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Today I went 17 miles in 2:20 or so for my last long run. This week was my biggest this year at 52 miles. Last Sunday (4 weeks out from the race) was my longest, 19.5 in 2:50. Last week I ran 49 miles.
The Seattle Marathon is 3 weeks away and I feel like I can turn in a decent performance ... It will be my 5th marathon, but my first 3 years ... What do I need to do (running, eating, etc.) in the next 3 weeks? I have an idea but maybe some of you have better ideas ;-)
Thanks,
-TB
Avoid stress and rest. I have bombed a number of marathons in a row because I simply had too much going on before the race. Just because you are not training doesn't mean you are recovering if you can't relax and take it easy.
I would run about 40 miles this week, 35 the following week and then about 20 in the week proceeding the marathon. That is about an 80, 70 and 50 percent reduction in training. If you have not already been doing any speed work, don't start now. Do a couple of runs a week at marathon goal pace for about 8-10 miles the first week, 6-8 miles the second week and then one of about 4-6 on the week of the race. As you reduce miles this should feel really easy. If it doesn't feel really easy then you need to be more realistic about your goal pace.
Chad
TB,
Based on your long run times, I'm guessing you are looking at right around 3 hours (I'm similar, about 2:45-55) , maybe a bit faster. You have to taper off the miles, but still keep working your lactate clearing systems - you will need to do marathon-pace to 10K pace run at least once a week, including race week. Typically on Tues or Wed of race week, I (and actually Daniels and Pfitzinger in their books) recommmend one 4-6 mile MP to threshold effort Tues or Wed of race week, depending on a sat or sun race. I do the same before Ironman events also, and typically run well (for an age grouper - 3:25-30 range).
Pick up on of these books and follow their taper - you will probably have more confidence knowing it's coming from someone who knows a thing or two about running, rather than the rest of us hacks....
Thanks. I'll definitely include MP/tempo stuff every week,including that last short one 4 or 5 days before the event. I'll run 7-7:20 miles those days ... I am honestly aiming for a modest 3:20 in Seattle. My PR is 3:04 but I just don't have the miles in this fall to try to PR. If I recover well in December, I'm thinking about trying to train and PR this summer. I'm more of a triathlete these days than a marathoner, but I still have some marathon goals I want to accomplish (sub 3). -TB