1 day to the TCS New York City Marathon: Last week's training

Tomorrow is the day I've been working toward since I was able to start running again in April. It's been a very trying year, but I now have 7 healthy months of training under my belt, and I can safely say that the injury cycle has been broken, and I am back on track for a great marathon tomorrow and a healthy 2017.

In past marathons I have been able to check all the boxes I thought I needed to build my confidence going into a race. I was able to say I hit workouts as fast as I was aiming for, I stuck to my nutrition plan, completed all the supplemental training, and ran all the high mileage weeks. This time around I can check every box except the last one, and it has been an exercise in confidence. I had to be extremely careful these last 12 weeks which led me into the pool every time I felt tightness that I was uncomfortable with. I was most likely overreacting each time, but it is extremely difficult to catch a stress fracture before it's too late. Whether it was an overreaction or not doesn't really matter. My marathon specific workouts have been on par or at times surpassed any of my training blocks in the past, and I'm showing up to the line healthy. When starting this marathon segment months ago, I had convinced my self that I would only be able to get to an 80 or 90% fitness level without getting hurt. I am hoping now that I am actually closer to 100% and heading into race day feeling fresh.

The curse is broken! It's time to let the training (especially the countless hours of horrendously boring aquajogging) pay off. The field is obviously very competitive, and the American field is deep. New York is always a surprise in terms of how fast it starts, where moves are made, and who is having a good or bad day. I plan to stick my nose in the thick of it and be ready to adapt at any moment.

Thank you to the New York Road Runners for giving me the platform to continue my career among some of the best competition in the world, on the greatest marathon stage in the world. Thank you also to Brooks for sticking with me through this rough patch and committing to me well beyond 2016!

Weeks to go: 2	AM	PM	Strength	Mileage
Monday	90 minutes aqua jogging	off	1 hour	0
Tuesday	11.5	5.5 + drills and strides		17
Wednesday	4 x 2 miles w/2 min rest @ 4:41-4:45	off		15
Thursday	11	5		16
Friday	1 hour aqua jogging	off	30 minutes	0
Saturday	10	5		15
Sunday	15 easy	off	30 minutes	15
TOTAL				78
Weeks to go: 1	AM	PM	Strength	Mileage
Monday	70 minutes aqua jogging	40 minutes elliptical	30 minutes	0
Tuesday	5 x 1km @ 2:54-2:57 w/1 min rest	5		16
Wednesday	off travel to NYC	off		0
Thursday	1 hour easy	off		9
Friday	50 minutes easy + drills and strides	off		8
Saturday	30 minutes easy	off		4
Sunday	NYC Marathon	off