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!