This year I have taken a much bigger effort to connect with the thousands of people that have used the Hansons Marathon Method over the last few years. Not because I was unsure if it would work, but rather to make sure I was doing a good job of communicating the main idea of the philosophy: cumulative fatigue.  What I learned was well, it is a mixed bag. Some of it is I think people buy the book but just follow the program and wonder why it's so hard. This is a small group, but there isn't much more I can personally do if they don't want to explore why we do what we do. Then there's the group who do everything by the book (literally) and see success. Then there's the group that I need to do better job of coaching. With that, my aim is to pull out all the stops with the idea of cumulative fatigue.

The result of a successful marathon!
What is cumulative fatigue?
Our goal with marathon training and half marathon training is to build a certain amount of cumulative fatigue that develops the strength and preparedness for the marathon.
What exactly is the definition of cumulative fatigue?
Here’s my version of the idea: When fatigue is coming from the culmination of training and not from one specific aspect. The athlete is fatigued, but still able to run strong, and not dip past the point of no return. The end result is that the runner becomes very strong, fit, and able to withstand the physical and mental demands of the marathon distance.

So, what do we do to achieve this end result? To me it’s really about 4 components for the marathon. Balance, Moderate to High Mileage, Consistency, and Active recovery.

Trust the process!
What are the components of CF?
As you can see in figure 1, there are four “pillars” I use in reaching a person to reaching cumulative fatigue. We’ve talked about these a lot, so I'll just link to those discussions.

What I will say here though is that these components all work as part of the entire system.
When you pull one piece out it's like a giant Jenga tower spilling all over the dining room table.
Then what? You're just left to pick up the prices and start over.

For instance, let me share with you a common scenario I will see in our Facebook groups. A person starts the program but doesn't completely by into part of the program. Seemingly, it always has something to do with the idea of a 16 mile long run (insert shocked voice). I feel like one of two things happen. The most popular is that the person doesn't really think that 16 miles is long enough and make their long runs the typical 20+ miles in a 40 to 50 mile week. However, in order to have enough energy, the rest of the week suffers somehow. A skipped workout here and a shortened tempo run there. Before long, the original training plan is a shadow of its former self, but the runner still feels like they are “following the method.” The second is that the runner believes too much in the 16 mile long run and develop a belief that the program is centered around the long run. They feel like even if they skimp on the rest of the training the 16 miler is all they need.

The bottom line is that the 16 miler alone won't get the job done. Like any training, or cumulative fatigue component, it's the sum of parts that makes it successful.

Past discussion on CF

Know the difference between Over training and CF
What is the difference between CF and just overtraining?
This is an area where many of you need help fully understanding and I need a better job teaching. I will admit that it's a very thin line between the two technical stages of training we are discussing. That's functional overreaching and non functional overreaching.
Common symptoms:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO:

When you are in a functional overreaching, you will be tired but your performances in workouts will not suffer.
When you start feeling like crap and your performances are getting worse, you have likely crossed that line into functional overreaching.
Now,

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