The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 Training
For The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 Training I am having my first cut-back week of the program. Up until this point, I increased weekly volume each week. My body does like higher mileage weeks, but at the age of 55, it also needs longer to get the adaptation from the harder sessions. In order to take advantage of the hard work put in so far, I’m having two no running days this week and no double sessions.
I have broken down my upcoming 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 into the training sessions and what the goals are for the week.
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 Running Sessions
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 running sessions has only 5 days of workouts with Monday, once again, being a no running day and, this week, Wednesday as well. The total volume for this week is 49 miles (79 km). However, there are still some interesting and challenging sessions in Week 5. Thursday and Sunday in particular will test me this early in the program.
Monday: Rest Day
Monday’s have become a common rest day for me over the start of this plan. However, as the Sunday LSDR’s continue to become more challenging, I will add some recovery miles in on some of the upcoming Monday’s. Not this one though.
Tuesday: Hilly Run – 8 miles (13k)
Tuesday’s 8 miler (13k) is going to be run over a hilly route. This is never a problem in southern Spain, with few exceptions, hills are seldom hard to find. This is not to be confused with a hill repeat session. A hilly run is to be run over a route that has a few challenging hills somewhere between the start and finish.
Wednesday: No Running Day
Normally, I differentiate between a Rest Day and a No Running day. A no running day gives me permission to do extra workouts like swimming, cycling, hiking and additional strength work. On a rest day, I would do my 20 minute bodyweight routine and perhaps go for a gentle walk, but no hard cross training.
Thursday: 7 mile (11k) Progression Run
A progression run is where every mile, in my case every kilometre, is run faster than the previous. That means I will need to pick up the pace every 1k, a total of 11 times. As I am a big proponent of running by feel, I will do this without looking at the watch for pace. I will need to trust my sense of effort. In cases like this I will monitor my breathing and I will count my cadence, like a metronome, in order to ensure I’m increasing my pace.
Friday: 3 mile (5k) Easy 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: 9 miles (15k) Tempo Run
I will execute this session as follows:
3 miles (5k) easy – 3 miles (5k) hard – 3 miles (5k) easy
This won’t be a time trial, but I will run hard and I’ll wear some fast trainers.
Sunday: 22 miles (35k) – Long Slow Distance Run (LSDR)
This is one area that will be building on the previous weeks. A 22 miler (35k) is getting up there in distance and, personally, I love the challenge of these longer training runs.
Strength & Conditioning
For the 2:49 Project Week 4 training strength and conditioning routine I am maintaining 40 reps per exercise.
40 reps push ups
40 crunches
90 second plank
40 squats
40 dead bugs (each side)
40 bicycle crunches (each side)
40 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:
40 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.
Nutritional Supplements
When it comes to the sport of running, diet is an extremely important part of one’s success at whatever the discipline. When it comes to food consumption, sometimes hitting nutritional goals is difficult without supplementing with one thing or another. Because I have specific goals of hitting a target race weight I am doing my best to eat as close to my plan as possible. I have a certain amount of protein, carbs and fats that I am trying to consume each day. I think for most people, the protein is the hardest macro to hit consistently.
Whey Protein
I try to get as many grams of protein from food as possible, but in order to get 150g/day, I take a whey protein supplement. This is consumed immediately after returning from a run. Each 25g scoop of whey protein gives me about 20g of protein. Some days I take 1 scoop and others I take 2.
Multivitamin
In addition to supplementing with protein, I also take a daily multivitamin. This is in the form of an effervescent tablet that I put in my 750ml bottle of water each morning just after waking up. There is a lot of debate as to whether or not a multivitamin is worth taking or not. It has been accused of being just an expensive addition to our pee. The way I see it, I haven’t been sick with a cold or flu in years, so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.
Electrolyte Complex
As a runner, particularly in a warm climate, it is important to ensure I have sufficient electrolytes. We lose electrolytes in our sweat, but they are vital to our body’s daily function. They ensure we have sufficient fluid in our cells and bloodstream, help turn nutrients into energy, as well as maintain a healthy heart, bones and teeth. Additionally, Sodium, Potassium and Magnesium play an essential role in muscle recovery. Here is a good article describing the function and importance of electrolytes. I take two Electrolyte Complex tablets every day.
The 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 Training Summary
In summary, the 2:49 Marathon Project Week 5 Training is a relatively light cut-back week, with lower volume, but some tough sessions nonetheless. I look forward to the extra day off and the easy Friday. I also look forward to the tough sessions on Thursday and Sunday as well.
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.
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