But you run on anyway, don’t you baby?

4 weeks to go until STWM

1 week to go until Oasis Zoo 10km

Another successful training week in the books. It was my second highest mileage week this build-up and it also included a full 42.2km session.  In past marathon build-ups I’ve never run more than 40km and this time I’ve done it twice.  Running the full distance makes me more confident about handling the distance come race day.  Most importantly the big runs haven’t beat me up too much and I’ve been able to recover properly.  Well, I guess we’ll see in our workout tomorrow if I’ve recovered well enough, but so far I feel pretty good.

The 42.2km run was very similar to a 38km run we did last year where we do a significant portion at/close to marathon pace.  We had a couple of variables play to into our advantage this year.  Instead of a sweltering 28C at the end of the run it was a refreshing 11C.  That meant taking in less fluids and losing less than 2% of my body weight.  We also ran our tempo portion on a flatter loop, although the wind was a factor this year.  During the tempo I averaged about 5 seconds faster/km than last year but factoring the heat and course it was probably a 2 second/km difference.  Which bodes well because I want to run STWM 2 seconds/km faster than last year.

Sometimes it seems like a daunting task to run 42.2km at a certain pace and I always have to remind myself that when I taper it just feels easier.  Racing flats, adrenaline and spectators help too.

With 4 weeks left of training and a 10km on Saturday it looks like I’ll be racing with a lot of miles in these legs.  I don’t mind that at all because STWM is still the big goal this fall and I know my main competitors are in the same boat as me.  It’s just not worth dropping the mileage at this point in the build-up.  This is an important time to build and maintain fitness, train enough without killing yourself.

Tuesday morning (7:20) on CBC radio there will be a piece on our training group.  It was recorded in the car with Dave, Moulton and Troy as they followed and handed us bottles during a workout.  Now I’ll get to hear what goes on in the support car…

There’s been a lot of great track races since Worlds but the 10 000m at Brussels Diamond League on Friday sticks out as my favourite.  Just watch the last 2km