The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update

August 26, 2024

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update

The 2:49 Project Week 2 Update will show that it was a good solid week of training. Things are on track for what I'm trying to accomplish and where I want to be. It is yet to be seen if this will translate into a successful Marathon in Valencia, but there is reason for optimism. When I look back at week 2 from my Manchester training back in January, there are plenty of positive signs. I was training in much colder Massachusetts temperatures back then. It does add some credence to the optimal running temperature being around 5C (41F). However, I'm hitting similar paces now in much warmer conditions.

By the way, if you are following along with the training, I'd love to hear how your first week went. Even if you are following your own plan, I'd love to see your progress. Please comment at the bottom of this page or on any of the social media accounts. Let's do this together.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update: The Daily Updates

From a weekly running perspective The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 was a success. I hit all my goals, got a few extra km's and it was a good mix of increasing volume along with some intensity. Almost all of my goals were met nutritionally, and with strength & conditioning as well, with one exception on Thursday. Below is the breakdown by day.

Monday:

Monday was a rest day. As I am documenting this entire process I am learning as I go when it comes to video production and video editing. That said, I spent most of the day at my desk working on the Week 1 update for YouTube after doing the weekly blog write up. This was the only day that I didn't achieve 10k steps. The steps target isn't a particularly important part of my regime, but rather a personal target I set myself to ensure I'm not sitting too much. In that sense, this wasn't a success, but I did get a physical rest day.

Nutrition 1843 kcals:

152g of Protein
227g of Carbohydrates
28g of Fat
3250ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

Although it was a rest day, I did my 20 minute bodyweight strength routine. As it is short and low impact, I don't believe it inhibits the adaptation process that a rest day is meant to promote.

Sleep:

On Sunday evening I was in bed at 22:38 and up Monday morning at 05:14. The sleep breakdown (according to Garmin, take it for what it's worth), looked like this:
1:39 Deep Sleep
3:18 Light Sleep
1:39 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 6:36

Tuesday:

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Tuesday served up an 8 x 1k rep interval session. This is always a challenging session, but as I mentioned in the Week 2 Training Sessions post, these were to be run at or just below target marathon pace. So when each of these were completed under 4:00/k pace, I was happy enough. I don't have a track to work on, so I set out to do this on the flattest stretch of road I could find. The first one was slightly downhill, the rest were mostly flat. For this run I wore Hoka Rocket x 2 trainers. The temperature at the start was warmer than I thought at 27 C, (80 F). The reps looked like this:
1st - 3:38
2nd - 3:49
3rd - 3:55
4th - 3:54
5th - 3:50
6th - 3:55
7th - 3:57
8th - 3:57

Nutrition 1885 kcals:

168g of Protein
201g of Carbohydrates
47g of Fat
3750ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

20 minute bodyweight routine done as well as 20 minutes of yoga. I also got a sports massage which will go a long way towards keeping the body injury free.

Sleep:

On Monday evening I was in bed at 23:24 and up Tuesday morning at 05:28. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:39 Deep Sleep
4:08 Light Sleep
1:16 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 6:03

Wednesday:

Wednesday had me doing a 10k (6 miles) easy effort run. There's no way to get this one wrong as it is done by effort. On this particular morning, easy effort was 5:27/km (8:47/mile). As you will see later in the week, this is the reason why running by feel is so useful. For this run I wore Nike Revolution 6 trainers The temperature when I began was 25 C (77 F).

Nutrition 2117 kcals:

166g of Protein
200g of Carbohydrates
70g of Fat
4000ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

20 minute bodyweight routine done.

Sleep:

On Tuesday evening I was in bed at 22:09 and up Wednesday morning at 05:19. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:55 Deep Sleep
3:42 Light Sleep
2:33 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 7:10

Thursday:

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Thursday session was a 16k (10 mile) run at easy effort once again. The overall easy pace was 5:02/km (8:07/mile). What a difference some recovery time makes after a hard session. This longer run felt much easier than the day before. For this run I wore Saucony Endorphin Shift 2 trainers and the temperature was 24 C (75 F).

Nutrition 2767 kcals:
On this day I went on a road trip to Valencia and while there we did a brief recce of the finish line and a short walk around the fantastic city where the target race will take place. One of the issues, however, is it is harder to eat to plan when not at home. This wouldn't be a problem had I prepared ahead of time, but I failed in that regard. As you can see I consumed mucha comida. This was not ideal the day before my weekly progress weigh-in

167g of Protein
243g of Carbohydrates
120g of Fat
4750ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

20 minute bodyweight routine done.

Sleep:

On Wednesday evening I was in bed at 22:15 and up Thursday morning at 05:09. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:52 Deep Sleep
3:40 Light Sleep
2:17 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 6:49

Friday:

Friday's will, more often than not, include an easy effort 5k social run in the morning. This is a run with friends where we have a good catch up and a few laughs. As it should, it finishes up with a sociable coffee For this run I wore Nike Revolution 6 trainers. The temperature at the start was 24 C (75 F)

Nutrition 1325 kcals:
One might assume I was trying to make up for an undisciplined day of food consumption the previous day. However, in all honesty, I was once again stuck to my desk for a great proportion of the day working on video editing. I don't under-eat on purpose at any point during a marathon training block. It is counter-productive.

97g of Protein
148g of Carbohydrates
37g of Fat
4000ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

20 minute bodyweight routine done.

Sleep:

On Thursday evening I was in bed at 22:13 and up Friday morning at 05:11. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:54 Deep Sleep
4:07 Light Sleep
1:57 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 6:58

Saturday:

Saturday had me running a 5k hard effort, which in reality was more or less a 5k time trial. Let's just say I'm not near race ready, which is why a marathon training block is 16 weeks. But I ran a good, hard pace of 3:56/km (6:20/mile) to complete the distance in 19:42. In 4 weeks time or so I should be knocking off most of those 42 seconds. By the time the 2:49 Marathon Project is close to completion, that will be way down in the 18's. I wore Nike Alphafly 1's. The temperature for this session was 22 C (71.6 F).

Nutrition 1901 kcals:

182g of Protein
195g of Carbohydrates
44g of Fat
3500ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

20 minutes of yoga for runners.

Sleep:

On Friday evening I was in bed at 23:36 and up Saturday morning at 05:17. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:27 Deep Sleep
3:39 Light Sleep
1:35 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 5:41

Sunday:

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Sunday LSDR, I had a 26km (16 mile) distance to cover. The day was warm and dry with a strong wind towards the final 10k. I ended up with 27.12 km (16.8 miles) in the bag. I wore Nike Zoom Tempo Next % trainers. The temperature was 24 C (75 F)

Nutrition 1989 kcals:

162g of Protein
185g of Carbohydrates
64g of Fat
3500ml of Water

Strength & Conditioning:

I did 20 minutes of yoga for runners.

Sleep:

On Saturday evening I was in bed at 22:42 and up Sunday morning at 06:10. The sleep breakdown looked like this:
0:42Deep Sleep
4:15 Light Sleep
2:11 REM Sleep

Total Sleep: 7:08

Body Weight

The 2:49 Marathon Project is a long process. There will be some days better than others and some week's will be similar. This week 2 update proves that point. Although the week was a success on most fronts, body weight was not one of them. As I mentioned above, I was away travelling on Thursday and ate too much, and not always the right choices. Not a great strategy at any time, but especially the night before my Friday weigh-in.

With that caveat, I weighed in at 161.4, a 2lb (.9 kg) gain. Given my age and running history, in order for me to achieve my goal of running under 2:50, I simply cannot afford too many days like this. Lesson: BE PREPARED!

Strength & Conditioning

I did my 20 minute routine every weekday this week. If you would like to see my current morning Strength and Conditioning routine, click here. In week 3 I have increased the number of reps, but in week 2 the reps remained at 35 per exercise.

I managed to get my 3 x 20 minute yoga sessions done this week and I know I will need to do this every week in order to stay loose and injury free.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update Lessons Learned

Maybe not learned for the first time, but I know there is no room for undisciplined eating. Be prepared and plan ahead when it comes to food choices. I know better, but sometimes I slip, as we all do.

Getting out earlier made a big difference in how I felt on the harder paced runs. It may still sound hot at 22-25 degrees, but it is much cooler on the skin than temps in the 30's during week 1. I'm pleased that I learned that so early in the training block. I also made the point to get my yoga sessions in this week which I neglected somewhat last week. That should go a long way to keeping me running and improving during the block.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 3 Running Sessions

This week's sessions are described in this post and on YouTube, Week 3 Training Sessions, but here they are in brief:
Monday: No running day
Tuesday: Hill Repeats + 8k easy
Wednesday: 10k easy effort
Thursday: 15k (9 mile) run with 12k(7 miles) easy effort and 4k (2 miles) at steady effort
Friday: 5k easy effort AM + 5k steady effort PM
Saturday: 8k (5 miles) Change of Pace (CoP) run with middle 5k steady effort
Sunday: 27k (17 miles) LSDR

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update Summary

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 2 Update describes a mostly positive week. I have to do better with my discipline regarding food choices, and I will. I don't really have any other option. I'm optimistic coming into week 3 and look forward to racking up the miles.

Where Can You Follow the 2:49 Marathon Project?

I accidentally pushed out the week 1 video on the wrong YouTube channel. The correct channel is this one here: JMRunCoach

Daily updates will be shared on my Instagram account and Tiktok account. Weekly updates will be in longer form on YouTube , my Facebook page, and here on the A Heart for Running blog. Also, for anyone who wishes to get email updates, please subscribe to the mailing list at the bottom of this page and the weekly updates will be delivered directly to your inbox. Ensure to check your junk box and allow the emails from here through.

#MarathonTraining #RunningTips #EnduranceTraining #RunningCommunity #FitnessJourney #249MarathonProject

Weekly Metrics:

This is the Week 2 Updates

Friday Weigh-in Pounds: 161.4 lbs (+2)
Friday Weigh-in Kg: 73.2kg (+.9)
Average Resting HR: 40 bpm (-2)
Average Nightly Sleep: 6:37 hours (-17 minutes)
Average Daily Protein: 156g/day (+8g)
Average Daily Water: 3.786 ml/day (-)
Total Weekly KM's: 83.39 km (+28.5)
Total Weekly Miles: 51.8 miles (+17.7)

Click here to see last week's metrics