Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Three weeks to go

M 12 miles (6:47mm), 6 miles HA (7:26mm)
T 6 miles HA (7:15mm)
W AM - Canova Special Block Session 1, PM - Canova Special Block Session 2
T 6.5 miles (7:36mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (7:17mm), 7 miles (6:45mm)
S 8.5 miles HA (7:09mm), 5 miles (7:05mm)
S 24.5 miles Split Progressive Long Run (5:58mm)

Total 113 miles (6:35mm)
Aerobic efficiency 943 beats per mile
Weight 139.4lbs Vs 140.9lbs last week
Body Fat 9.39% (13.08lbs) Vs 9.47% (13.34lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.06% (119.97lbs) Vs 85.99% (121.16lbs) last week
Water 66.43% (92.60lbs) Vs 66.63% (93.89lbs) last week


Coming into this week I was on a bit of a high following a good return to training after the half marathon but I have to admit Monday and Tuesday were a bit of a slog. It was reflected in an unusually high heart rate on my runs and thus they weren't particularly efficient.  This was possibly due to the fact that I had a busy weekend but more likely because I knew I had the Canova special block coming up so was perhaps a little anxious about it, having not done it before. I decided to drop the second run on Tuesday so I would be as fresh as possible for Wednesday's exploits.


I have put together a video log of how the Special Block went detailing the sessions, how I was feeling, pre and post workout and also a thorough food diary to show what I ate to fuel and refuel post-workouts. You can see this below. If you don't fancy wasting your time then I have blogged a summation of how it went below the video.

I took this so called 'block session' from Abel Kirui's build up to his victory at the World Championship Marathon in 2011. There is a great blog by John Davis who has very kindly put together quite a thorough overview of Canova's approach and indeed he includes the training plans of Kirui's and Moses Mosop's build ups to successful marathon victories.


Kirui's first session was structured as follows; 6.2miles at 90% MP, 4 mins rest then 9.3 miles at 98.5% MP. I then made this session relevant to me to make sure the time that I was running for the efforts would be similar to what Kirui did in his session. I worked out that it would amount to 5.5 miles for the first effort followed by 8.25 miles for the second. The planned paces, based on current PB marathon pace were 6:00mm for the first effort and 5:30 for the second effort. The paces ended up at 90.2% MP (5:57mm) and 99.7% MP (5:26mm). I actually felt really good and like I was holding back a little but I wasn't being too big headed about it as I knew I had another hard session to follow later in the day!


Going out on the second session my legs felt tired and it certainly took a bit to get them going so did a bit of faster running in the warm up to ensure I could hit the paces I wanted to in the efforts which was supposed to be 6X4:30 (Kirui's session was actually 6X1600m but again I made the session relevant to me) at 105.5%MP with 2 minutes recovery which would mean a target pace for me of 5:07mm for the efforts. I fully expected them to feel hard all the way but I was surprised that I didn't feel I could go as slow as 5:07mm for the first. Still I wasn't getting ahead of myself. This session was all about trying to replicate the dead legs towards the end of the marathon. The first two came in at 5:02mm, then a 5:01 and a 4:59. I knew then that I would get the session done and would survive! The last two were very hard on the legs but I felt really strong aerobically. Not like I was about to blow. The last two came in at 4:58 and 4:56 pace for an average of 107.7%MP (5:00mm) for the efforts across the session. It was such a relief to get it done as it's the first time I have tried this type of thing. The next few days would be just about taking it easy and trying to make sure my body absorbed the stresses I had put it under.

For anyone that has sat through the video will know that the next couple of days were a bit of  struggle to say the least. Not so much in terms of soreness, albeit the legs were certainly dull and not up for running quickly, I was absolutely shattered. I felt like I'd been on my stag do all over again! I did however perk up on Friday afternoon and it was pleasing to be running easily again on Friday evening with a moderate run on the treadmill feeling very comfortable and with HR back to where it should be.


And so to the second hard run of the week on Sunday which was another of Canova's staples, a split progressive run of 24 miles with 12 miles at 90%MP(c6:00mm), followed immediately with 8 miles at 98.5%MP (5:30mm). Given that I may not be fully recovered I decided before the run that I would knock it on the head if it felt too hard and just run some more easy miles. When I put this run in my plan and in the lead up I was perhaps underestimating it and thought it would be relatively easy. On Saturday night though I did start to realise that it would be quite a hard effort, especially picking up the pace after 15 miles of running to not far off marathon pace and in the context of a decent volume week of miles with the Canova session just a few days before. As a result I don't think I was as focused on the run as I otherwise would have been. That said I hit the paces pretty much bang on (5:58mm for the 12 mile section and 5:29mm for the 8 mile section) with the 8 mile section feeling 'hard but fine' and HR for that section coming in at 169 beats per minute versus a marathon HR of c175-177. I didn't feel like I was overreaching on the run so I stayed true to my word and it was pleasing to get it in the bag.


Weight wise, I have dropped a bit of weight this week and my body composition seems to be improving slightly. Something worth pointing out as it may not be correct is that although my scales are good for tracking progress I suspect they are not wholly accurate and my body fat percentage may well be a bit lower than it says. I am starting to look 'pre-York' lean and I was incredibly skinny for that race, I almost look like an athlete which makes it hard to think that I am carrying a full 13lbs of fat.


Aerobic efficiency is still in a good place but not quite as good as last week due to the lower aerobic efficiency of the runs either side of the Canova block.


One more chunky week to go!