In my final week of training before the Louisville Marathon Oct. 19, I got in lower-than-normal mileage but still maintained my fitness in an effort to rest up for the 26.2-miler. I ended up running 35 miles total with one workout on the roads, one steady-hard effort of 60 minutes and one day of speed work that included football.
The workout on the road was run last Wednesday. I measured off a 3-mile course (1.5 miles out and back) on flood road in Cropper, which had some hills and some sharp curves. My goal was to run the first one at marathon effort (6:30-6:45) and the second one at close to 6-minute miles with a 5-minute jog recovery between the two. I started out a little too fast and ended up running the first one in 19:00 (6:20-pace) which felt fine, then I ran the second one in 18:05 (6:01-pace) which was just where I wanted to be. The workout went according to plan. I had to push towards the end of the second 3-miler, but otherwise I felt fine.
On the 60-minute run, I ran mainly on a looped course on the roads so I could work on drinking water out of a cup. I always say I need to work on that before a marathon but this is the first time I ever actually did it. I ran, what I calculated to be, around 7-minute pace for most of the run and really picked it up towards the end. I had six different cups to drink during the run, and I finally figured out the best way to drink while maintaining a pace close to marathon effort. (I won't go into details here.) The run went well. It was my final run this long and at this pace before the marathon.
As for the football game the following day, Saturday, I used it as a speed workout with tons, tons and tons of sprints during the three hours. We started out playing tackle and then switched over the flag. Let me say I am way more sore than I expected to be a few days later. When I play football, I pretty much run hard, all-out routes the entire time, and also run a lot on defense, so I got a very good workout in. I counted it as four miles, but I think I probably underestimated the distance I actually completed. The football game is an annual tradition with some of my friends (we played 8-against-8 most of the time) so I decided to go ahead and play - which might not have been such a great idea the weekend before the marathon. I did get in a good day of speed though, something I haven't done in a while, which could have led to my soreness.
Here is a breakdown of my week...
Monday: 4 miles easy
Tuesday: 6 miles easy
Wednesday: 5 minutes easy, 2 x 3 miles (19:00, 18:05) with 5 minutes jog recovery, 5 minutes easy = 8 miles
Thursday: 4 miles easy
Friday: 60 minutes at sub-7 pace, plus 5 x fast strides with jog between each one = 9 miles
Saturday: 3 hours of football — used it as a day for speed workout = 4 miles
Sunday: DNR. Sore from yesterday's football game.
This week I'm going to take it easy with light runs lasting no more than 30 minutes, light strides and maybe one 3-miler on the roads at 5K pace to keep my legs moving fast. With the marathon less than a week away, hopefully I'll be ready to go this coming Sunday.
Also, I found out today that the Louisville Marathon had to switch its course back to the same one they used last year, which means it will be very flat and mainly run along River Road and through some parks. It also means the half-marathon and marathon runners will be starting together. I was actually looking forward to just running with the marathoners the entire time, but it's all right. I guess I'll just see how I'm feeling Sunday.
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