Marathon training – Weeks 6 & 7 – Biggest week ever

Week 6

Coming off a recovery week my legs felt fresh and I was ready to tackle a big week of training. Tuesday’s speedwork session was good although I would have preferred to have been able to do all the intervals in under 8:00. I’ve been doing all my tempo and speedwork sessions on a two mile road crossing free loop that I’ve mapped out near my apartment. I really miss the 3 mile Green Lake loop for these types of runs but I’m adapting to my new environs.

I did Sunday’s 18 mile long run in Stratford, ON. My parents and I were there for the weekend to enjoy the theatre festival. I did multiple loops up and down the Avon River and into the T.J. Dolan Nature Area. The run went fairly well. I was ready to be done at about mile 15 but it wasn’t too hard to push through and get the mileage done. A strange thing happened after the run though. My right ankle seized up and caused me a lot of trouble for a couple of hours. To be honest, My ankle had been bothering me on and off for a couple of weeks (I rolled it while walking on an uneven side walk back in August) but it honestly hadn’t been affecting my running. I iced and within a few hours it was fine. I kept up the icing for the rest of the weekend with hopes that I could nix the problem once and for all.

07/09	6.0 mi	Easy run: avg 9:57 min/mile
08/09	-	Rest day
09/09	7.0 mi	Speedwork: 3x1mi in 7:55/8:11/8:05 min
10/09	7.0 mi	Easy run: avg 10:09 min/mile
11/09	-	Rest day
12/09	18.0 mi	Long run: avg 11:02 min/mile
13/09	-	Rest day
Total	38.0 mi	YTD: 854.7 miles

Week 7

I’ve been noticing that sunrise is getting later and later and we get closer to fall. It’s also been getting cooler. I think it was 3C one morning as I headed out the door! We’re starting to reach the sweet spot of perfect fall running conditions!

I consider tempo runs to be an excellent measure of fitness. With some trepidation I decided to look back on the six mile tempo run I did last October while training for the 2008 Seattle marathon. It turns out my splits were 8:56/8:54/8:39/8:34/8:33/8:26. If you ignore the first two splits (which I did in the dark) then I’m pretty much right at the same level as last year. That’s good enough for me right now!

Yesterday I did a 20 miler. This is the longest distance I include in marathon training programs so it’s always a big deal when it’s on the schedule. I mapped out a big loop route out of town onto the Walter Bean trail along the Grand River with two water stops at RIM park. I had a few navigation problems picking up the trail (I got scared by a “big private property – no trespassing”  sign) so I improvised the route in a few places. In any case  I came in at 20.5 miles. I was definitely dragging during the last few miles but I made it. My ankle still isn’t 100% so I spent most of yesterday afternoon lying on the couch eating, icing and napping. Good times.

It turns out that this week is my biggest mileage week ever at 41.5 miles. I previously ran 41.3 miles during 7 consecutive days in 2008 although not during a Monday – Sunday running week. So yay for me for setting a new personal record!

14/09	-	Rest day
15/09	7.0 mi	Easy run: avg 10:08 min/mile
16/09	8.0 mi	Tempo run: 6mi @ 8:36/8:30/8:28/8:33/8:35/8:24 min
17/09	6.0 mi	Easy run: avg 9:59 min/mile
18/09	-	Rest day
19/09	20.5 mi	Long run: avg 10:32 min/mile
20/09	-	Rest day
Total	41.5 mi	YTD: 896.2 miles

Race Preparation

The marathon is four weeks away. How did that happen? I started making my race day preparation with an in depth examination of the course route (see the course maps on the marathon website and a very detailed map made by a fellow runner). I’ve decided to split the race into four segments which I will attempt to tackle independently. This worked really well for me in Ottawa in 2007 and luckily it lends itself well to the Toronto course too.

1. Start to Yonge St turn off – aprox km 0 to km 8.5
2. Yonge St turn off (past Casa Loma, Bayview Ave, Front St) to Half way – approx km 8.5 to 21.1
3. Half way to Lake Shore turnaround – approx km 21.2 to km 30
4. Lake Shore turnaround to finish – approx km 30 to km 42.2

Up next in race preparation will be deciding on a target pace for at least for first 3 course sections.