Sunday, September 21, 2008

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon: 1 week to go

They say that in your last week before your marathon, one of the things you should to is visualize yourself running the course. I plan to do that as I relax this week and when I plan to actually sleep something close to a normal 8 hours (is there such a thing?).

I ran my 13 miler today following much of the last half of the course. I ran east to the Beaches, back toward downtown, and went up Bay Street so I could remember what the last bit is like. There is a hill in there, and after an incline, the last half kilometre is pretty flat.

I ended up doing 13.8 miles in 1:49:46 with average pace of 7:57 miles (Run details).

Hit pretty much the mileage plan for the past week:

Tuesday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 8.8 miles with 3x1600
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: 7 miles
Sunday: 13.8 miles

Weekly total: 46 miles (74K)
Year to date: 1855 miles (2985K)

The Pfitzinger plan calls for more runs than I'd like in the final week. Here's what it says

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5 miles AM/ 4 miles PM
Wednesday: 7 miles with 2 at pace (Dress rehersal)
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 5 miles with 6x100
Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: RACE!

My inclination:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday 6 miles with 2 at pace
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 2 miles to keep legs fresh
Sunday: RACE

So he calls for 26 miles before the marathon, I think I'm in for 16 if not less. It's just me, I want to be really fresh on marathon day.

3 comments:

Quinto Sol said...

I like your "last" week better; BUT, I would change the wednesday 6-miler to include THREE@ MP, rather than two. Regardless, you will be getting a PR; I have no doubt about it.

I will keep my prediction to myself as I don't want to jinx you :-)

Arcane said...

my two cents would be to do a short run with some strides on the Friday. You've been running 6 days a week for most of the training and you're body's gotten used to it. plus the strides will keep your legs used to the quick turnover. BTW, welcome to the garmin 405 club!

yumke said...

I think both suggestions. I'll see if I can make more of the Wednesday run a pace run. And yes, a few miles on Friday wouldn't hurt as well. I'm already feeling like i have extra energy