Last week was a planned down week in terms of volume and workouts. The down week was originally planned for a week earlier, but after committing to pace Shalane Flanagan at the Berlin Marathon, we decided to swap weeks for obvious reasons. We had a 2 x 4 mile workout planned for Wednesday, but I could tell during the warmup that my body was not ready for the prescribed pace of 4:40-4:42, so I opted for a fartlek instead. The previous week was probably the toughest week of marathon training I've ever had (see previous post), and I felt it for a few days. I backed off the intensity and volume for the second half of the week, and I bounced right back. I generally have one or two brief points during my marathon training blocks when I push a little too hard and am forced to recover for 2-3 days. I have learned not to become frustrated when these come up. I simply give myself the required recovery, and then I am ready to continue where I left off.
While Shalane did not meet her goal of setting the American marathon record, she did achieve a huge personal best as well as a top-3 finish at another Marathon Major. She requested an aggressive pace through the half-marathon (69:36), and she gave it everything she had the last 10km to try to hold on. She was hurting so bad at 20 miles, I am astounded at the mental toughness she showed to power herself to the finish line. I was thankful to have Rob Watson by my side for the pacing. While I was confident in my ability to hit the pace, having a partner really helped take some of the pressure off.
My original workout planned for Sunday was a 3 mile warmup, 4 x 2km @ 4:40-4:42 w/200 meter jog recovery, 10 mile moderate effort run, 4 x 2km, 3 mile cooldown. Even though pacing for 41km was a tough day, the planned workout would likely have been more challenging and added up to almost the exact same volume. I handled the travel very well in both directions, so overall I think it fit right in with my NYC training. I do hope to run the Berlin Marathon at some point in my career, so it was beneficial to get a feel for the course and meet the organizers.
On a side note, I hope you will all take the time to check out this video from Matt Llano and NAZ Elite. Matt came out as an openly gay athlete in December, and he has now given a touching and in-depth interview regarding his experience. I was able to spend some time with him in Flagstaff during my altitude training last month and he is a phenomenal runner and a fantastic person. Matt is looking to help other athletes in the LGBT community with his story. You can help by watching the video and sharing it with others.
Thanks again for reading. Feel free to check out last week's training below, and follow me here on twitter for more updates.
While Shalane did not meet her goal of setting the American marathon record, she did achieve a huge personal best as well as a top-3 finish at another Marathon Major. She requested an aggressive pace through the half-marathon (69:36), and she gave it everything she had the last 10km to try to hold on. She was hurting so bad at 20 miles, I am astounded at the mental toughness she showed to power herself to the finish line. I was thankful to have Rob Watson by my side for the pacing. While I was confident in my ability to hit the pace, having a partner really helped take some of the pressure off.
My original workout planned for Sunday was a 3 mile warmup, 4 x 2km @ 4:40-4:42 w/200 meter jog recovery, 10 mile moderate effort run, 4 x 2km, 3 mile cooldown. Even though pacing for 41km was a tough day, the planned workout would likely have been more challenging and added up to almost the exact same volume. I handled the travel very well in both directions, so overall I think it fit right in with my NYC training. I do hope to run the Berlin Marathon at some point in my career, so it was beneficial to get a feel for the course and meet the organizers.
On a side note, I hope you will all take the time to check out this video from Matt Llano and NAZ Elite. Matt came out as an openly gay athlete in December, and he has now given a touching and in-depth interview regarding his experience. I was able to spend some time with him in Flagstaff during my altitude training last month and he is a phenomenal runner and a fantastic person. Matt is looking to help other athletes in the LGBT community with his story. You can help by watching the video and sharing it with others.
Thanks again for reading. Feel free to check out last week's training below, and follow me here on twitter for more updates.
| Week 7 | AM | PM | Strength/Drills | Mileage |
| Sunday | 24 | off | 24 | |
| Monday | 14 + drills and strides | 6.5 | 21 | |
| Tuesday | 14 | 6 | 40 minutes | 20 |
| Wednesday | Fartlek 4 x 10 minutes hard | travel to Berlin | 15 | |
| Thursday | travel to Berlin | 7 miles easy post flight | 7 | |
| Friday | 12.5 | 6 | 18.5 | |
| Saturday | 10 | 5 + drills and strides | 15.5 | |
| TOTAL | 121 |
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