sub 35min after marathon training

[derele]

Hi TheEd,

the 20k was a big dissapointment: Had to drop out after 10k because my right calf was feeling too stiff. I am happy now, that I made the decission, as it allows me to recover during this week doing slow and steady runs. If I would have pushed through I am sure I would have needed some days with no running.

I droped out at 10k at 35:25 having averaged a HR of only 161 (84% max) and a max HR of only 169 (88% max). This numbers are quite good and I think I would have had no problem doing a sub 71. The only problem was, that I got carried away on Thursday and put too much stress on my calfs.

derele

[TheEd]

let's hope that you have no further complications and that you can self treat yourself to maintain your momentum

that is quite impressive going through 10km in that time

TheEd

[derele]

Hi TheEd,

I did all my runs this week really really slow. Have run 102k @ 5:15 average till today. Will be ready for a long run tomorrow and then going back to regular (faster) training next week.
Feeling recharged and keen to run...

derele

[derele]

To let you know how my marathon prep goes:

The last week was great: 165k total, biggest quantity so far. But also quality, I have been able to run 15k@3:50 as a hard session, 17k@4:10 as a medium hard and an Interval-session 6x1k@3:18 (with long rest).

This week I have already my tempo-run in with 10k@3:36 (36:04 was the exact result). AvrHR was only 84%Max.
Feel confident to hit 3:28min/k in an 3x3k Interval session (today or tomorrow, depending how I feel later). Overall I will have a bit lower quantity this week with ~150k.

All this is better than it should be for a 2:40 marathon. I am already thinking about secret new goals... but should not be carried away, I have to bring beginning inflammation of shins and patella tendon under control.

[TheEd]

wow Derele you really seem to be pushing your level to the top

take care of yourself and thanks for the feedback it has been interesting to read and especially how your 1k speed has come down

TheEd

[derele]

Hi TheEd,

yes, the last 2 weeks of training were definitely worth dropping out of the 20k.

Regarding the 1k speed: It was the first time I did the session with long (2:30) rests. The 3:18 are only an average. I started at 3:24 being cautious because even after a long warm up I still felt the of quantity of running in my muscles. I was able to run each successive rep 2-3sec faster: 3:24, 3:21, 3:19, 3:18, 3:16, 3:14 last one all out.
It was a great confidence booster and given good health I will start the next 6x1k session (in 2 weeks) at 3:18 and try to hold or even work down...

I hope will benefit from the long rests approach to Intervals for a while. Get the speed in these sessions and then come back to your approach with short rests but try holding the speed. There are two coaching philosophies regarding the Intervals, I will see if I can get the best out of both.

3x3 will happen tomorrow. Had to go for a regenerative run today.

derele

[derele]

Hi The Ed,

a little progress wrap-up:

The 3x3k I was talking about in the last post went not very well:
3:34/k were all I could do. It was a windy day, but even in good conditions it would have been a tough session:
I think I can run 1k with long rests like I ran 400m. Fast and comfortably...
I believe I can almost feel the different physiology involved in 2k or 3k Intervals (or even in 1k with short rests). So the long Intervals and/or short rest Intervals are definitely something I want to work on over Summer...

After the 3x3, I had my first long run with 3k@MRT(3:45) at the end. Was even faster (3:41-3:44).

I felt I needed a week rest with no fast running after this, so I dropped 2 fast sessions last week (tempo-run and Intervals). At the end of this week the long run with 6k@MRT was no problem.

On Tuesday this week I did 15k@MRT (was a bit faster again 3:44, 55:57 total). On Wednesday I wanted to try my new racing flats and they were probably very bad for my shin splint issue. After realizing this I did just 50min of aqua-jogging yesterday, and will do so today and tomorrow, to be fit for the Half-Marathon on Sunday (quite amazing how fast I recover these days: just with yesterdays rest shins feel okay today, but I will keep back for 2 additional days).

For the first 4 weeks of Marathon-training the stats are:
on schedule completed
Long-runs 3 3
tempo-runs 4 3
interval-sessions 4 2
cross training 0 3

For the HM I am very motivated and curious whether I have improved:
Goal: sub 1:16
Dream: sub 1:15

Cheers,
derele

[TheEd]

derele, it seems like you doing a lot of good work and if there is one bit of advice I can give is don't look for results from your training, rather simply do the sessions without measuring the result associated to performance.

From my experience the athletes who felt great in training and a few races before the event often did not feel great on race day

the marathon is a tough quest [not my favourite distance to coach - this is due to how runners respond - fast and furious is always nice]

do take care of the shinsplints, I am sure you aware of the shinsplint article on Time-to-Run

thanks for the feedback

TheEd

[derele]

Hi TheEd,

The Half-Marathon is kind of a "semi-goal" race. I have chosen Paris Marathon on April 10th partly because it is 4 weeks after tomorrow's Half...
No matter how it goes tomorrow, I had 2 very strong and two lower quantity and quality weeks of prep now (I would have loved to get 3 strong, one lower). I want to make sure to get another 2 strong (quantity and quality) weeks before the Marathon taper and I will keep this in mind (will e.g. wear well cushioned trainers instead of the flats).
You are right on the training afterwards, I will look less for results e.g. in the intervalls to avoid pushing to hard.

Looking forward to the Half and will post detailled splits here.

Cheers,
derele

[TheEd]

enjoy D and rather finish the half feeling strong than going out hard and dying over the last 3km

for some reason with marathon training, when the runners go into the shorter races (in their build-up), they tend to shoot off at a pace which would be well under their PB (even in the 10k races) and they achieve a PB but they are often shattered after the race (without knowing). This seems to be an area where the most damage is done, as they forget that the marathon is their actual goal.

You seem to be getting better and better and Pb's should follow however maybe consider starting at an even pace and then finish stronger

enjoy

TheEd