Less than 8 weeks to the Berlin Marathon: Last week's training

It's been a little while since the Peachtree 10k US Champs, but it took some time to settle on my next race. While the 10k wasn't a perfect race, it was a huge step forward for me after the injury ridden last 18 months. I went through 5km at 13:52 and the wheels didn't fall off. The first 5km is mostly downhill, but regardless, I felt more like my old self than I had in any race since the injuries began. Now that I have many months of consistent training and my blood work back to normal, I am optimistic about the fall and winter.

After a lot of deliberation I have decided for the Berlin Marathon this fall.  After getting out over my skis in New York this fall, I am looking for a controlled environment in which I can gain confidence heading into the spring. I would like an extra month of training for confidence, but that is almost always the case. I went backpacking for a few days following Peachtree to have a mental break before the marathon buildup, and then jumped right back in where I left off, leaving myself with about 11.5 weeks to prepare for Berlin. It looks like we'll have a small group of runners shooting for the 2:09-2:10ish range, so I should have people to run with as well as a couple of pace makers. Scott Overall (2:10) will be in this group, which is a big boost, as we have run in the same pace group during two of my PRs in the past (Fukuoka and London). Hopefully our training will progress at a similar pace and we both end up healthy at the starting line and can feed off each other on September. 24th.

I am currently back training in the Czech countryside as we spend time with my wife's family. I've

mentioned this in the past, but the running routes are fantastic in southern Czech (Vysocina), although hitting times is quite difficult as it is very hilly with a little elevation (2500ft.) The elevation isn't much, but combined with the hills, workouts are still fairly challenging. It's a great spot for base building, so the timing couldn't be better. I will be in Portland for the final 5 weeks of training and will be able to fine tune then.

I'm slowly building my mileage back up to marathon range but will still keep my volume between 120 and 130 for this segment. That includes one day (Saturday) of either very easy or off meaning that I am still averaging 20+ miles per day the other 6 days of the week. I am looking to get my mid-week workouts to 16-18 miles most weeks including warmup and cooldown to build strength as well.

Below are the last few weeks of training, and I will be posting the rest of the weeks leading up to Berlin. Thanks again for reading, and follow me here on Twitter for more updates.

Weeks To go	Weekly Miles
11	120	Monday
		Tuesday
		Wednesday		10 x 1 mile starting @ 4:57 down to 4:40, rest = 1 min
		Thursday
		Friday
		Saturday
		Sunday		22 miles with 4 mile push @ 4:55
10	125	Monday
		Tuesday
		Wednesday		tempo runs 3.5, 2.5, 1.5@ 71ish, rest = 2 min, 1 min
		Thursday
		Friday		Run + 8 x 200 meter hills
		Saturday
		Sunday		23 mile moderate long run
9	130	Monday
		Tuesday		8 x 1 mile @ 4:45-->4:25
		Wednesday
		Thursday		Run + 8 x strides
		Friday		12 miles @ 5:00
		Saturday
		Sunday		24 mile moderate long run
8	120	Monday
		Tuesday
		Wednesday		4 mile tempo, 30 min run, 3mile tempo @ 4:45ish