Jack Daniels’ Marathon Training Plans
The most complicated of the Jack Daniels training plans are his marathon plans. There are several different plans you can work from and they cover weekly mileage totals from 40–50 miles per week up to 120 or more miles per week, which only the most dedicated and serious runners can maintain.
His plans also vary from 21-week plans to 18-week plans to 12-week plans. In this article, I’m going to focus on the 18-week plans that cover 40 to 50 miles per week, as I believe that is the amount of mileage average runners can handle along with a job and a family. To learn more about these other plans, please consult his book Daniels’ Running Formula.
The 2Q Program
Daniels’ 18-week training program is called the 2Q Program. This means that there are going to be 2 quality workouts per week, with the rest of the days being easy running days that are meant to fill out your weekly mileage.
Daniels suggests that you space these quality workouts out so that there are 2 to 2 easy days of running between the quality efforts. This advice jibes with what I see a lot of older elite runners do to avoid burnout and injuries.
Daniels also believes that you should be doing 6 to 10 strides during two of the easy running days. Strides help keep your leg turnover fast and they also keep you from…
