New set-up helps British marathon runner progress from “battle” of Houston to “absolute dream” of Berlin
The Berlin Marathon was the race that changed everything for Phily Bowden.
The 29-year-old, whose previous best was a “battle” to 2:29:14 at the Houston Marathon in January, ran a negative split to finish in 2:25:47 (73:40/72:08) and go ninth on the UK all-time list. She had aimed to go through halfway on pace for 2:27 with the potential to pick up in the second half – a scenario she described pre-race as “the absolute dream” – and it went better than planned.
While Houston was far from a disaster, it wasn’t the performance or the experience Bowden had trained for. In contrast to Berlin, she got progressively slower from halfway and was proud just to make it to the finish line, describing the race as one of the toughest of her career to date.
With a reframed mindset and the backing of her coach Jon Green, her primary goal for Berlin was not solely time-focused, but to have a good experience and to cross the finish line excited to race another marathon. She succeeded.
“Berlin was incredible,” she reflects. “It was one of those days where everything just clicked. I surprised myself and I had an amazing time.”
Green, head coach at Verde Track Club and coach to 2021 Olympic marathon bronze medallist Molly Seidel, has been instrumental in fostering such joy and positivity. The pair first met while Bowden was training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, in the final weeks of her Houston Marathon build and linked up officially when she moved on from Team New Balance Manchester.
Philippa Bowden (Sparta Billeder)
“Obviously it meant going from the in-person set-up that I had with Team New Balance to an eight-hour time difference [home is still Manchester], but we’re both just on the front foot with communication, and it’s working really well,” says Bowden, who announced in July that she’d signed with On Running.
Green has made a few welcome changes to Bowden’s training. Mileage has increased; overall training volume is higher; and double-threshold sessions have been introduced.
“It’s been a really positive change for me,” she says. “He really encourages me to ask questions and to almost poke holes in his training if I’m unsure about anything, which is a coaching relationship that I’ve never had before. He’s very happy to discuss ways of working, but also to say: ‘Let’s compromise’, so it’s very collaborative, which I feel like I’m now experienced enough to deserve.
“We’re constantly looking at how we can keep improving things. We’ve been really careful and measured with it, but my body has held up really well and this [marathon] block has been super-consistent. I’ve got to a place where I’m pretty well conditioned to the volume, then having added in strength work and being smart with that, I think it’s given me the room to push on – and I think it suits me.”
Philippa Bowden (David Lowes)
Typical training week (marathon build-up at altitude in Flagstaff)
Most of Bowden’s training in Flagstaff was done with others, but where her schedule made it easier to run alone, she would. “Flagstaff is such a running mecca that if you want company for your runs you’ve got it,” she says.
Having increased her strength and conditioning (S&C) work over the summer to complement her track season, she re-prioritised running volume and recovery and cut back to one S&C session per week – usually Wednesday or Saturday – as she transitioned into her marathon block for Berlin.
Easy paced runs were approximately 7-8min/miles but could be slower (around 8:30) if the purpose was to “flush the legs out” on a session day. There was no specific rest day, but if necessary this would be taken on a Saturday to minimise impact on weekly mileage.
Monday: (am) 5-6 miles easy; (pm) 5-6 miles easy plus drills and strides on the track such as 2-4 laps of in/out strides (striding the straights, jogging the bends), followed by 4 x faster 100m strides
Tuesday: double-threshold day e.g., (am) 3 miles warm-up > 6-7 x mile reps off 60-70sec (at altitude, threshold pace is about 5:40-5:45min/mile which is about 8-10sec slower than at sea level > 2 miles cool down; (pm) 2 miles warm-up > 4-5 miles worth of reps starting with mile reps such as 3 x 1 mile then 1200m or 1km reps (same pace) > 5min-1 mile cool down (approximately 12 miles of threshold across the day and up to around 20 miles total running)
Wednesday: (am) 12-15 miles easy medium long run
Thursday: (am) 10 miles approx. (“I sometimes double on a Thursday depending on where I’m at for mileage for the week,” says Bowden. “Jon gives me my workouts and a mileage goal for the week and where I put that mileage is up to me, so I might just do one run of 10 miles on a Thursday but I could split the miles across am/pm. He’s pretty trusting with where we put stuff, but if he felt my mileage was unhelpfully distributed he’d pull me up on it.”)
Friday: (am) 6-mile steady state run e.g., 3 miles warm-up > 6 miles steady state with a pick-up for the last mile (“for this session the instruction from Jon was to start out in the 5:50s and hang out there then a hard press for the last mile which was 5:18”) > 3 miles cool down;
(pm) 4-5 miles easy
Saturday: (am) 4-5 miles easy (up to a maximum of 8 miles, but varies depending on mileage goal for week)
Sunday: (am) 20-22 mile long run. “This is an easy pace run but sometimes the second half will be naturally faster, it depends where we go; some of the runs in Flagstaff could be run at 7min/mile pace but feel like the effort of 6:20s. The programme will say 20-22 but I’m always shooting for 22.”
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Favourite session: “In this build I’ve really enjoyed 20-24 x 400m off 50-60 seconds recovery (track). In Flagstaff we’d be starting off at around 83/84 seconds, but progressing through gradually to finish fast and I’d normally get down to about 69 seconds for the last few reps. It’s just really good fun.”
Least favourite session: “It’s probably one of the first workouts I did in Flagstaff and it’s called 90/30; you run for 90 seconds then have 30 seconds off. You go for a distance such as 5 or 6 miles, so it’s the unknown of how many reps you’ve got that’s tough.”
» This article first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
