Kylie W - Marathon program, strange malaise, missed sessions, what now?

kyliejean

Hi Coach,

I'm in training for  a marathon on Sunday July 7. The training has been rather undercooked. Long story, but 10 days after I did a half-ironman length race in Feb, I hit a wall. I felt great after the race, normal post-race "I'm recovering" feeling during some runs, etc, but suddenly 10 days later I went do a workout and there was nothing in the tank. This has gone on until very recently - absolutely no energy during workouts, felt like I had an internal black hole! Even lightheaded when I try to do anything too aerobic. A bit worrying as it went on for months. But between doctor and dietician I've tried a few things and seem to be almost back to normal. However, I missed sessions and did others at much less than usual intensity so I'm nowhere near where I should be, fitness wise, this far out from the marathon. And realistically I'm probably going to miss a few sessions on the program for at least some of the rest of the plan, due to some extra work I've picked up (I'm a freelancer, there's work you just don't turn down sometimes!). Now I have no fears of not being able to do the distance, am on track with the length of the longs runs, but I'd like to maximise my gains for the next six weeks before tapering.

So two questions

1. Do I just stick with the program, or are there some alternative workouts I should throw in to really try to get some (marathon -style) speed into my legs?

2. If sticking with the program, can you suggest which workouts are the highest priority (those symbols don't seem to be on the marathon program). I'm thinking the short run with strides is the easy loss, but if I have to miss one of the others, which should I sacrifice?

thanks!

Coach Patrick

Kylie, that sounds really scary!!! I am glad you are working with professionals to get back on the right track...a few days is one thing, months is something else entirely.

1 - To be clear, ramping up your program means doing more work...not sure your body is ready for that? Your call....
2 - I suggest converting the program to two "long" runs a week...one where you do 10-12 miles with Marathon Pace intrevals...1 miles at marathon pace, 1' walk, repeat. Done after a warm up of course, and fueling as if racing. The second one is just a long run at 20 to 30 seconds slower per mile.
3 - All your other runs are for frequency. So if you did the long runs on Wed / Sat, then Thurs / Sun are off.....so Mon / Tues / Friday are all 45 to 60 minute runs on varying terrain, with strides at the end. No hard work there as we don't want to cook your legs!!

Let me know what you think!

P

kyliejean

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the speedy response.

I guess what I forgot to say is that this problem has only affected my workouts, I've been feeling totally normal otherwise. And improvement has been gradual, over about the past three weeks, so now it just feels like I'm lacking fitness.

i think you are right, I shouldn't be looking to add anything in! But I feel like I can definitely do some hard work. The adjusted program you suggested sounds good, but I feel like I should be doing something like the hill bounds or hard intervals in place of one of those other runs. The course is a fairly flat one, so I don't need a pile of hill work but I must say the hill bounding certainly feels like it's honest work.

Am I making sense?

(I am still seeing a trainer on Wednesday mornings, run drills, core and some strength work. So that adds another workout to the mix.)

Thanks again
Kylie

Coach Patrick

@Kylie thanks for the additional details...I give a vote of yes to hill bouns, but don't forget that the "Tempo Long Run" outlined there is still going to be very tough!!!

kyliejean

That's true! Thanks Patrick. Half marathon this weekend, so I'll get a good idea of where I am at.

Coach Patrick

Perfect! Be sure to head over to the Run section of the wiki and look up the pacing guidance there....3 / 7 / 3 ....

kyliejean

Good news coach P! The race went well. Felt strong, no energy level problems, and much better time than i expected. Now I know 2:13 isn't a time most folk would celebrate, but given what's been happening with training I was very very happy (to put that into perspective, my PB is 2:07, and my last half marathon in Sept last year was a 2:14). Based on my last couple of long runs I was thinking a 2:23 was about the best I could expect (despite a 5km test that suggested more like 2:11, just didn't believe that was possible!) so you can imagine the little happy dance going on in my head in the final couple of km when I realised what my time was going to be. Followed the 3/7/3, It works so well! And please pass on my thanks whoever did the marathon/half marathon split calculator for including a metric version. You know, I may never find a way to do an Ironman, but I still think being part of EN is worth every cent!

Coach Patrick

@Kylie!!! Awesome...thank you so much for the feedback...running a 2:13 off a 2:11 5k test is L-E-G-I-T. Soak it up...that kind of final few KMs is the best feeling on race day!!

kyliejean

Indded it is! Now to replicate for the marathon...

kyliejean

Sorry, me again P! How long is the second long run?

Coach Patrick

@Kylie, you lost me...what second long run are we talking about? Oh, found it..but thought you were done with this...anywho...the long runs are pretty similar in duration; one is the "tempo" long run which is shorter and a bit harder, the second, traditional one is a bit longer. So in a week where the "long run" might be 14 miles, that tempo run could be 9 miles with a block of 4 of those miles at tempo. The 14 is the traditional steady run...

kyliejean

My goal race is a marathon in early July, so I was asking about what I should do between now and then. Yep, thanks for the further explanation, that's pretty much what I've done as the key workouts in my training for a few years now, so I'm down with that! Thanks again, all good. Now if it would just stop raining so I could get out and run...