Less than 2 weeks to the Berlin Marathon: Last week's training

I'm on my last few days in Portland before heading to Prague to rest before the Berlin Marathon on the 24th of September. With the world record under serious threat, I am a little jealous that I'll be running several minutes behind the leaders as opposed to seeing the race play out! With that said, it would be an honor to hit a new personal best during the same race the world record falls. Let's hope for both!

I'm looking forward to getting to Berlin and discussing the final pacing situation with the other runners and pacemakers. It seems that we will have a solid group being paced somewhere between 64:30 and 65:30. That is a big difference, but I am hoping that we can meet somewhere in the middle as 64:30 might be a bit aggressive for me at this point!

I pushed my mid-week workout back by a day this week after the 16 mile tempo because that workout took a lot out of me. I had a suspicion it would, so we had the option built into the calendar. I also came down with a cold starting Thursday night which knocked me down for a couple of days, but I felt surprisingly good by Sunday. We had originally planned some threshold intervals followed by an hour run, but due to the cold I decided for a moderate 19 mile run. I was pleased that a 5:26 average felt easy, especially considering my first two miles were 6:40 and 6:15 respectively, meaning the other miles were mostly in the teens. It was also my last chance to practice with my fluids which I have dialed in.

Everyone has their own hydration strategy, but I keep mine fairly simple and straightforward by mixing one Powerbar Powergel (Tangerine or Double Latte w/ 50mg of caffeine) with 400 mL of water. I drink about 230 mL of water per bottle which will be available every 5km in Berlin, and I have been training with this exact ratio for several marathons by now. It's important to know how your body will react to supplements when you are under duress, so I always encourage runners to test out their nutrition plan several times before race day.

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below. My next blog will be coming from Prague as I rest and prepare for the big day! Follow me here on Twitter for more updates.

Weeks to go: 3	AM	PM	Strength	Mileage
Monday	14	off	40 minutes	14
Tuesday	12.5	6 + drills and strides		18.5
Wednesday	12.5	6	40 minutes	18.5
Thursday	4 miles, 2 miles, 2 x 1 mile @ 4:45-4:48, rest = 4 min, 2 min, 1 min	6		21
Friday	14	5	40 minutes	19
Saturday	off-sick	off		0
Sunday	19 miles @ 5:26	off		19
Total:				110