Training for a Marathon Working a Hard Job

Last updated on April 14th, 2021 at 05:28 pm

There are countless marathon training programs available online. Of all the plans out there it seems there aren’t many for people working hard jobs. Most marathon training plans don’t address the challenges everyday people face when their jobs are difficult or physically demanding. In this post, we discuss training for a marathon while working a hard job.

Marathon Training for Those Working Long Hours

Where are the training plans for this type of person? What about the blue-collar worker; How can they train for a marathon?

When the hours are brutal, and the work is physically exhausting, figuring out how to exert the correct type of energy on a training program is difficult. After a day of spreading cement, or standing at a cash register, putting on your running shoes can be a daunting challenge.

In fact, depending on how physically demanding a given day of work has been it could be argued that a rest day is the best way to train for a race on that particular day. After all, rest days and controlled exertion are especially important for marathon training. Remember the goal with marathon training is to first cross the finish line; remaining healthy through the duration of any training program is first priority. Molding a plan to stay healthy through the training increases the odds you will make it across that finish line.

For those with physically demanding jobs brave enough to want to conquer a marathon, this post is for you.

Training for a Marathon Working a Hard Job

After working in construction all day running ten miles is tough. There are benefits to putting a body through such rigors, but one downside is regulating overexertion. How can enough miles rack up to train while not destroying knees and feet? We dive into the FIRST training program a little further down this post. Before we dive into the specifics, here are generally guiding principles when training for a marathon while working a hard job.

Guiding Principles For Training Around Hard Work

Here are a few important guiding principles to follow to avoid injury and ensure consistency:

Ramp mileage gradually
Incorporate strength training
One day a week should focus on a long run
Don’t neglect hills or speed

You might feel like you need to run every single day BUT if your body needs a down day you should take it.

The end goal is run a marathon, but you will run a better marathon the healthier you are.

Many marathon training regimens use weekly miles run as a benchmark for continued improvement, as you move through the duration of the training program. Just keep in mind, however, that there is more to training for a marathon than how many miles you can stack into a week leading up to your race day.

A weekly tally of miles run is still an important metric, but if you are working a manual labor job, and needing to ease into those long runs that is totally okay.

The FIRST Marathon Training Program

If you work a difficult job, but are an aspiring marathon runner by night the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training marathon plan is the plan that will work for you. Created by Bill Pierce and Scott Murr, the plan was originally born from each entering a few triathlons. To elevate their competitiveness in the biking and swimming portions of the triathlon it became evident that those activities required more commitment. In spending more time on biking and swimming less days were spent on running. This was simply a trade off of having limited time to train in a given week.

Originally, Pierce and Murr reduced their running days down to four. After noticing their times didn’t suffer, the decision was made to further reduce the number of running days down to three. Through this process, Pierce and Murr became convinced:

a three-day-per-week running plan could not only help runners finish a marathon, it could help them beat personal records.

After experiencing personal success, the FIRST marathon training plan was researched by putting 25 vetted volunteers through the exact training guidelines recommended in the FIRST training plan. Of the 25 original participants, nearly all of them completed a marathon, 21 in fact.

Of the 21 finishers 15 of the finishers had personal records.

If that isn’t success, what is? The limited number of running days should pique the interest of those training for a marathon and working hard day jobs.

Does the FIRST plan work?

After loosely following the FIRST training program in order to complete my first half-marathon. Yes, it is just a half marathon that I completed, but I was able to get it under my belt so easily using this plan that I am a complete convert; I will be following this training program again on my way to completing my first full marathon in the Summer of 2019.

The FIRST training program, or The Less-is-More Marathon Plan, is the most common sense plan I have come across that takes into consideration the race day benefits of having a more healthy, less beaten body.

While this particular training program doesn’t appear to be developed specifically for people who work manual labor jobs my experience with the plan is that it worked very well within the limitations of my manual labor workloads.

Here are the basic tenants of the Less-is-More training plan:

Run ONLY three days per week
Cross-train on the other two days
Make sure one of the runs is a “long” run

If you think you get the gist of the training program, here is a link to the actual FIRST training program pdf document. This will give specific info on each workout of the 16 week training program: The Plan

Lets dive into a little more detail on the three pillars of this training program below.

1. Run only three days per week

To be clear, three days a week is less than most training plans.

To be even more clear, the plan goes further than suggesting three days a week the plan mandates three days a week.

For example, if you have the ability to run a fourth day in a given week the plan does not encourage you to do so. This is due to the fact that the plan expresses that your running improvement will come BECAUSE you are running three days a week, not IN SPITE of it.

Lets break down what each of your three running days will look like if you follow this plan.

Run Day 1 (Speed Run)

Speed runs vary in distance, and could be completed even if you do not have a track. That said, the plan does give guidelines for the speed days based on track training; all of the 16 speed days focus on repeats that range from 400 m to 1600 m intervals.

Obviously, as you make your way through the program the number of repeats completed increases.

Run Day 2 (Tempo Run)

One of the run days is going to involve a tempo run. Since the training program is 16 weeks, you will have 16 different tempo runs. Throughout the course of the training program these runs are as short as three miles and get up to as long as ten miles, and the goal speed for each of these tempo runs is dictated by the overall distance. For example, a ten mile tempo run would be at a slower pace than the 3 mile efforts. Below is what the long, mid, and short tempo runs would look like.

Long Tempo: 10k pace + 60 to 75 seconds

Mid Tempo: 10k pace + 15 to 20 seconds

Short Tempo: 10k pace

Run Day 3 (Long Run)

One of your three runs each week needs to be a long run. We are training for a marathon after all. The long runs peak out at two 20 mile runs three weeks out from the marathon race with the long run in the week prior consisting of a 10 mile run.

2. Cross-train on the other two days

Cross train on two of the days for 45 minutes.

When I first heard that two of the days were based on cross training my mind immediately perceived these as veiled rest days. I had a vision of myself slowly peddling on an indoor gym bicycle while watching reruns on daytime television. To be clear, this is not what the FIRST program intends or wants out of you.

The program expects you to go hard on these days, and the focus should be on increasing your heart rate, and working beneficial muscle groups.

There are no shortage of wonderful cross training activities that will help make your FIRST experience successful. Swimming and biking are two of the more common primarily due to the fact that these are endurance activities that put minimal stress on the joints.

While I enjoy cycling, I have recently begun to feel really good about getting in some strength workouts. As a part of a cross training regimen weight lifting fits in perfectly. Low weight high rep circuit training has gotten my heart rate up, and has added an aspect to my marathon training that I otherwise would likely neglect.

3. Make sure one of the runs is a “long” run

I mention the long run earlier in this post, but since we are specifically focusing on marathon training we need to go into just a little more detail on the long runs. For the purpose of this plan, the long runs are a bit faster than other plans out there.

The goal on the long runs is to run at your 10k race pace + 60 to 75 seconds per mile.

For those unfamiliar with marathon training plans, this is a fast long run. Many plans out there allow the long run to be almost a full 45 seconds slower per minute than this.

Having a pace that is a bit faster is important for the scope of the plan; remember, you are only running three times a week, and the FIRST program is only 16 weeks long. Because the program is so condensed, and the number of runs each week is small be prepared to hit those long runs at a faster pace.

Conclusion

If you are working a difficult day job, maybe even a day job that is physically demanding, it is still possible to train and complete a marathon. A training program like FIRST provides a good amount of hope for manual laborers that have hope of not only completing a marathon, but improving their time.

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