The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update, all I can say is, what a difference a week makes. For the first time in perhaps 3 years of hard marathon training, I'm feeling drained. I've been speculating on why I'm finding it hard to pick up and hold a fast pace for a few weeks now. There's been something in the back of my head regarding my sleep as well. Normally when I put my head down, I sleep straight away and I wake up at roughly 4 am ready to jump out of bed. These past few weeks I've been sleeping 8, 9, 10 plus hours per night. This is unheard of for me. Things are just not coming together at the minute.

I've been making an effort to consume more food with the hope of increasing my energy levels. This is evidenced by my weight gain in week 8. I've been feeling more and more drained towards the end of the week, despite my calorie intake going up as the week went on. My diet is generally healthy and I consume a good variety of fresh and seasonal foods. I also supplement with a multivitamin.

My energy levels are very low and maintaining a pace below a 7:00/mile is feeling impossible. I'm still confident that I'll pull it together over the next few weeks, but I need to get a handle on it. It has all the symptoms of overtraining, except, I can't see that being the case. I'm doing less that I have for each of the last 4 marathon blocks and I do prioritise rest days. If you have any ideas of what I might be missing, I'd be grateful for your input.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update: The Daily Updates

I really wanted to give myself the best opportunity to run a strong second portion of my Sunday long run. Most of the sessions during the week were easy or steady effort with only the one tempo run targeting anything approaching race pace. Let's see how it all went.

Monday:

Monday was a no running day. I spent the vast majority of the day at my computer once again. Writing and video editing is becoming my normal Monday session.

Running Details:
N/A

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1885
Protein: 115g
Carbohydrates: 169g
Fat: 82g
Water: 2.0 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine done.

Sleep: 7 hours 41 minutes

Tuesday:

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Tuesday was a tempo run. For this session, I started with the first 6 miles (10k) easy and then wanted to hold a sub 6:30/mile (4:02/km) pace for 4 miles (7k). Considering how bad my previous speed sessions were, I went out with the aim of finishing strong no matter what. For the past few weeks it felt like I was going out strong and crashing towards the end. At least in this session, I did manage to finish strong, but overall, I didn't hit my targets. Here were the 4 mile tempo splits:

mile 1: 6:45 (4:12)
mile 2: 6:50 (4:14)
mile 3: 6:41 (4:10)
mile 4: 6:28 (4:01)

The positive to take away from this one was the faster finish, which I was pleased with.

Running Details:
Distance: 10. miles (16.11 km)
Avg Pace: 7:44/mile (4:49/km)
Running Shoes: Nike Zoom Tempo Next %
Time & Temperature: 12:07 - 26 C (79 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2043
Protein: 140g
Carbohydrates: 223g
Fat: 66g
Water: 2.75 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 7 hours 41 minutes

Wednesday:

Wednesday of Week 8 was similar to last week. This was a medium long run but this week a 14 miler (23km). I went up in the mountains for this one. There is nothing I like more than just going up into the quiet solitude of the local mountain trails. It is slow and hard work, but it's such a peaceful place to spend a couple hours running.

Running Details:
Distance: 14.07 miles (22.66 km)
Avg Pace: 9:42/mile (6:02/km)
Running Shoes: New Balance Dynasoft Nitrel
Time & Temperature: 10:00 - 26 C (79 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 1970
Protein: 155g
Carbohydrates: 208g
Fat: 57g
Water: 3500 Litres

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

Sleep: 7 hours 04 minutes

Thursday:

Thursday was an easy/steady split run. The first 5 miles (8k) easy and the second 5 miles (8k) steady. I did manage to pick up the pace a little, but hardly worth mentioning.

Running Details:
Distance: 10 miles (16.1 km)
Avg Pace: 8:38/mile (5:22/km)
Running Shoes: Asics Novablast 3
Time & Temperature: 10:04 - 27 C (84 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2321
Protein: 146g
Carbohydrates: 260g
Fat: 76g
Water: 3.5 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 10 hours 09 minutes

Friday:

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update, Friday was another 5k social run in the morning and that was all. As always, it was an enjoyable easy run through the laguna here in Salinas.

Running Details:
Distance: 3.12 miles (5 km)
Avg Pace: 9:24/mile (5:52/km)
Running Shoes: Nike Revolution 6
Time & Temperature: 08:07 - 17 C (63 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2884
Protein: 96g
Carbohydrates: 378g
Fat: 87g
Water: 2.25 Litres

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

Sleep: 7 hours 18 minutes

Saturday:

On Saturday of Week 8 of the 2:49 Marathon Project I had a 5 mile easy trail run. I chose to do this in the laguna once again. This off-road course is flat and soft, for the most part, underfoot. Surrounded by mountains and blue sky, who could ask for anything more.

Running Details:
Distance: 5 miles (8 km)
Avg Pace: 8:29/mile (5:16/km)
Running Shoes: Saucony Endorphin Shift 2
Time & Temperature: 11:46 - 26 C (79 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2395
Protein: 115g
Carbohydrates: 346g
Fat: 64g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 7 hours 49 minutes

Sunday:

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Sunday Runday I had the goal of running the last 8 miles (13k) of my 20 miler (33 km) at sub 7:00/mile pace (4:20/km). OK, this was the real session of the week and hmmm, it didn't go great. I did, however, find a nice big loop and actually ran a total of 22 miles (36 km). So what went wrong? I still don't know. The first 12 miles averaged an 8:39/mile (5:23/km) pace. That's OK. The second portion of the run, 10 miles (15.8 km), ended up at 7:38/mile (4:44/km). I haven't felt like this for either of my Manchester training blocks nor London. Going back to the end of 2021, this is the hardest this kind of effort has felt. I'll need to get things turned around in the next week or two, full stop.

Running Details:
Distance: 22.24 miles (35.8 km)
Avg Pace: 8:00/mile (5:00/km)
Running Shoes: Old Nike Alphafly 1's
Time & Temperature: 9:51 - 31 C (88 F)

Nutrition Statistics:
Calories: 2075
Protein: 129g
Carbohydrates: 236g
Fat: 69g
Water: 3 Litres

Strength & Conditioning: 20 minute bodyweight routine

Sleep: 10 hours 25 minutes

Body Weight

The 2:49 Marathon Week 8 Update showed almost a pound weight gain. This is most likely due to the timing of the weigh-in and the increased calorie consumption towards the latter part of the week. I may do a mid-week weigh-in this week to gauge where I am presently. I still hope to lose the full weight to get down to under 140 lbs (63.5 kg). It's ambitious, but still possible. The key is to ensure I have enough energy. If it is in fact the lack of nutrition that is causing my low energy, this could be a problem.

Strength & Conditioning

I did my 20 minute routine 5 out of 5 weekdays this week. I managed to get 2 x 20 minute yoga sessions done.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update Lessons Learned

Week 8 was just OK. It's always positive to get all the sessions done, but something isn't right. I'm not sure if it is a virus or a nutritional imbalance. As for lessons, I will need to experiment with supplements and increased focus. It has been suggested that an iron deficiency could very well be part of the problem. This makes total sense as when I go back through the last few months there are very few days where I hit my recommended iron intake. I began an iron supplement on the Monday of week 9. I will keep you all informed if it makes a difference. The advice is that it will likely take at least a week before there is any noticeable benefit. This is OK as week 9 is a huge cutback week. Fingers crossed it is the missing key.

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 9 Running Sessions

This week's sessions are described in this post and on YouTube. This is my first cutback week. I think it comes at an interesting time and may be a blessing or a curse. All I can do is find out. The Week 9 Training Sessions in brief look like this:
Monday: No running
Tuesday: 6 miles (10 k) hilly run
Wednesday: No Running
Thursday: 6 miles (10k) progression run
Friday: 5k (3 miles) easy effort (social run)
Saturday: 10 mile (16k) easy run
Sunday: 14 mile (23) easy effort

The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 Update Summary

For the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 8 has thrown a spanner in the works. Up until this point there were some hard sessions where I blamed the heat on not hitting my targets. However, with the temperatures cooling down I'm still not there. When I throw in my sleep pattern, it is getting a little concerning. At the end of the day, I am learning more about my body as the weeks go by, and this is always a positive. I am, as always, hopeful that I'll turn this around and find my feet before it's too late.

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.

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Weekly Metrics:

This is the Week 6 Updates

Friday Weigh-in Pounds: 155.4 lbs (+.8)
Friday Weigh-in Kg: 70.5kg (+.4kg)
Average Resting HR: 39 bpm (-2 bpm)
Average Nightly Sleep: 8:15 hours (+13 minutes)
Average Daily Protein: 128g/day (-17g)
Average Daily Water: 2857 ml/day (-429 ml)
Total Weekly KM's: 103.8km (-14.11km)
Total Weekly Miles: 64.5 miles (-8.7 miles)

Click here to see last week's metrics

Previous Weeks:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16