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