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The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update

November 4, 2024

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update shows a good improvement in the training from the previous number of weeks. For the first time in a long time I was able to handle all of the training sessions and hit my running targets. It remains to be seen whether it is too late or just in time. The feeling here is that it might just be the perfect time to start running well. On the whole, this week just felt "normal" which was excellent.

Serious Issues In Valencia

It was a busy week on the home front too with another houseguest escaping the rain in Fermanagh. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly tropical sunshine here for parts of the week. As a matter of fact, there was the disastrous flooding in Valencia that occurred early in the week. It remains to be seen what effect will be had on the marathon. It is always possible that the event could be in jeopardy. As of today, we have not had any indication from the organisers that the event is anything except going ahead as normal. That said, our thoughts are with the victims of the devastating flood in the region.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update: The Daily Updates

Week 12 was, on the whole, a very positive week once again. It was a fairly low volume week but there were some challenging sessions. Here are the daily updates:

Monday:

Monday was a no running day.

Running Details:
HRV: 57.5

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1630
Protein: 105g
Carbohydrates: 129g
Fat: 80g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 6 hours 29 minutes

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a 6 mile (10 km) easy effort run. This turned into a steady effort run as we were forecasted to get heavy thunderstorms and I wanted to get the run in before it all kicked off.

Running Details:
Distance: 6.2 miles (10 km)
Avg Pace Overall: 7:06/mile (4:24/km)
Running Shoes: Nike Alphafly 2
Time & Temperature: 11:03 - 22 C (72 F)
HRV: 100.9

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1833
Protein: 100g
Carbohydrates: 178g
Fat: 84g
Water: 2.25 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine & 20 minutes yoga

Sleep: 6 hours 11 minutes

Wednesday:

Wednesday of Week 12 was a 13 mile (21 km) steady run. I ended up in Alicante for the day and tried out a new pair of Vaporfly 3's. This run was excellent, but the boardwalk and road I took was rather busy, which slowed the pace down a little. However, it was a beautiful run and the shoes are very much what I was hoping they would be, superb.

Running Details:

Distance: 13.2 miles (21.2 km)
Avg Pace Overall: 7:43/mile (4:47/km)
Running Shoes: Nike Vaporfly 3
Time & Temperature: 10:56 - 22 C (72 F)
HRV: 80.6

Nutrition Statistics:

Calories: 1930
Protein: 133g
Carbohydrates: 238g
Fat: 48g
Water: 2.75 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minutes body weight routine

Sleep: 6 hours 25 minutes

Thursday:

This was a 5 miler (8 km) easy effort. I felt good and just ran by feel. It ended up a little closer to steady pace than easy, but it was a very enjoyable run.

Running Details:
Distance: 5.2 miles (8.4 km)
Avg Pace Overall: 7:25/mile (4:36/km)
Running Shoes: Nike Zoom Tempo Next%
Time & Temperature: 12:53 - 24 C (75 F)
HRV: 80.6

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1179
Protein: 74g
Carbohydrates: 165g
Fat: 31g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 7 hours 06 minutes

Friday:

Friday was another No Running day.

Running Details:
HRV: 100.6

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2123
Protein: 105g
Carbohydrates: 286g
Fat: 72g
Water: 3.25 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute body weight routine

Sleep: 6 hours 48 minutes

Saturday:

Saturday was a 6 mile (10 km) tempo run with a max effort for the middle 5k. This went OK and my overall pace was where I had wanted it. However, it wasn't run very well as the effort slowed down as I went. Average pace on the 5k was 6:12/mile (3:51/km). The overall splits on the 5k were:
3:34
3:45
3:59
3:53
4:05

Total 5k max effort run was 19:09

Running Details:
Distance: 9.54 miles (5.91 km)
Avg Pace Overall: 6:12/mile (3:51/km) - Tempo portion only
Running Shoes: Nike Vaporfly 3
Time & Temperature: 9:03 - 17 C (63 F)
HRV: 88.7

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2959
Protein: 149g
Carbohydrates: 349g
Fat: 104g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minutes yoga

Sleep: 6 hours 27 minutes

Sunday:

The 2:49 Marathon Project week 12 Sunday run consisted of 10 miles (16 km) easy followed by 5 miles (8 km) at sub 6:50/mile pace (4:15/km). I took on a tough route although the harder portion was mostly downhill. I wanted to feel my legs turning over quickly and this certainly did the job. On the uphill and flat parts of the harder 5 miles I was able to hold and keep my pace. Overall, I was very pleased with this hard effort and the enjoyable 15 miles. I ran this in K's so anyone who follows me on Strava will see 14.92 miles, it was actually 24 km.

The pace for the harder efforts were as follows:

4:23 - 6:44
3:55 - 6:32
4:00 - 6:39
4:13 - 6:26
4:07 - 6:34
3:57
4:12
3:56

Running Details:

Distance: 14.92 miles (24 km)
Avg Pace Overall: 7:55/mile (4:55/km)
Running Shoes: Asics Novablast 3
Time & Temperature: 9:53 - 21 C (70 F)
HRV: 100.7

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1502
Protein: 97g
Carbohydrates: 142g
Fat: 56g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minutes yoga

Sleep: 8 hours 27 minutes

Body Weight

For the Friday weigh-in, I came in at 152.6, which is up 2 lbs from week 11 (almost a kg). This is disappointing. If you look at my calorie intake for the week it wouldn't appear that I ate particularly much. But my body is a strange one. I know, from over 14 years of tracking calories, that if I'm consuming over 2000 calories per day I am holding onto weight. If I'm under that, I'm dropping weight. I don't include calories burned on the daily exercise because from my experience, that is of very little consequence. For me, it's more about when I eat and consume the calories and I'm usually deliberate with my eating. However, a few days of eating more than I want to and it really throws off the balance. Week 13 will need to be better.

Strength & Conditioning

I did my 20 minute routine 5 out of 5 weekdays this week. I managed to get 3 x 20 minute yoga sessions done.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update Lessons Learned

This week I suppose I have something to think about for race day. Do I wear the trusty Alphafly 1's or do I change to the new Vaporfly 3's? For now, I'm going to stay with the Alphafly's for the marathon as they have been tried and tested. However, the Vaporfly's do have a place in the racing shoe rotation. It's possible that they will make it to the start line, but just not yet.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 13 Running Sessions

This week's sessions are described in this post and on YouTube. I am back to feeling much more like myself and I look forward to pushing myself in week 12. Here are the week 13 running sessions in brief:

Monday: 16 miles (26 km) easy effort
Tuesday: 2 miles (3k) easy + 5 miles (8k) tempo + 2 miles (3k) easy
Wednesday: 13 miles (21k) easy effort
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: 8 miles (13 km) in the AM + 7 miles (11 km) in the PM
Saturday: 7 miles (11k) tempo run with middle 5k hard
Sunday: 22 mile (20 km) easy + 10 miles (16 km) sub 7:00/mile (4:20/km)

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 Update Summary

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 12 was an excellent week of returning to running. I felt good and mentally I'm feeling positive. I'm looking forward to a high load, high intensity week in week 13.

Where Can You Follow the 2:49 Marathon Project?

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.

If you are on any of these platforms, I would very much appreciate a follow. It would be a huge boost to my chances of reaching my goal.

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.

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Weekly Metrics:

This is the Week 12 Updates

Friday Weigh-in Pounds: 152.6 lb (+2 lb)
Friday Weigh-in Kg: 69.2 kg (+.9 kg)
Average Resting HR: 41 bpm (-1 bpm)
Average 7-Day HRV: 87.07
Average Nightly Sleep: 6:50 hours ( -23 minutes)
Average Daily Protein: 109g/day (+14g)
Average Daily Water: 2900 ml/day (- 350ml)
Total Weekly KM's: 73.2 (+23.7 km)
Total Weekly Miles: 45.5 miles (+14.8 miles)

Click here to see last week's metrics