Less than 3 weeks to the Berlin Marathon: Last week's training

Berlin is approaching fast and the majority of training is in the bank. There is still plenty of time to make mistakes, so I  need to remain vigilant in diet, rest, and injury prevention. A few more hard efforts are in the near future, but the most important long runs are now over after last weekend's 16 mile tempo. I averaged 4:58 for the workout, but I was at about 5:00 through 13, closing in around 4:50 for the last 3 and feeling strong. I have averaged faster for this tempo workout in the past, but I was very pleased with how comfortable I felt. Since returning from Europe I have ticked all the confidence building boxes I was hoping for, and now the focus turns to feeling fresh and healthy on September 24th.

Portland has been choked by smoke since a fire broke out in the Columbia River Gorge on Sunday. It has begun to improve today, but I have had to balance treadmill miles to save my lungs while not hurting myself with 20 mile indoor days. Hopefully we are through the worst, but ash falling from the sky, blood orange sun and moon, and scratchy throat and eyes have all been very disconcerting. Unfortunately most of the west coast is experiencing poor air quality at the moment, so a quick escape for healthy training is not easy.

I head back to Prague in 9 days to give myself enough time to recover from the travel and time difference. In Prague I'll be able to cook and run in a familiar setting as opposed to living in a hotel for a week. From there I'll have a snappy 30 minute flight to Berlin 3 days before the race.  A few years ago I had the privilege of pacing Shalane Flanagan in her American record attempt, so I have run 26 miles of the course and am familiar with start and finish line procedures. One less thing to worry about!

Pace groups will be finalized over the next couple of weeks, but it appears that we will have a decent sized group going through at around 65:00ish, which will be perfect based on the marathon block I've had. Looking forward to sharing that info when it becomes available.

Thanks again for reading. Feel free to check out last week's training below. Follow me here on Twitter for more updates.

Weeks to go: 4	AM	PM	Strength	Mileage
Monday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Tuesday	14 + drills and strides	5		19
Wednesday	6 x 2km starting @ 4:45 pace down to 4:28 pace, rest = 90 seconds	5		21
Thursday	14	6	40 minutes	20
Friday	1 hour run + 8 x 200 meters @ 30-31	off		12
Saturday	6	off	40 minutes	6
Sunday	16 mile tempo @ 4:58	off		22
Total:				120