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The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Training

November 8, 2024

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Training

For The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Training sessions I have some challenging sessions. However, it's hard to believe it is this close to race day. Only 3 full weeks to go and I'm really looking forward to completing the process. It is getting to that time where all the work and dedication to the plan starts to become tiring. There has been a lot of miles covered in these last two weeks and week 14 is no different. The eye is clearly on race day at the moment and I'm hopeful it will all be worth it in the end.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Running Sessions

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 training sessions includes 5 days of training for a total of 63 miles (104 km). I have the dreaded 1k rep session as well as 2 x 20+ milers. The objective is clear, run fast and run far.

Monday: Rest day
With a high load in week 13, Monday's rest day is necessary in order for me to hit my targets for the rest of the week.

Tuesday: 8 x 1k reps
Tuesday is my 8 x 1k repeats session. This will have a 2k warm up and a 2k cool down. I will use this as an indicator and compare it with the same session earlier in the training block. I'm hopeful I will compare in a favourable light.

Wednesday: 20 miles (32 km) easy run
This is a mid-week long run and will really be a test a day after a hard speed session. It will be an endurance session. This will be the first opportunity of the week to fine-tune race day plans.

Thursday: Rest day
My legs, as well as the rest of the week's training, will benefit greatly from the day off.

Friday: 5 mile (8 km) - steady run
This steady run is designed to replicate a comfortably hard effort towards the end of the marathon. I will without a doubt have very tired legs on this session.

Saturday: 5k tempo run
Saturday will once again be a 5k hard effort sandwiched between some easy miles. 2k easy, 5k hard, 2k easy

Sunday: 24 miles (39 km) easy - Some pacy miles in the mix
Sunday is another long slow run, building endurance. These long runs are coming to an end very shortly, so it's time to get the work in before the taper.

Strength & Conditioning

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 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'll take a moment discuss the objective for this week's Sunday run, the dress rehearsal.

Week 14 Sunday Runday Objective

For week 14 Sunday Runday, I will be taking this opportunity to do a dress rehearsal for the actual race day. So, what does this entail? Well, I'll be practicing the following:

My evening before my long run. This includes the evening meal, the time I'll eat, and additionally, the time I go to bed
My morning routine which includes my wake-up time, my breakfast food, and the time I eat before my long run
The clothes and equipment I will wear on race day
My in-race nutrition and hydration
Any mantras I will need to use when I'm hitting a hard point on the run
Any visualisation techniques for getting through the run

This is the perfect opportunity to ensure that I get the things that are within my control correct on race day.There will hopefully be nothing left to chance. On race day, there will be things that are out of my control, ie. the weather, the crowds, the course, etc... So my focus is on what I can do something about. So why would I leave anything like that out of my planning process? No matter how many marathons I've raced, nothing beats physical and mental preparation for the night before and race day morning.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Training Summary

In summary, the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 14 Training has a total of 63 miles (104 km). Having had 13 weeks behind me, I'm getting to that point where I'm just ready to tackle this event. I honestly can't wait to get it done. I'm still hopeful that the marathon will go ahead and we will be getting a notice from the organisers in the upcoming week with news on that front.

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