Less than one week to the Virgin Money London Marathon: Last Week's Training

We're less than a week away from the Virgin Money London Marathon. April is full of exciting marathons, but hopefully London will be the highlight of the month. I'm ecstatic to be a part of such an incredible field, but I'm also a little jealous of fans who get to see all of the men's and women's elite fields duke it out. I will be in my own little world with 4 other great athletes (Chris Thompson, Scott Overall, Reid Coolsaet, and pacemaker Fernando Cabada), so I imagine we'll miss a lot of great action. It looks like Cabada will be taking us out in 64:45, which will be my fastest half-marathon split by about 30 seconds. I'm confident that this group of guys will make that first have feel like a breeze. The second half is certainly another story, but that's what the marathon is all about. As of right this second, I'm feeling fresh, confident in my build-up, and I'm counting down the days.

I'm currently in Prague adjusting to the time difference and recovering from the travel. So far this has been the easiest adjustment I've ever been through of my European trips. I'm finally getting the hang of this. One nice thing about having your body clock so out of tune is that as you adjust, you get to make up your new body clock. This means I can make going to bed at 9 and getting up at 6 feel normal. I have no distractions here, so it's been easy to make this small adjustment. I'll be heading over to London on Thursday, and I expect to be fully on schedule by then.

I've been asked recently how I adjust my diet during my taper. I don't. I am still running a pretty high volume during my taper, so I simply continue to eat intelligently when I'm hungry. This is my version of carbo-loading. You don't need to stuff yourself with pasta for a week to carbo-load. If you continue your dietary habits from your high training period, carbo-loading happens naturally as your volume and effort decrease leading into the race.

To add a little fun to the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon, I've decided to throw together a little contest. Head over to Twitter to guess my time at the London Marathon and win my autographed singlet from the race! Rules: One entry per person; Must submit time in hr:min:sec; Must submit before race time; Must be following me and use the hashtag #VailsFoggyFreebies. I've posted my last 13 weeks of training for you below. After the race I will post the entire 14-week build-up. Thanks again for reading. Follow me here on twitter for more updates before the race.

Week 1	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	12 + drills and grass strides	6	40 minutes	18
Tuesday	10xmile starting in 4:57 and closing in 4:42	off		16
Wednesday	11.5	5.5		17
Thursday	10 x 200 meter hills	5	1 hour	17
Friday	4 mile tempo @ 18:51	5		17
Saturday	11.5	5.5	40 minutes	17
Sunday	Long run pushing miles 15-18 @ 4:58	off		20
TOTAL				122
Week 2	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	13	6	40 minutes	19
Tuesday	5 + drills and strides	11		16
Wednesday	5	8 x mile on hilly paved loop starting in 4:48 and working down to 4:29		20
Thursday	7.5	12.5	40 minutes	20
Friday	14	10 x 200 meters on track 29-32		20
Saturday	6	3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile on track: 2 min, 1 min rest (all in 4:41-4:43)		20
Sunday	Long Run	off		20
TOTAL				135
Week 3	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	14 + drills and strides	6	40 minutes	20
Tuesday	10 mile tempo in 49:47 (4:58-4:59)	6		22
Wednesday	14	7	40 minutes	21
Thursday	14	7		21
Friday	7	10 x 500 w/100 meter jog recovery (79-81)		21.5
Saturday	15	6.5	40 minutes	21.5
Sunday	Long Run, push miles 20-22 in 4:57, 4:57, 4:50	off		23
TOTAL				150
Week 4	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	12.5	6	40 minutes	18.5
Tuesday	14 + drills and strides	5		19
Wednesday	5	7 x mile (4:42 down to 4:28) w/ 3 min rest)		20
Thursday	14	7	1 hour	20
Friday	9	15 x 200 (29-32) on track		20
Saturday	10	5.5	30 minutes	15.5
Sunday	16 mile progression run (starting 5:50 and working down to 4:45) + warm-up/cool-down	off		23
TOTAL				136
Week 5	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	14	7	40 minutes	21
Tuesday	14	8x200 meters on track		21
Wednesday	15	6	30 minutes	21
Thursday	6	Indoor track: 3.5 mile, 2.5, 1.5 starting in 72s and working down to 69s		21
Friday	14 miles (indoor track)	7 miles (indoor track)	40 minutes	21
Saturday	11 miles on treadmill	3 mile w/u, 8x200, 5 mile c/d		21
Sunday		24 miles pushing 18-21 (starting 5:07 and finishing in 4:50)		24
TOTAL				150
Week 6	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Tuesday	14 + drills and 8 x 200 meters on track	6		20
Wednesday	6	6xmile starting in 4:38 working down to 4:28		20
Thursday	12	7		19
Friday	10	6		16
Saturday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Sunday		3 mile w/u, 4 mile tempo (19:01), 10 mile run in 58:35, 3 mile tempo 14:14		22
TOTAL				137
Week 7	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	14	6		20
Tuesday	14	6 + drills and grass strides	30 minutes	20
Wednesday	5.5	10 x 1 km 2:56-2:57 w/ 1 min recovery		19
Thursday	11	5	30 minutes	16
Friday		10		10
Saturday	6 + drills and strides	off		6
Sunday	Race Gasparilla Half-Marathon			20
TOTAL				111
Week 8	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	4.5	12.5	30 minutes	17
Tuesday	14	6 + drills and grass strides		20
Wednesday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Thursday	70 minute run + 8x200 meter hills + drills	6		20
Friday	14.5	6.5		21
Saturday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Sunday	22 mile long run in 2:06			22
TOTAL				140
Week 9	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	7	14	40 minutes	21
Tuesday	15	6 + drills and grass strides		21
Wednesday	6	4 x 2 miles in 9:29, 9:27, 9:23, 9:22 w/ 2 minutes rest	40 minutes	21
Thursday	11	10		21
Friday	15	30 minutes + 8 x 200 meter hills		22
	sn
Saturday	5	14	30 minutes	19
Sunday	off	4x2km, 10 mile run in 56:45, 4x2km + w/u & c/d (2km repeats all at 5:52-5:53)		25
TOTAL				150
Week 10	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Tuesday	14	6 + drills and grass strides		20
Wednesday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Thursday	1 hour moderate run, 6 x 2km (5:54-5:52)	off		18
Friday	12	5	30 minutes	17
Saturday	14	6 + drills and grass strides		20
Sunday	off	16 mile tempo (4:59)		21
TOTAL				136
Week 11	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	9	5	40 minutes	14
Tuesday	14	6 + drills and grass strides		20
Wednesday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Thursday	4 mile tempo @ 18:57, 5 mile run in 5:30-5:40, 3 mile tempo @ 14:07	off		19
Friday	11.5	5.5	30 minutes	17
Saturday	13 miles + drills and grass strides	off		13
Sunday	22 miles in 2:03:40 with 3 mile push from 16-19 (4:57, 4:56, 4:54)	off		22
TOTAL				125
Week 12	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	12	5	40 minutes	17
Tuesday	1 hour run + 8 x 200 meter hills	5		18
Wednesday	12	6	40 minutes	18
Thursday	4 miles (4 min rest), 2 x 2 miles (2 min rest) @ 4:50	5		19
Friday	5.5	off		5.5
Saturday	14.5	off	30 minutes	14.5
Sunday	3 mile w/u, 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile tempo @ 4:41-4:43, 1 hour run easy	off		18
TOTAL				110
Week 13	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	12.5	6		18.5
Tuesday	11.5+drills and strides	4.5	40 minutes	16
Wednesday	11			11
Thursday	4 x 2 miles @ 9:25-9:26	Traveling from Portland to Prague		14
Friday	Traveling from Portland to Prague	5.5		5.5
Saturday	11.5	5.5+drills and strides	20 minutes	17
Sunday	15	off		15
TOTAL				97