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Me and Sarah, all smiles after Milton Keynes half marathon in February.
I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again – it’s amazing how following a training programme for a marathon mirrors the race itself.
Peaks in ability and confidence are often following by swooping lows in faith and physique – what goes up, will inevitably come down. And vice versa.
A week on from feeling psychologically beaten and physically broken, I’m now into the final stage of preparation for London Marathon – the taper.
And despite ‘failing’ my scheduled long run two Sundays ago, things now feel back on track as a result of a couple of rest days this week and a far better feeling towards the final ‘long’ run.
I use the inverted commas because this Sunday’s jaunt was barely half the distance required in the capital this Sunday.
Thus is the nature of the taper – scale back on your training volume, while retaining intensity. Keep the legs moving to avoid stiffness and to preserve that built-up strength and endurance.
Next comes the fun part – re-stocking muscle glycogen by maintaining carb intake. However, that isn’t a license to binge on sugary carbs and fatty treats (although the chocolate fudge brownie sundae I demolished on Sunday night was a welcome guest to the diet).
Will it be a happy face again in London?
Last night saw me complete my final ‘session’ of training for London – a very short interval run loosely based on the Yasso 800 theory. I’ve only just come across this idea for marathon training and I’m currently experiencing a feeling of having missed out previously.
For those in the dark, like me, the session is based on running repeated intervals of 800m hard effort then 200m easy effort for recovery.
If you’re planning on running a marathon in, for example four hours, the 800 in this session should be run in four minutes (and the resting 200 should take about the same).
The principle works regardless of your target time – 3.00, 3.20, 5.30 – whatever your focus in hours, Yasso 800s are completed in minutes.
Over time, the session should increase in volume by adding a repeat each week, starting from four and rising to ten. Given that this week I’m massively reducing volume ahead of London, I’ve restricted myself to five but there’s plenty more in the tank.
There’s tons of theory online supporting the approach, so it’ll be fascinating to see how it works for me moving forward. As with anything related to training and physique, everyone is individual, so it’s impossible to apply 100% foolproof rules, but I do enjoy experimenting with theories.
But back to the task in hand – four days to go to this year’s first marathon peak. Exciting times.