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The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Training

October 18, 2024

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Training

For The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Training sessions I seem to be back on track...somewhat. At this point I'm probably being a little overly cautious and hyper-sensitive to every little pain and niggle. At the minute my adductor on my right side is a bit tender. This is a concern because in 2021 I had two torn adductors which put me out of running for 10 months that year. I know how long it takes to heal these tendons. Fingers crossed it's nothing serious, but I'm going to be careful.

The good news is, I have my energy level back and I've been having very encouraging training sessions. As of this writing, I do not have my blood test results. However, I am confident that whatever was the cause, is either behind me now, or well on the way to going.

One of the best things about coaching is having the ability to change things up when things aren't going to plan. With that in mind, I am loosely following the plan I used for the 2024 Manchester Marathon and making tweaks here and there. With that in mind, I've made a few decisions that I'm hopeful will be the difference between my 2:54 finish in Manchester and what I hope to be 2:49 in the Valencia Marathon.

In the A few Minutes With the Coach section of the post, I'll take a moment to discuss my thoughts on the importance of being flexible with my plan.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Running Sessions

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 running sessions has 5 days of workouts. There is one no running day and one rest day. This week promises some very challenging workouts and I'm looking forward to taking them on head first.

Monday: No Running Day

No running, but possibly a short hike or a few miles on the bike today.

Tuesday: 11 miles (18k) easy run

Tuesday's 11 miler (18 km) easy run will be a nice way to ease into the week. Some good volume but not intense. This will give me an opportunity to accumulate some fatigue without being too much for Tuesday's session.

Wednesday: 10 miles (16 km) Progression Run to 6:30/mile (4:02/km)

Wednesday's progression run will be a good challenge. The distance is long enough that it will require a good route and a good, tactical session plan. I will attempt to run this in kilometers as this is an added challenge. A 16k progression is more difficult than a 10 mile progression if you ask me.

Thursday: 13 mile (21 km) - easy run
This 13 miler will be run at a steady effort. This easy run will probably be slow, but where I am at in the plan, if all goes well, something under an 8 minute mile will feel easy. That is despite the progression run the previous day.

Friday: 7 miles (11k) Tempo run
This tempo run will be run as 2k easy, 7k hard, 2k easy. This will be another challenging session. The goal pace is 6:40/mile (4:02/km) for the tempo portion.

Saturday: Rest day
Rest day

Sunday: 10 miles (16 km) easy + 10 miles (16k) sub 7:00/mile (4:20/km)

This will be another hard session this week. One that I hope I can execute better than I have been doing on these harder long runs. In the upcoming weeks I will be making more of these types of sessions. I mentioned in the Week 9 update video that I usually do a 50k as part of my marathon blocks. Upon reflection, for the Valencia Marathon I will be doing more of the Sunday runs to add more race specific pace to the plan.

Strength & Conditioning

For the 2:49 Project Week 10 training strength and conditioning routine I am maintaining 50 reps per exercise.

50 reps push ups
50 crunches
90 second plank
50 squats
50 dead bugs (each side)
50 bicycle crunches (each side)
50 lunges

I repeat these until I hit 20 minutes. This is almost always 2 sets of each exercise. I then finish the routine off with:

50 reps close hands push ups

Yoga

I perform a 20 minute yoga for runners routine from YouTube 3 days per week. This is a very welcome stretch after all the running during the week.

A Few Minutes With the Coach

In this section of the post, I'll take a few minutes to discuss a topic each week that is pertinent to my training. Each week I'll tackle one specific part of my training and explain either why I do what I do, or the reason behind my training sessions. This week I would like to talk about the importance of being flexible with the plan.

The Importance of Being Flexible With the Plan

The 2:49 Marathon Project didn't just come from out of the ether. It is a project built off the back of three successful training blocks. The plan is based on the one I developed for the 2022 Manchester Marathon where I first made a serious attempt to break 3 hours. On that day, I missed the target by 30 seconds as I ran 3:00:29. Building on that 16-week block, I made some adjustments and then ran 2:56 in London in 2023. Once again, I learned a few lessons, used the bones of that plan and ran 2:54 in Manchester in April 2024. Once again, I take the lessons from Manchester and make the adjustments for Valencia.

That said, it is still roughly the same plan as the original one from 2022. However, I've had to modify and sometimes pivot hard in order to stay on track. The plan I have for Valencia has a bit more focus on hitting race pace, or at least adding some hard efforts, on portions of my long run. However, there is still a healthy dose of my bread and butter sessions, the long run.

I am in Week 11 of the 2:49 Marathon Project. I'm finding I need additional rest this time around and I've had to adjust some targets. Ultimately, the point is, very seldom does it happen that we remain unscathed for a 16 week plan. When injuries or illness hits, changes need to be made in order to hit the goal, or at least make a best effort at doing so. But that is the point. I have the ability to evaluate current circumstances and do what is necessary.

Examples of Flexibility

For the 2:49 Marathon Project, I've been making modifications from the initial plan each week for about 3 weeks now. Here are some examples:

I've given myself extra rest days
I've reduced weekly volume
I've listened to my body and adjusted mid-run
I've adjusted target paces for sessions
I've moved an entire week around to another week

Each of these decisions was based on the current situation at the time. The goal is to get the most from what is physically available. I have very little doubt that there will be more changes to the original plan in the coming weeks.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Training Summary

In summary, the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 11 Training delivers a healthy dose of pace. It's not the volume I thought I would have, but I am changing direction a little bit.

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