It is race week! The highlight of a training plan as for the first time in about 3 months your legs don't feel like they are constantly aching and you have a bit more free time! We are also 91% to our NSPCC target so any final donations would be much appreciate. Here!
David has stopped analysing his previous marathon training data with the help of ChatGPT to get a finish time prediction and Rebecca has started to book up Crossfit session's for a few weeks time in celebration of finishing the training!
David's Training
Like anything in life you need to do your best, have a plan and be consistent. Nothing exposes this more than marathon training. No one can do the work for you. The graph below represents my training block in terms of volume. It was a humble reminder of the impact of being under the weather and losing that consistency. Having rebuilt back the volume, the final long run consisted of 4 X 8km at 4:15min/km pace (36km total). I am excited to get out there and put the hard work into practice.
The course in Boston is a undulating straight line into the centre. In hindsight my typical long run of circles around Battersea Park might not have been the best preparation….
The strategy for the race will be to consume 90g of carbs per hour (with caffeine), drink at every water station and run relaxed to 32km before treating the final 10km as a race. I usually have a bit of a ‘wobble’ at 32km for about 10 minutes but this is usually a sign that I have paced it well and just need to grit my teeth to the finish!
Rebecca's Training
With a two week delay I also suffered the same ‘flu’ but have rebuilt just in time for my taper ahead of London Marathon. Having received test results that my ongoing fatigue wasn't only tiredness from running but in actual fact was compounded by being anaemic I have (temporarily) adopted a carniverous diet from my normal pescatarian one to try and replenish my red blood cells. David is delighted by Steaks almost everynight! Research suggests that runners Anemia and iron defficiency is a thing and can be partly caused by foot strike Hemolysis which is when the constant impact of your foot on the ground can break up red blood cells and destroy them. So I will be channelling my inner Popeye until the marathon is done (although, fun fact Spinach isn't actually that high in Iron, search Spinach Popeye and the decimal point error)!
A tough final run was completed (with David alongside on a Lime Bike!) and now its head down until the finish line! I'm looking forward to supporting David from the sidelines this weekend for what I know will be an inspirational and memorable day.
Race Schedule:
Boston Marathon - Monday 15th April
London Marathon - Sunday 21st April
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