The
marathon is just days away, and all of the hard work is behind me.
Last week included only one workout and a moderate long run of 16
miles. The 4 x 2 mile session on Thursday was kept under control and
felt very smooth. The weather has continued its outstanding stretch
for a Portland fall which is a nice mental and physical boost. I
remember having a few tough marathon workouts last fall with barely
above freezing rains that would soak through anything I was wearing.
At that point it is worse than snow as the cold water numbs and
tightens all muscles. It looks like I'm in the clear all the way to
race day. I can't complain about the Sunday forecast either;
currently it's showing a low of 37 and high of 55 with no rain.
I
have spent the last week studying the course and trying to finalize a
race plan. I will be spending the rest of this week trying to not
spend every waking second obsessing over the race as this can be
stressful and mentally exhausting. My wife and I have planned a trip
to Chile, Argentina, and Patagonia a couple days after the race, so I
can distract myself by organizing the final details. We always try to
take advantage of down times in training and post marathon is the
perfect time. We'll spend my two weeks off hiking through Patagonia
and spend the other two weeks slowly ramping miles back up in a
relaxed setting. There are very few times during the year that I can
pursue other interests, so it will be a nice way to completely remove
my head from running for a couple weeks and hopefully celebrate a
successful New York result.
For
anyone interested, you can now look at my entire marathon build up by
looking at each week's blog post, and before the race I will post it
all together. Thanks again for reading.
| Week 13 | AM | PM | Strength/Drills | Mileage |
| Monday | 12.5 | 4.5 | 45 minutes | 17 |
| Tuesday | 12.5 + drills and strides | 4.5 | 17 | |
| Wednesday | 12.5 | 4.5 | 30 minutes | 17 |
| Thursday | 4 x 2 miles @ 9:32 | off | 14 | |
| Friday | 11.5 | 5.5 | 30 minutes | 17 |
| Saturday | 7 + drills and strides | off | 7 | |
| Sunday | 16 | 16 | ||
| TOTAL | 105 |
Hey Ryan,
ReplyDeleteIve really enjoyed your posts thoughout the buildup. I'm actually an OKlahoman who spent last year in Stillwater with my girlfriend there, but am back in Norman now. I am curious how often you're using the track for your tempo workouts or something like the above 2mile reps and such? I'm definitely impressed with your consistency and ability to combine volume and quality work and I'm sure you're due for a big marathon performance.
Thanks so much Ryan for sharing. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteGoodLuck in NYC - I just came across your blog and have really enjoyed reading it. I ran 3:12 in Chicago and am working towards breaking 3 hours - your dedication to training is inspiring and definitely going to help motivate a lot of runners. Keep it up and all the best!
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan:
ReplyDeleteObviously, you are an elite American runner. I've looked at the logs you've posted and don't see enough workouts to support 2:10 MP. I see a lot of intervals at 4:45 but not nearly enough volume at 5 minutes per mile.
You haven't trained specifically enough to hold this pace for 26.2. Your training is good for HM where ones fuel supply is not the deciding factor. The marathon is a different race. You have to have the right fuel mixture.