I have run around 100 long distances races in the past decade (I need to count all my races one of these days). Definitely over 50 races that are marathon distance or more (over 26.2 miles, varying from 50k to 160 miles). I have run the Chicago marathon since every year since 2012 (except the Covid year).
I used to follow the Hal Higdon's marathon plan when I started training for marathons. If you were a novice like me, you may have read his book or followed his free online training plans.
Hal had various plans for novice, intermediate and advanced level runners. These training plans are from Hal's experience in coaching thousands of runners and running an online forum (remember LMS or ListServ?!).
While they appeared to be customized for runners, they were basic and old school. You can get through a marathon if you follow the plan. Tens of thousands of runners have achieved their running goals through these plans.
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| Hal Higdon's Book |
What was my plan?
I stopped following training plans a few years ago. It served well for a couple years as it allowed me to not have the pressure of following a strict training plan, but train using my tribal knowledge (if there is one!). It is also called 'winging it' 😇🏃
Last year, I ran the Chicago marathon with no training and wrote a blog about it. While I finished the marathon, it was not rewarding. It was painful and slow.
This year's marathon training season starts soon. I was thinking of what plan would I follow. There are numerous marathon training plans available online, both free and paid versions. One can also hire a coach who can make customized plan for the runner based on their level. This year, I want to take my training seriously and improve my fitness, after a few years of lagging.
Enter ChatGPT
I have been learning about various use cases for ChatGPT and GPT-4. Most of my use cases are surrounding healthcare, technology, automation, efficiencies, etc.
The thought of, 'Can I use ChatGPT to help me train for a marathon?' popped into my head. I played with it a bit and then got serious.
I kept modifying the inputs to see if there will be a customized marathon training plan for me
Inputs varied from:
"Create me a marathon training plan"
To
"Create me a marathon training plan and a nutrition plan"
To a much detailed input like,
"Create a marathon training plan and a nutrition plan for the Chicago Marathon on October 8th 2023 starting on May 1st. I am returning to long distance running and would like to train for a sub-4 marathon finish at the Chicago marathon"
To this,
"Create a marathon training plan and a nutrition plan for the Chicago Marathon on October 8th 2023 starting on May 1st. I am returning to long distance running, a little out of shape and would like to train for a sub-4 marathon finish at the Chicago marathon. Include speed workout, temp runs, long runs, cross training, core workout, and any meaningful training needed for a fast marathon in the training plan and be as specific as possible on what train on a daily basis. The training plan can build mileage for 3 weeks and cut back after that. Include a keto like nutrition plan to lose 15 lbs during this training on what to eat healthy."
Yes, I wanted to bring my inputs as close to reality as possible and see how the training plan changed for each input.
Here are a few initial observations about ChatGPT's marathon training plan:
- Overall Plan:
- ChatGPT quickly spit out a marathon training plan. All good here.
- Mileage:
- A real marathon training plan will have 2 to 3 weeks of mileage build up and a cutback week. ChatGPT gave me long periods of mileage build up and less cutback weeks. This may not be good for novice runners as you need to vary your mileage. This is ideally not good.
- Rest and Cross Training:
- There was ample rest and cross training built into the training plan. This is good.
- Nutrition:
- For nutrition, ChatGPT advised 'against' a keto type nutrition plan and recommended a balanced nutritious diet. This was reasonable.
- Speed:
- I don't think the marathon training plan is customized for me, however it had elements to increase my speed for a sub-4 hour marathon. This is decently good.
- Duration:
- While I was able to continue my training plan beyond the word limits, all versions of the plans stopped short of the expected 24 weeks. There was a math problem here.
- Disclaimers:
- ChatGPT has a ton of Disclaimer like language sprayed all over. Whether it is regarding regarding the mileage, nutrition or cross trainings.
- I am planning to follow ChatGPT's marathon training plan as much as possible, and track it for the next 5+ months.
- I am going to take multiple outputs i.e., marathon training plans from ChatGPT and create a foundational plan.
- Where the plan is not practical, too easy or unreasonable, I will modify using common sense and my previous trainings.
- I am going to track progress and report back on the results.
