2.39 Is Possible At London Marathon!

How Lydiard Would Approach Marathon Preparation Click Here
Talking to Keith Livingstone by way of email has changed my belief in what I can achieve at London next year.
After hearing that I have done little in the way of aerobic base training over the years makes him think that I have a big room for improvement.
He said I should not think of aiming at 2.45 but think bigger and go for 2.39.
Thinking back I guess there were only two years I ever did something like Lydiard base training., 2003 when I set many of my P.B.s 21.31 for 4 miles, 27.11 for 5 miles and 57.28 for 10 miles, these times on the McMillan calculator do give me a 2.40 marathon!
Also when I started this blog back in 2007 I tried to follow lydiards training methods, I didn't have all the info I needed but I still had an amazing period where race after race went extremely well, until I started adding in hard interval sessions, first I stopped improving then burned out and went back to being a very average runner!
It seems I have been given another chance to find out what I can really do, thanks to Keith I'm starting to understand how the Lydiard method works and how I can turn this broken down misfiring single cylinder lawn mower engine into a high powered aerobic sub 6 cruising rocket!

Week One Arthur Lydiard base training
Mon
Decided to rest after a very poor 10K race :0[
Tue
Marathon paced effort up to one hour
Set off on the road with Tess at about 6.20 pace, to make it FUN we heade3d out over the sand dune trail on an out and back course.
Reached half way in 29 mins.
we had the wind on our backs coming home, kept a good steady effort going [felt good] last 3/4 on road where we easily hit 6.20 pace again! + 55.49
Wed
Big sand dunes with Tess, kept heart rate at 70-75 % of max = 1.35
Thur
Fartlek [speed play] session, two laps Hillside loop.
Putting in efforts up and down the small hills and flats = 58 mins
Fri
Regeneration Run at 60-65% of MHR = 33 mins
Sat
Big sandhills and pinewoods with Tess.
70-75% MHR, felt OK up to last 30 mins where I ran out of energy and started burning fat = 2 hours 13 mins
Sun
sandhill 6 with Jon and Tess, ran to start and back = 1.23
Arthur Lydiard states that a fit working adult can handle 10-12 hours of good aerobic running plus any extra easy 60-65% MHR running that can be fitted in!
After an old lady came up to Arthur Lydiard at a lecture he was giving saying she'd just run a 100 miles in the week, but that she'd found it very hard to achieve because it had taken her 20 hours! Arthur changed his training programmes from miles to hours!
My plan is to start at 8 hours running with a gradual build up to 10-12 hours.