Marathon training program for teen athlete

Question
Hi,
I'm an 18 year old gymnast, and I would like to start a marathon training
program.  Both of my parents are marathoners.  I've run 1 marathon and 4
half marathons and I've just signed up for my second marathon in October.  
As a gymnast I have practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday.  I practice for 4 hours each of these days.  Our workouts are low
intensity with a few intervals(floor routines that get our heart rate up).  I've
been looking around at marathon training programs, and they just don't fit
my schedule at all.  Could you help me develop one or point me in the
direction of some help, please?
Thanks so much!
Hannah

Answer
Are you tiring and using your body a lot during the four hours? What kind of gymnastics do you do?

Making a schedule for yourself while training 4 days per week is going to be a task. The days that you have off might be greatly needed as rest days. If I were you I'd try to incorporate some distance jogging into that schedule. Just to see how your body copes. I don't think that running after your workouts is such a bad idea, and maybe try a distance workout on one or two of your rest days.  I'm sure you know what type of running you need to do, but do some distance training for a week or two and see how it feels.

If you feel more tired while doing your gym workout, more fatigued, this is normal. And doing this distance work might even get your body more neurologically efficient. The day after your run, if you go to the gym, you might feel a bit tired, but in the end, you might be training your body to do your gym work under fatigue, thus increasing your performance.

As long as you can cope with the schedule, go for it. Go for both of them. But what you NEED to look out for is over training. All of the above might be true, but to a further extent. You could be running your body dry, seeing a sharp decrease in performance, and start to feel burned out. Marathon training by itself is intense. Monitor your body.

Tell me if you want to try running for a week or two as a test run, and we'll make a schedule.
Jared