Today was great. Felt good from the start and felt better each mile. I have been fasting for all my runs this year but started introducing fuel again in prep for race day. I took: Sport Legs, 400 mg caffeine, and gels every 4 miles. Also needed some Ibuprofen for a hamstring issue today. Seemed all of it came together and the affront was more than I planned on but added it all wrong and took a higher but still an ergogenic dose so that was actually a good test. By the end of the run I felt I could have gone easily another 5 miles and 10 miles with some effort but that’s a good feeling ending a 60ish mile peak week and basically a race effort 2 days ago. Happy with the progress on tired legs.
The last two weeks I’ve hit the point in my training termed “functional over reaching” which is where I should be but the fatigue is unreal. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been following the Brook Hansons marathon method plan that I paid for specifically for Boston. The plan is structurally built on cumulative fatigue and has really been a stretch for me due to the lack of rest and constant efforts a day apart, week after week. The individual workouts are slightly less intense than other plans (i.e. 4x1.5 mi at marathon pace. How is that hard if you plan to run 26 miles at that pace?) but what makes a difference is the lack of rest days. It just builds and compounds and you feel weaker and weaker:) Therefore your long run at the end of the week is simulating each week what your legs would feel like at the end of your last 16 miles.
I’ve done this plan one other time in 2015 for Boston. I trained to go sub 3:00, but changed my goal when I got there based on the crazy weather and decided to just run it for fun and not push too hard because I knew I wouldn’t hit my goal anymore nor PR. So I ran for fun and still got a 3:10 without too much effort aside from a moderate feeling long run, so I knew the plan worked. The difference is in hindsight, I realized I cheated the real foundation of the plan by substituting some of my easy runs for elliptical miles when I would become sore or overly fatigued, therefore never truly hitting functional over reaching. As I’ve educated myself more (love Luke Humphreys podcast series regarding this plan!!) I have realized that it is essential to run tired on those days and not substitute elliptical or trail miles in order to really get to that point of functional overreaching fatigue that is necessary and essential to hit at 6-8 weeks out from the marathon. If you hit it, you’ll know it and you’re right where you should be. Love and hate it all at the same time. The fatigue is unreal and every single run is quiet the effort. Nothing has felt easy for a very long time. So excited to see what comes of it.
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