Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Two weeks to go

M 12 miles (6:44mm), 7 miles HA (7:08mm)
T 9.5 miles HA (6:24mm), 7 miles (7:28mm)
W 9 miles (6:46mm), 9 miles Progressive Tempo (5:45mm)
T 12 miles (7:06mm), 7 miles HA (7:25mm)
F 10 miles (6:33mm), 6.5 miles including 7X1min @103.5%MP (5:13mm) off 60s (7:03mm)
S 8.5 miles HA (7:09mm), 4 miles (7:07mm)
S 21 miles including 30 mins, 4X5mins, 30 mins (5:33mm), 7 miles (7:04mm)

Total 130 miles (6:39mm)
Aerobic efficiency 917 beats per mile
Weight 139.6 Vs 139.4lbs last week
Body Fat 9.3% (12.98lbs) Vs 9.39% (13.08lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.13% (120.23lbs) Vs 86.06% (119.97lbs) last week
Water 66.70% (93.11lbs) Vs 66.43% (92.60lbs) last week


The last week of big miles this week with again two main session days. The first of which was Wednesday. Mike wanted me to do a moderate hour in the morning which I did but then follow up with  a progressive tempo run of 9 miles in the evening starting at 88%MP(6:03mm) and building the pace to finish at 106%MP (5:06mm). So it would be a decent chunk of miles in one day with some (for me) very fast running towards the end. I had spent six hours driving in the car and it was also very windy so I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. I nearly chickened out and did it on the treadmill, but I knew Mike wouldn't have been best chuffed with that! In the end, it went perfectly and I nicely progressed through the paces, only really feeling like I was going all out towards the last half mile. Mike reminded me that the last two miles (which came in at 5:06 pace) work out to be around 15:45 5k pace, a time which I only bettered twice in the summer and this right at the end of what could be considered a tough day's training! Happy days! This session did remind me why I don't like hard sessions in the evening though, as I struggled to stay asleep and woke at 2:30 wide awake. I did a bit of work then went for my morning run at 4:25 which is early, even for me!

Sunday's run was the final 'Steve Way' session of 30 mins, 4X5mins, 30 mins with the plan to be 100% MP for the 30 minute efforts and 106% of MP for the 5 minute efforts. Last year before Berlin I managed to hit 5:26 pace for the 30 minute efforts and 5:06 pace for the five minute efforts. As it happened 5:25 ended up being my marathon pace on race day so it was an excellent specific session. This time of course my aspirations time wise are similar but my PB hasn't moved on much so the plan was really to hit pretty much exactly the same paces as I did last time and hope that it felt a bit easier! The session really couldn't have gone any better, in fact I surprised myself. The first 30 mins came in at c100%MP (5:24mm) feeling very comfortable, then the 5 minute efforts came in at 106.8%MP - 109.2%MP (5:03-4:55mm) and then the final 30 minutes came in at 104%MP (5:12mm) although I suspect this last 30 mins was pretty optimistic as the GPS signal went a touch skewiff towards the end of the effort. That said it was probably still around 5:15s and HR only averaged my Marathon HR. I finished the session feeling good and when I have done this in the past I have felt a little brutalised by how tough it is. I didn't feel that this time, so I can be confident that I am in much better shape than last year. After Berlin I was convinced I was in sub 2:20 shape was it not for the stitch in the last 7k so this has got to give me extra confidence that I can go in there positive that I'm going to achieve my goal.

Weight hasn't changed (I guess this must be race weight!) but I have lost a touch more fat so that's nice. Aerobic efficiency has taken another big step forward at 917 beats per mile.

Sunday brought up my first ever 100 day streak and marked the end of the specific block (the 9 weeks mileage is below). Now it is just two weeks to race day so I will start with a reduced week of miles before tapering heavily the week of the race.