping to shorter, easier runs before/after night shifts- a great way to feel properly woken up!

The long slow run will have to be on a rest day, preferably 2or 3 days after your last night, or you're likely to suffer.

As long as each 10 day cycle includes a LSR, lots of medium- length runs, and a little bit of faster runnign, it can't possibly matter that it's 10 rather than 7 days.- Who knows, you may discover the perfect training plan! You can use a pre- prepared plan to get the increases in LSR lenght right- just spread out over 16x10 days. rather than 16 weeks.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

It appears from what you say that I think I'm heading in the right direction.

Over the ten days I try to fit in a couple of five milers and maybe a seven or eight and then a long one. Maybe about ten or twelve at the moment. Increasing the distance over time. Does it matter if the longer one isn't a slow pace and rather I go at what I plan to do over the course of the marathon ?

Thanks again