Dress rehearsal 2 - It is supposed to be hard!
Hi there! Welcome back to my trainingsblog where we get ready for the Spijkenisse Marathon - that will be hosted in 3 weeks!
Today was the last run within my peak weeks. Which means starting tomorrow we will focus on recovery and race preparation.
Today’s training was the most important run within my trainingsblock as it would simulate the fatigue of a marathon and I would test if I could hold my goal pace. Not making this pace would mean you have to reconsider a somewhat slower pace. Acing the pace would give you a great mental boost that your pace is doable. For me, my results were somewhat in between - I did make almost all the intervals - but it was hard. Even before I started, I was a little scared as my HRV is unbalanced the last few days as 2 of my girls are running a fever. I decided to make the best out of it and not postpone the run until tomorrow as on race day you cannot control everything either! This run was supposed to be hard and lived up to it!
My training setup for today:
- warmup 4 km (zone 2 - max bpm 142)
- interval 1 (5 km - pace 4:10 - 4:20)
- recovery 1 (2 km +/- pace 5:10)
- interval 2 (5 km - pace 4:10 - 4:20)
- recovery 2 (2 km +/- pace 5:10)
- interval 3 (5 km - pace 4:10 - 4:20)
- cooling down (2 km - zone 2 - max bpm 142)
My results:
I did hit almost all the marathon pace intervals and the average time per block was on all 3 within the goal range. My heartrate was higher than I wanted it to be but we just had to deal with that. In the end the run was hard but successful. While I am not 100% sure I will make 3h, I feel strong enough to give it a good try! My goal pace for Spijkenisse will be 4:15 / km (aim high!). Hopefully the taper weeks will help me recover sufficiently to avoid hitting the wall, but with these 2 dress rehearsals I feel I should risk it!
The weather today was just perfect. Not something you would normally expect in November, but I could only just enjoy the nice sun and beautiful views!
Happy running!
Great job on that preparation even with the two girls at home with a fever. That's never easy to keep yourself focused when the kids are sick. You did make good time even though it wasn't easy. All you can do is give it go in three weeks and see if you can piece that three hour benchmark. Not easy to do...
At least you had some nice landscape and weather along the way today, and I hope you're little girls are feeling better this evening!
Thanks man! Kids are still sick, but hopefully it won’t last that long. One silver lining, if I get sick next week I will probably be fully better during the race :P
Yeah, today was a mwah boost of confidence, yes I made all but one km in the interval blocks but even this was close, regardless I made it - and told myself that if I make this one in suboptimal conditions I will give it a real try. Feel I would be happy with a finish time within the 2:55 - 3:15 range and I feel that is definitly on the table, best case 3h worst case - another fun event 😁
!PIZZA
I suppose not being sick yourself for race day is a huge silver lining. That would really slow you down! Hopefully the kids will bounce back soon and it won't hit you too hard!
I'm routing for you, beating three hours would be amazing! Worst case scenario you get out for another fun race!
!BBH
!PIZZA
Thanks my friend!
That is exactly how I (try to) see it, fun goes first, if it goes well I got my lifelong goal!
Funny that despite running marathons for 10 years, I now have a (too) short trainingsblock and this is basicly the first time I feel I have a real chance at this goal!
Going to be fun either way!
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
thebighigg tipped rainbowdash4l
@rainbowdash4l(2/10) tipped @thebighigg (x2)
Come get MOONed!
Solid work. You have given yourself ever chance of getting your goal. Looking forward to seeing how you handle the last few weeks. What was your weekly total mileage for the big peak weeks?
Thanks!
I swapped a few non tempo runs for bike rides last two weeks.
Last week only 64km temporunning + 72 km cycling (zone 1). This week 55km in 3 tempo runs + 38 km cycling (zone 1). Not as much as I wanted it to be (as I did a couple of >90 weeks) earlier in the trainingsblock but high intensity quality work above sloppy volume right :)
Next week should be 60 - 70 km! But less intense as this weeks work
Oh fever, yea that's the time of the year where it gets easy to get one, hopefully it's not too strong yet... Anyways good job