We're now inside 4 week mark to the New York City Marathon, and these final weeks can be the most challenging part. I am still in the heart of marathon training, but it is also time to start thinking about tapering volume within the next week or two. I feel like I'm rounding into marathon shape, so the thought of pumping the brakes is a bit disheartening, but necessary. I knew this marathon training block was going to take extreme patience by keeping my miles far below my normal training load, and now I am beyond the time frame in which I could justify doing something overly aggressive (aka stupid). All signs point toward a healthy start on November 6th and breaking the injury cycle!
As for last week's training, I felt pretty exhausted for Wednesday's threshold work, but that is likely due to the quality long run I had the previous Sunday. Small lulls like this are normal, and I felt much better for the long workout at the end of the week. This tempo, run, tempo workout is pretty brutal. I am learning each time how to better attack particular segments, and I would argue that this was my best yet. Even though I felt a little rusty for the first set of 2km repeats, I forced myself to push the 10 mile run to at least a moderate effort in order to head into the second set of tempo repeats quite fatigued. My pace wasn't particularly fast for the 10 mile run (about 5:50 average), but it was on some seriously hilly terrain following Beach Dr. in Victoria, BC. I finished each of the last 4 tempo repeats not certain if I could do another holding that pace, so I think the effort was spot on. This is one of the best workouts I have found to simulate the mental strain that will occur in the latter stages of NYC in a few weeks.
I was fortunate to be able to change up the scenery for this workout in BC as my wife, Eva, was taking her third crack at the 42km distance at the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon. It was her second time competing in this race and her second 2nd place finish! The course is beautiful and the organizers are fantastic. I highly recommend putting this on your marathon bucket list.
Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below.
As for last week's training, I felt pretty exhausted for Wednesday's threshold work, but that is likely due to the quality long run I had the previous Sunday. Small lulls like this are normal, and I felt much better for the long workout at the end of the week. This tempo, run, tempo workout is pretty brutal. I am learning each time how to better attack particular segments, and I would argue that this was my best yet. Even though I felt a little rusty for the first set of 2km repeats, I forced myself to push the 10 mile run to at least a moderate effort in order to head into the second set of tempo repeats quite fatigued. My pace wasn't particularly fast for the 10 mile run (about 5:50 average), but it was on some seriously hilly terrain following Beach Dr. in Victoria, BC. I finished each of the last 4 tempo repeats not certain if I could do another holding that pace, so I think the effort was spot on. This is one of the best workouts I have found to simulate the mental strain that will occur in the latter stages of NYC in a few weeks.
I was fortunate to be able to change up the scenery for this workout in BC as my wife, Eva, was taking her third crack at the 42km distance at the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon. It was her second time competing in this race and her second 2nd place finish! The course is beautiful and the organizers are fantastic. I highly recommend putting this on your marathon bucket list.
Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below.
| Weeks to go: 4 | AM | PM | Strength | Mileage |
| Monday | 90 minutes aqua jogging | off | 1 hour | 0 |
| Tuesday | 12.5 | 5.5 + drills and strides | 18 | |
| Wednesday | 4 mile tempo @ 4:48, 2 x 2 miles @ 4:42 | 40 minutes elliptical | 40 minutes | 15 |
| Thursday | 12.5 | 5.5 | 18 | |
| Friday | 14 + drills and strides | off | 14 | |
| Saturday | 13 | 6 | 40 minutes | 19 |
| Sunday | 4 x 2km, 10 mile run, 4 x 2km @ 4:45 pace | off | 24 | |
| TOTAL | 108 |
Ryan, how much recovery between the tempo and the 2 x 2 miles, and between each two-mile on Wednesday? And how much recovery between the 2k repeats on Sunday? Thanks, and as always, best of luck in NYC! -Tim
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