How are we feeling?! By now you should have your base established. Perhaps you are feeling some of the benefits of the fitness you gained. OR perhaps you are feeling slightly fatigued from the increase in running.
Either way you are feeling something. Which means you are alive (a good thing) and well on your journey.
You’ll notice for this week’s plan we added an extra speed session, switched the speed days to Tuesday and Thursday, increased the number of strides, and boosted the long run miles.
This will be a tough week, and if you still aren’t quite hitting the goal paces, that’s OK. At this stage, effort counts more than pace. There’s plenty of time to work yourself into your target shape.
What you will want to practice in these added sessions is patience.
For the intervals: finish faster than you started. Don’t burn out on the first few reps. Within each interval, trying running the first half slightly slower than the second. (e.g. for 800s, run the first 400 a little slower than the second 400). This is called a negative split.
For the tempo: ease into a rhythm, calm the mind, and sit with the uncomfortable-ness for an extended period of time.
For the long run: take the warmup miles slow and ease into the progression, not going too fast in the first half
This mental patience will be a very valuable tool on race day. Typically on marathon day your adrenaline is pumping so much that it’s easy to push the pace, especially in the first half. However, this can be a tragic mistake, I know from experience (hello 2017 Boston Marathon where I ran the last 10 miles on non stop calf cramps).
Pace discipline is learned in training. Now is the time to practice.
One other thing to note here. With the added speed run, we have less easy runs or “recovery days”. This is by design. Training can be grueling, and your legs will not feel 100% again until race day.
You want to practice putting in marathon effort miles on sore and tired legs. This will help you in that middle block of the race when you have been out there for awhile but the finish feels far away.
Point is - you are training your body to perform at a high level while fatigued, as well as your mind to be discipline when it is critical for success.
…and that my friends is why so many top performing professionals are also endurance athletes: it builds a tolerance for pain, patience, and mental discipline.