A mix … but generally have had 10k or so of mp in there. Average pace on these has been about 4.34-4.45/km. Did one ‘easy’ off road at 8 minute miles, this was the morning after an afternoon 10 miles sub marathon pace. Planning 10k easy, 10k mp, 12k easy this weekend. No doubt it will hurt again. I think I’ve done the right things though, need to trust the taper…
So here it is, taper time. Went back through my Strava log… since running a 1.24.22 half in June, my 16 week training block (including 4 ‘recovery/easy’ weeks) totaled 820km with 160km of that sub 3hr pace. 51km average a week looks a bit low but if you take out the 4 easier weeks then 63km average looks ok. Not exactly huge mileage but it’s about all I can manage. I have done 4 road 20 milers, 1 trail 20 miler and 1 3hr coastal run so the long runs are banked.
So now it’s time to trust the taper and the Vaporfly to get me round, weather is looking tip top at the moment, the course is a bit hilly but really there are no excuses this time.
Boy #3 is off school with a screaming high temperature… 
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That’s a confidence inducing lead up - I’d ship the boy off to a Travelodge or something - just rent him a room and leave him there until he’s better.
Good luck twhat. Stay healthy (which was my issue in the spring!) and steer clear of the taper demons.
My first real key session of my build last night. Just over 10 miles at target race pace. Felt worryingly easy. I’ve never seen my HR that low for a chunk of running like that before. My only well executed marathon in the past was with an ave HR of about mid-170s. I did the whole 10+ miles last night mainly staying under 160, at an average pace of about 4:07/km. Cardio wise it felt a breeze.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2773441579
Very please with the consistency of the 6 laps of the park
NEXT% also arrived last night. Not run in them, but tried them on. Definitely feel more stable than the 4%.
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I saw that run… looking good Stenard. Which Marathon are you looking at doing?
I’m hoping that the boy’s illness is actually what i had at the end of last week and led to me skipping my last longish run over the weekend. Fingers crossed. I’m just looking at my avearge mileage, its a bit misleading as the first 8 weeks were essentially rebuilding mileage after limited running… i’m hoping the last 5 weeks at 75k/week are more indicative…
anyway…#noexcuses
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I’m also starting taper but not sure what from 
I’ve averaged ~50km in the last 10 weeks and only 4 long runs. My attempts to run marathon pace within the long runs failed. I think sub 3 is a long shot for me but still going to go for it! Going for a tempo run on my lunch to test out my new Zoomfly Flyknits!
In the past I’ve calculated my LTHR as 165BPM. When I ran HM earlier in the year my average HR was 163. Sounds like my LTHR might actually be higher? I’m planning to run marathon around 150BPM (92% LTHR) which is around 4:15 pace for me.
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Good luck both!!
Twhat, i think your build up has looked very sensible. It’s not always about mileage, but quality topped up with what you’ve been up to over the past few years. As long as there haven’t been massive periods of inactivity then it’s that long term base that’s really helpful.
Be looking forward to results day!
Excellent running that Steve! Are you starting a build up for a spring marathon next year?
Twhat - when/where are you racing?
Last proper week of training for me and hoping it’s a big week. Big session tonight with the club of over/unders made up of 3 lots of 1.7M @ HMP and 1.7M @ MP+15s - aiming for about 6:18 / 6:51 which would make for about 69 minutes at an average of 2:52 mara pace…but likely to be very tough. Last long run of hopefully 20 miles on Friday will likely be tough only 36 hours later, and hopefully I’ll round off the week at about 65-70 miles… unheard of mileage for me until this year.
Then 3 weeks taper can begin, though may do a trail half marathon 15 days before my A race… probably aim for marathon effort (not pace because of the course)
I’m signed up for Malaga the week before Christmas. Was keeping it a bit more low key than London, although strava is going to make it fairly clear I’m mara training over the next few weeks.
That said, I’ve said to my coach I don’t want to go “all in” on the running again. London was too many eggs in one basket and compromised the rest of my tri season. I want to keep my cycling up, especially with 2xIM next year planned. I also showed in Nice that I can still run really well off a multisport training programme. A 1:25 in that 70.3, followed up with the 1:22 lumpy HM at Blenheim 3wks later says I’m in decent shape fitness wise, I just need to bolt on a few longer tempo runs and extend the weekend long run. But I’m not going to run every day. I’m keeping some of the normal “filler” runs as turbo sessions.
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ah, very nice. Wondered where on earth you were planning a marathon if aiming for something this side of Xmas
Chelmsford marathon 20th October
Lunch tempo run 13km (128m), pace 4:08/km and HR 154. First run in my Zoomflys which felt great, especially coming down hills. I’m struggling with achilles tendinitis which I think is effecting my form. My ground contact time is normally 49.4L/50.6R %, with the Zoomflys it was 48.6L/51.5R % 
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They do feel good coming down hills, the cushioning is great 
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6 days to go! My plan for final week is:
- M: x2 5km easy commute
- T: 45min Z2
- W: 11km with 4km at MP
- T: Massage
- F: 5km easy with some strides
- S: Rest
- S: 2:59
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I’m going to run 7km tuesday, 7k thursday. Will probably run 2km of each at MP. Otherwise… rest as much as possible, maybe a massage on wednesday. The weather conditions this sunday look about as perfect as you could get. I swear someone has been messing with the elevation profile at Chelmsford though
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Good luck everyone this weekend! Post-race write ups please.
Watching Kona and seeing Ali Brownlee and Daniela Ryf struggle around to a 3:15 and 3:20 marathon respectively really put things into perspective for me!
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I also have a marathon this weekend. Build up has not been great.
Hamstring strain back in July
This I think had a knock on affect of an adductor strain on the other side when I was on the come back train, (I think when I run slow my left knee collapses thus over working it)
I had 2 good weeks of training in early September.
Then hit with the worse sickness I have had in years, pretty much 3 weeks and counting. Although I am now starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully by Sunday I will have my top end back!
Anyhow I have nought to taper from so I am going to run every day around 10k, I will do my normal 5k race tonight. This will give me some kind of idea of where I am at, I will then rely on the many years of endurance to get me round.
Will I go sub 3? Hopefully!, but if I do it will not be pretty and I imagine pretty tight!
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Good luck guys!
From earlier posts, doing a 20 miler before a marathon is a better judge of marathon pace than a half, yes?
How much earlier than your marathon would you tend to do a 20 mile race?
4-5 weeks for me. Any less and there’s definitely be residual fatigue. Running hard, on tarmac will haunt you for a while. You’ll probably be back to training quite quickly, but you’ll be missing that 10% for a few weeks i would say.
But that’s me. I prefer to run hard/recover hard, rather than be more moderate in my approach.
I’d quite like to do one of these. As Poet says, I think I’d learn a lot more about my marathon potential than a half. Before 20 miles is always where things start to go wrong for me if I’ve got the pacing wrong. But from what I can see there just aren’t any about.