The Road To Redemption, Part 6: The Final Hard Phase

Twenty weeks done and my body has held together really well. However preparing for a marathon is akin to going on a journey. There are going to highs and lows along the way. However as long as you keep training and not losing track of what you are trying to achieve at the end of the road, you should be able to have a good run with a high chance of achieving your goal.

Like any project marathon training needs a meticulous plan with your hardest training 2-3 weeks from the event. Anyway in this block I will cover my final hard training phase. Beware though, do not try to replicate what I have done. I could d this hard phase if I hadn not done 20 weeks of hard training beforehand. Otherwise you will get injured.

Week commencing Monday 10th March

Monday: Very easy 50 minutes on playing fields. Finished run with core and abdominal work.

Tuesday:AM:20 minute warmup-6x3 minutes hard with 60 secs recovery (fastest speed recorded on my GPS-3:18 perK)

            PM: 47 minutes off road

Wednesday AM: 62 minutes steady .Finished un with core, ab and back work

                  PM: 60 minutes steady

Thursday AM: 60 minutes with 5x5minutes with 1 minute recoveries (Fastest speed on GPS 3:21 perk)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 90 minutes relaxed but steady

Sunday : AM 2hours 10

             PM: 15 minutes warmup-5 miles at Marathon Pace-15 mins cooldown

Weekly mileage: 82 miles (130 kilometres)

Summary a  hard week with 3 quality sessions, but still an emphasis on volume. And yes I did do a  marathon pace run in the afternoon on Sunday; the purpose of that was to train the body to run on low glycogen levels.

Monday: AM Vry easy 50 minutes off road

Tuesday: AM: 1 hour 10 minutes easy then 6x5 minutes with 1 minute recoveries (fastest speed 3:40 per k)

              PM: Easy 47 minutes on playing fields.

Wednesday: AM 67 minutes

                   PM 60 minutes

Thursday: AM 20 minute warmup-10x3 minutes with 1 minute recoveries-20 minute cooldown

               PM: Very easy 30 minutes on playing fields

Friday: Rest

Saturday: AM Steady and relaxed 90 minutes

Sunday: AM: 2hours. Felt really strong. Seemed to float along. Run on an out and back course. Ran the last 15 minutes fast but controlled. 2nd half a minute quicker than the first half. Just what I needed 2 weeks before the marathon. Finished run with core, abdominal and back work.

Weekly mleage: 80 miles (130 kilometres).

Summary: A very hard week to finish off the hard training. In act he hardest week so far. A lot of miles with 2 back to back long runs to get my body used to running low on glycogen (Something Ultra runners do regularly in their training)And of course 2 hard specific sessions example Tuesday's workout was to get the body used to running hard having run quite a few kilometres beforehand (thereby simulating marathon conditions) Inspite of his I've never felt stronger and more keener. So it looks like I'm peaking just right. I'm now into my taper and will blog about that just before the marathon.

Thank you.