It is now just under a month to go until the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach! The race is so close I can almost feel the warm ocean breeze and smell the salty air. It could just be the brutal winter we've been having here in the Northeast or it may be the fact that I am confident I am in the best shape of my life, but I cannot wait to get to the starting line!
The next two weeks of training will be crucial as I wrap up the heaviest portion of my training. The last two weeks before the race I will be tapering and not doing any hard workouts. At this point, I have already done the bulk of the work that I needed to do in training. These next two weeks will just be about really grinding through two more weeks of high mileage and marathon specific workouts with an increased focus on rest, recovery, and health. I have one more long progression run to do this weekend, and one more key interval workout, 3 x 4 mile to do before I can really relax and enter my taper content that I am ready for a marathon.
As I enter the final month of training before the race, there are several minor tweaks I will be making to my weekly routine as I try to feel as fresh and sharp as possible. I will begin eliminating the double I had been doing on Monday after my long run. I will still be doubling the next two weeks on days before workouts because I find that my legs feel fresher for a hard workout after a morning run. During my taper I do not plan to do any doubles. I have always found that doubles help to boost my energy on the main run of the day while also serving to give me an additional 10-15 miles of running a week. I also plan to run much slower on days between workouts than I usually do. One thing I have done differently during this marathon buildup is not hold back on my daily training runs. Building up for Vermont last spring, I held myself back a lot on training runs, rarely running below 6:30 pace. This time around, I have upped the intensity of my training runs considerably, approaching 6:00 pace on most days. I am very pleased with the results, as I think running at a higher intensity day in and day out has made me considerably stronger than I was last spring. I did not worry too much about feeling tired the day of a workout after a hard run the previous day, because in the second half of a marathon, I will definitely be feeling tired. I think the general fatigue associated with training hard on a daily basis with very few true easy days has served me well as I get ready to race hard for 26.2 miles. Now, with not much more to be gained aerobically in a month, I will be dialing it down to make sure my legs are ready to race.
One other thing I have done this training cycle is do as little supplementary recovery such as ice bath, epsom salt bath, and anti-inflammatories. I read about a theory of Jerry Schumacher utilizes with his group where they avoid using these type of recovery tools right up until the very end of training. The thought is that not using these recovery aids during the hardest part of training will increase their effects when finally used during the taper. I also believe this is a good idea when marathon training, because as previously stated, I think doing the bulk of my training with slightly tired legs will pay off in the long run once I dial things back. When training this way, it is extremely important to be very aware of your body at all times, because you really are right on the limit of what your body can handle. Luckily, I have made it through the hardest part of my training relatively unscathed and feeling good. Time to nail down my final hard weeks of training and then relax!
Here is a breakdown of my training last week:
Monday - AM run - 4.5 miles @ 6:30 pace, PM run - 12 miles @ 6:10 pace
Tuesday - AM run - 4.5 miles untimed, PM run - 12.5 total - 3 mile warmup, 4 x mile with 1:00 jog - 4:55, 4:55, 4:53, 4:51, 4 x 800 with 2:00 jog - 2:19, 2:18, 2:17, 2:15, 2 mile cooldown
This was a very good workout. The mile repeats were meant to be at lactate threshold pace (for those of you wondering what the heck that means, the lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid is being produced by your body faster than you can metabolize it - lactic acid = heavy legs = bad), and I felt that even with the short rest, I was not crossing over my threshold.
Wednesday - PM run - 16 miles @ 6:25 pace
Thursday - AM run - 12 miles - moderate progressive run on the treadmill as what I hope was the last snowpocalypse of the season hit - started @ 6:30 pace and worked down to 5:45 pace - averaged 6:08 for entire run
Friday - 17 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 3 x 3 mile with 5:45-6:00 rest mile - 15:13, 15:12, 15:13, 3 mile cooldown
This was one of the better workouts I have ever done. Last spring when I was training for Vermont I did this workout several times and averaged between 15:30-15:45. The effort I was putting out today felt the same as my effort last spring. A great sign for sure!
Saturday - AM run - 11 miles @ 6:20 - it was snowing again...grrrrrrrr
Sunday - AM run - 20 miles @ 6:08 pace - 90 mins of easy running followed by 30 mins of 30 second strides @ 4:20-4:30 pace with 2:30 rest @ 6:00 pace
Total for week - 109.5 miles
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