Tooling back

As the P.E.I. Marathon draws closer, it’s time to ease back on the distance and diversify your training

It’s now a little less than two weeks to Marathon Weekend and time to start dropping the mileage slightly but not completely.

We’ll week.

As in my first column I’ll be sharing my own personal routines that I’ve followed over the years leading up to the Marathon.

This past Sunday would have consisted of a run of between 24-26 kilometres done at a pace about 25 seconds per kilometre slower than my expected race day pace, followed by some strength training and perhaps some cycling or other form of cross-training.

Remember the protein afterwards. Reward the muscles. Take Monday off. You’ve earned it. The rest of the week I would be alternating my runs by doing an 8-9K run one day, with half of those kilometres done at my expected race pace. Be sure to warm up and cool down.

The next day would be an easy run of 12-13K. I would repeat this right through till Saturday and it would be a good idea to involve some hills on one of those longer runs throughout the week. Some easy crosstraining as well this week will help keep the muscles active.

Start backing off on the strength training to every other day. If you’re feeling run down, by all means take another rest day.

For the Half Marathon distance, it’s the same plan except for shorter long runs and slightly faster repeats. Nothing fancy. The five and 10K distances require less mileage volume, but I use the same principles do that in the final of easy days and hard days. It’s amazing how the body responds to occasional bursts of speed during training runs. Coming out of your comfort zone occasionally will reap huge benefits on race day.

Now would be a great week to get those new running shoes out of the box, dust them off and put a few kilometres on them just to be sure they’re the right ones for the big day. Practise your nutrition plans for the run (ie. energy gels) by including them in your training days. Since this column comes out on Tuesday I thought I’d mention my Sunday and Monday routine for the following week.

Sunday’s run a week before the Marathon was always in the 17-18K range, and Monday will not be a rest day but instead an 8-9K run with 12-15, 30-second repeats done at a hard pace followed by 30 seconds cool down. Great for the fast twitch muscles.

Like I said last week, keep it simple, get out and run, go cycling, go for a walk, stay active, you’ll feel great. Remember to keep yourself well hydrated, focus on healthy snacks and get lots of rest.

Have a great Thanksgiving Weekend, but go easy on the second plate.

Next week I’ll discuss the final days and the run itself.