The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 Training
For The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 Training sessions I am practicing what I preach. Specifically, being flexible with the plan. Generally speaking, I’m following a training regime that has proven to be successful over the previous three years. I find it to be a good balance of volume and intensity and how I describe it, relevant to the goal. However, each training block has thrown up its own challenges and I’ve had to make small changes here and there to compensate. This training block is proving to be tricky to say the least. In the spirit of remaining flexible, I’m listening to my body. This should have been the biggest volume week on the books at over 95 miles (153 km’s). However, Week 9 was a forced cutback week as I’m not sure my body would sustain such a gruelling week.
With that said, I’ve decided to change it up once again. Week 10 will be another low-volume week with relatively low intensity. Until I can get to the bottom of my low energy and slow paces it will be a matter of doing what I can in the hope that things turn around quickly.
In the A few Minutes With the Coach section of the post, I’ll take a moment to discuss how I go about fuelling my long runs while trying to cut weight at the same time. It’s a delicate balance, but certainly achievable.
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 Running Sessions
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 running sessions has 6 days of workouts. There is also one no-running day as well as one very light day. In total, there will be 74 miles (119 km). However, this too will be flexible. If I feel that any of these sessions will not be beneficial to my ultimate goal, I will change it up. This is a signifiant reduction in what was planned. My thinking is that although the volume is relatively high, the intensity is relatively low. To be 100% honest, I’m not convinced I’ll hit my pace targets, but I will do my best.
Monday: No Running Day
No running, but possibly a short hike or a few miles on the bike today.
Tuesday: 6 miles (10k) tempo run
Tuesday’s 6 miler (10k) is a tempo run with the middle 4 miles (7k) run with a target pace of 6:40/mile.
Wednesday: 24 miles (39 km) easy
Wednesday is the first of the 20 milers of week 10. It will be run at an easy effort.
Thursday: 14 mile (23 km) – steady run
This 14 miler will be run at a steady effort. As always, with a relative pace like this, it will be comfortably hard, not a specific pace.
Friday: 3 miles (5k) easy social run
My usual Friday morning Social run is something I’ll be keeping on a weekly basis, and this week I will not be extending that to an evening run. This is another light day this week.
Saturday: 20 miles (32 m) easy run
This, the second 20 miler of the week, is run is once again at a comfortable effort.
Sunday: 10 miles (16 km) easy run
This Sunday will be another easy run. This should have been the 3rd 20+ miler of the week, but given the current state of affairs, I’ve reduced the load.
Strength & Conditioning
For the 2:49 Project Week 10 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
Each week I will take the opportunity to discuss something that strikes me during the course of the training block. Hopefully, we can all take something away from this section based on my experience or from those I coach. This week I’d like to just chat about fuelling my long runs while also trying to cut weight.
So, we all know about carb-loading, but what exactly does this mean? You ask 5 different endurance athletes and you’ll get 5 different answers. For me, I know my long runs are fuelled by carbs, (and fats sometimes too). This means I need to prioritise carbohydrates in the evening meal prior to my long run. I tend to go with pasta the night before a race. I also do this in the weeks leading up to the big race in an attempt to make sure my body is acclimatised to a pasta dinner. I will also have some garlic bread or something along those lines. Earlier in the training block, I may take pizza, fried rice, or a meal with plenty of potatoes. But, the closer to race day, the more I get race specific with my nutrition.
Cutting Weight While Carb-Loading
But, you ask, what about cutting weight? Aren’t you concerned about consuming too many calories? Yes, I do take that into account. What I do is to prioritise carbs the day before and for my breakfast the morning of the run. Typically, during the training block, I’m putting much more emphasis on protein during each of my meals, except the day before the long run. A typical day will have a calorie breakdown like 40% carbs, 35% Protein and 25% fat. The day before my long run I will try to consume a higher percentage of carbs, more like 60%, 20%, 20%. For a pasta meal, I like 100g (dry, uncooked) spaghetti. This is about 350 calories and 70g of carbs. With this, I’ll have two slices of garlic bread for another 200 calories and approx. 30g of carbs. The spaghetti will be served with some kind of fish, either sardines or muscles for some added fat and protein.
For breakfast before a long run I will have 60g of porridge oats with two slices of toast with peanut butter. This so happens to be my race day preferred breakfast as well. This is topped up with two large cups of coffee. All of this is consumed at least 2 hours before I go for the run. By prioritising carbs in this way, my glycogen stores are topped up and ready for the hours on the road.
Post Run Fuelling
After my long run, I will try to get a good mix of protein, carbs and fats within the first hour of finishing. As a matter of fact, I will usually take a protein shake, (chocolate milk with protein), as soon as I finish. The body will be in the best receptive state to replenish the muscles within this first hour. I don’t tend to have an issue eating in that first hour, but I understand many people do. Something in that first hour, even just the chocolate milk will be better than nothing.
I then tend to eat as I normally would the remainder of the day after the long run. The exception is after race day. At that point, I feel I can let my hair down and eat as much as I like. I will usually remain in that state of mind until the next training block begins 😀
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 Training Summary
In summary, the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 10 Training is back in the building phase. I have plenty of questions as to where I’m at and best steps forward. But the only thing I can really do is to keep-on carrying on. If I can find my feet in the next week or two, this is game on. Otherwise, I may need to adjust my expectations.
Where Can You Follow the 2:49 Marathon Project?
I accidentally pushed out the week 1 video on the wrong YouTube channel. The correct channel is this one here: JMRunCoach
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. Also, for anyone who wishes to get email updates, please subscribe to the mailing list at the bottom of this page and the weekly updates will be delivered directly to your inbox. Ensure to check your junk box and allow the emails from here through.
#sub3hourmarathon #runningmotivation #runningcoach #2024valenciamarathon #249marathonproject #fitover50 #strokesurvivor #marathontraining
