Marathon Training – Week 13 – Peak Week

I spent last weekend in Las Vegas with some of my grad school girlfriends. Under a traditional marathon training program I should have done my final 20 miler on Saturday or Sunday. There was no way that was going to happen. I was not running 20 miles in the desert when I could have hanging out with friends who had flown in from across the country. No, not a chance. So I came up with a brilliant plan to do my 20 miler on Tuesday Nov 11 because I had the day off work for Veteran’s day. This meant I had to rearrange my training program. I decided to shift my final three training weeks to run from Wednesday to Tuesday. I refer to this as my “Vegas Necessitated Phase Shift.”

Here’s what I did on Monday and Tuesday. They’re really just an extension of last week’s easy week. I’m quite pleased with the heart rate on Monday’s run but I’m starting to suspect that the battery may be going on my monitor strap. The numbers have just been too good to be true lately.

03/11	8.0 miles	Easy run: avg 156 bpm, 11:02 min/mile
04/11	-	Rest day
Total	8.0 miles	YTD: 1052.8 miles

Week 13 was my peak training week. I was aiming to hit 40 miles for the week which would be a new all time record. Previously I did 38.8 miles during week 13 of my Ottawa marathon training and 38.5 miles during the week I actually ran the marathon.

Friday and Saturday’s runs were a study in contrasts. I ran Friday morning in Seattle. It was windy, pouring rain and 12C. Saturday I was in Vegas and ran in hot (20C), dry, sunny conditions. I hope I got a winter’s worth of vitamin D because I don’t know the next time I’m going to get to run in the sun! I ran along the strip from the Luxor (where we were staying) up 2.5 miles to the Wynn and then back. There were actually a surprising number of runners out on the sidewalks. With all the hotels and other tourists on the strip I never ran out of interesting things to observe!

I tried to make this week’s 20 miler as race-specific as I could. I took the bus from my apartment to downtown and then across to the Mercer Island P&R. I started running at the P&R and after a mile I hit the I-90 bridge at approximately mile 6 of the marathon course. It was a little strange running across the bridge (I ran on the bike lanes) and I imagine in windy, wet conditions it could be pretty miserable. From there I headed down Lake Washington Blvd and around Seward Park. I continued on the marathon course to just past mile 23 at which point I turned off and headed home. So I covered 18 miles of the course. I did the run to the finish a few weeks ago but it’s really not possible to train the start of the course since it runs on the I-90 express lanes!

In the end I did 21.3 miles and felt pretty good doing it. Sure, my legs got tight and tired but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. I changed up my fueling a bit on this run. I took water at miles 2, 4, 8, 12 and 16, gatorade at miles 6, 10, 14 and 18, chocolate clif shot gels at miles 4 and 12 and margarita clif shot bloks at miles 8 and 16. The shot bloks are new for me. I wanted to try them because they contain extra sodium to prevent cramps. Not that I usually get cramps but I tend to drink a lot while I run and I really don’t want to get hyponatremia. I didn’t have any trouble stomaching them but they took longer to eat than a gel so that’s the only down side. I’m happy with my fueling routine though so I don’t think I’ll change anything else before race day.

The marathon is less than three weeks away so I guess I’m in taper mode now. I have one last hard speedwork session planed for Saturday and after that it really will be downhill. I’m feeling pretty good about my training. My plan for the next few weeks is to take really good care of myself. That means eating healthy, getting lots of sleep, extra stretching and trying my best not to get sick!

05/11	8.0 miles	Easy run: avg 157 bpm, 11:02 min/mile
06/11	-	Rest day
07/11	7.0 miles	Tempo run: 5mi @ 8:58/8:35/8:28/8:32/8:27 min/mile
08/11	5.0 miles	Easy run: avg 163 bpm, 10:43 min/mile
09/11	-	Rest day
10/11	-	Rest day
11/11	21.3 miles	Long run: avg 164 bpm, 10:54 min/mile
Total	41.3 miles	YTD: 1094.1 miles