Yesterday my wife and I each ran a super long run of 28 miles. There is nothing particularly easy about a four to five hour workout. It's long, sometimes boring, and it hurts. But, there is a spectacular upside to this final long run of our marathon training and that is it marks the beginning of our training taper. And, it signifies the event which will culminate three weeks from now at the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon.
I actually feel a huge high after this point in training. For me, as much as anything, this point is what I aim for when I start a marathon training program. The next three weeks will feel like a victory lap as my body moves into a state of "super rest", but not a state of de-training.
It is quite a blessing to be able to complete a six month marathon training program. In addition, being injury free at this point (not ache and pain free) is a sign of a well designed marathon plan. Furthermore, it is a blessing indeed to have a chance at running my fastest marathon at the age of 42.
One of my personal discoveries over the past 5+ months is how swimming is such a great workout. My cross training workouts on Wednesday and Sunday have bee exclusively swimming and I expect it to payoff in my marathon because of my better overall fitness level. And to think of the difference I have seen in my swimming abilities over the past months. Five months ago, it was a struggle for me to swim 200 meters without a break. Just this past week I swam 1250 meters freestyle without a break and I have been swimming plus or minus 2000 meters per workout for more than a month. This has felt like a real accomplishment for me.
For the next two weeks I will workout on the same days as for the last number of months, but I will begin reducing the time of my workouts. Where I have been running for 75 to 85 minutes for my Monday and Thursday workouts, those will be cut down to a maximum of 55 minutes. Tuesday I will run only 25 minutes and I will continue to swim on Wednesday and Sunday.
Finally, the week of our marathon I will run for 40 minutes on Sunday, 30 minutes Tuesday, and 30 minutes Thursday while doing no cross training.
This will leave me ready and rested on the big day, April 25th. And, it will leave me feeling like I'm lazy!
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