Hello Boston Marathoners,
Soon, you’ll get excited. You’ll visualize the race ahead and look back at how far we’ve come. The adrenaline and endorphins will flood your body and lift you to new heights…but not yet. For now, keep those feeling at bay as much as possible.
Got that? Be cool. Check the training boxes, then prioritize rest and relaxation. Buy a lavish robe, order in, and belly laugh at funny movies.
One of your teammates once told me, “taper time is the Mercury retrograde of Marathon training,” and we could not agree more. It’s very normal to feel sluggish, both in the body and in the mind, during these weeks: You’ll forget silly things. You’ll be starving one second and stuffed the next. New injuries will crop up out of nowhere and be gone 2 days later. You’ll feel the urgent need to have relationship overhaul talks with everyone you love. Just…be cool.
All the energy you’ve been directing externally has now turned inward. It’s normal to feel agitated, lethargic or sore, both in your body and in your feelings. In stressful moments, close your eyes, put a hand on your heart, and thank your strong body for working so hard for you. It’s doing a great job. It needs your appreciation.
Let’s get specific. What exactly should you be doing this week? First, look back in your training:
Locate your highest mileage week. It will probably be the week you ran 18 or 20 miles. This week, you should run 60-75% of that number.
Keep your run frequency consistent. As your weekly mileage goes down, these runs will all become shorter rather than fewer.
Cut your non-running activities to 50%—that means weights, biking, yoga, etc.
Keep your diet consistent, focusing on good quality fats, proteins, and carbs. You’re running less, but your body is working just as hard to recover and restock for Marathon day. You don’t need to deliberately carb-load yet. We’ll talk about that next week.
Sleep and Rest. These are overlapping but not the same. Allow yourself adequate legs-up decompression time in addition to a good night’s sleep.
From now through race day, stay on top of your hydration and electrolyte consumption. The cold weather can make people drink less and leave them dehydrated. Don’t let that be you.
This is the last week you should consider getting a massage, unless they are part of your regular weekly schedule.
Be cool.
LFG
Coach + Coffey
This week you will run 3-6 times, with 1-2 Speed Run(s) and 1 Long Run
These runs may be done on any days and in any order, with two caveats: 1) The Speed Run should be earlier in the week than the Long Run, and 2) follow the hard-easy-hard principle, which means never run back-to-back hard days. Instead, separate hard (speed or long) runs with at least one easy run or rest day.
This week, decrease your total weekly mileage by 25-40%, based on your previous weekly high and what feels like recovery. This is a bigger range than we usually give, but the taper period is a very personal time. Trust your gut, and if you’ve run other marathons or Halves, look back in your training and see if you can locate what worked best for you. For help planning your mileage, check out pages 22-33 of The noname Program manual for examples of weekly mileage breakdowns and progression.
Speed Run: “The Michigan” remix —1 mile @ 10k pace. 5:00 @ Tempo. 1200 @ 8k pace. 5:00 @ Tempo. 800 @ 5k pace. 5:00 @ Tempo. 400 @ 3k pace. 1:00 stand/walk rest between everything.
If you stay in this sport long enough, you’ll run into The Michigan. I don’t know of a professional or collegiate group that doesn’t do a variation on it, and now it’s our turn. It was created by Ron Warhurst, longtime coach of the very successful University of Michigan track and cross country teams, as well as athletes who have represented the US, Canada, Guyana and New Zealand in global competition.
The workout is made up of alternating Tempo intervals and faster 10k to mile pace intervals, each separated by a short rest. The alternating paces require the athlete to master precision of pace, and — the real genius of the workout for a Marathoner—by proximity of these paces, your perception of “Tempo pace” will shift into something that feels like rest. You’ll see.
Method:
Run 5-20 minutes of easy warmup running.
Do 5-10 optional minutes of dynamic warmups + strides.
OK. Let’s break this down: This workout is made up of 7 total intervals—4 at varying track paces, and 3 at Tempo pace—each separated by 1:00 rest.
In The noname Program manual, find your “Tempo pace” in pace chart #1 on page 19 and your “equivalent 5k/10k pace” in the Race Equivalency Chart on page 17. You’ll need to know all 3 of those paces. You’ll also use 8k pace—which will be exactly between your 5k + 10 paces—and 3k pace, which will be 10-15 faster per mile than your 5k pace. Got all your numbers?
Focus on the mile/1200/800/400 intervals—aka mile/ ¾ mile / ½ mile / ¼ mile—these will be the toughest part of the workout. After each interval, you’ll take a 1:00 rest, then run 5:00 @ Tempo pace, then take another 1:00 rest.
The paces written—mile @ 10k, 1200 @ 8k, 800 @ 5k, 400 @ 3k—are a starting place. If you feel good, you can push these. Make it fun. Keep it sharp and fast and athletic. The Tempo pace 5:00 intervals, however, should be run exactly at Tempo pace. Make these look and feel as easy as possible. Keep them strong, smooth, and light.
This is a big one, athletes. It will hone your pace awareness and teach your body to understand Tempo as a recovery pace. This is also your last day to pick up fitness. After this workout the purpose of every run will be to aid recovery, and to keep your body in metabolic rhythm and moving with fluency. This is a perfect last hard workout, so work hard and then SHUT IT DOWN!
Do this sometime between 10 and 13 days before your marathon—Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday are ideal and Thursday morning if you have to (because we’d rather you give yourself a margin!) This amount of time will give your body enough time to repair cellular damage and convert that stress to fitness.
5-20 minutes easy cooldown running + dynamic cooldown, just like at the start.
Aerobic Runs: 1-4 easy runs for aerobic development
Find your aerobic pace on page 19 in The noname Program manual. This wide pace range is determined by your prospective Marathon pace, and is the pace range at which your system is fueled almost exclusively by aerobic metabolism. That means at this pace your energy comes from an oxygen-based system; any faster and it start to rely on chemical reactions within your muscles, which produce byproducts that are measured by lactate. The majority of your training miles should be run in this aerobic, oxygen-powered pace window. This will develop your body's reliance on oxygen-based metabolism, build out the capillary “infrastructure” for delivering oxygen-rich blood, and coax your body away from the production of leg-burning muscular byproduct.
Put a different way, at this pace your body can both recover from your hard runs and develop your endurance at the same time. Some people refer to these days as recovery runs or easy runs. We like to use the technical term: aerobic—adj, relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen, to keep at the front of our minds that even though these miles are easy, they are just as purposeful and essential as any speed day.
Optional Tempo:
Experienced runners running at least four days a week may opt for a second speed workout most weeks. However, this taper week you should swap your Tempo run for an easy Aerobic run.
Long Run: 6-10 miles @ Aerobic pace
At LAST! Now you’re really in taper. The only instruction for today is to KEEP IT SLOW. Trying to run anywhere close to Marathon pace today for any amount of time will only detract from your Marathon. Why would you do that!?
Friends, runners, comrades—take it easy. Take gels and water at your typical intervals. If you haven’t yet, wear your race kit (minus the shoes if you’re wearing super shoes.) Eat a snack within 20 minutes after and a protein-rich meal within 90 minutes. Then, have a nap.
How to decide between 6-10 miles?
When in doubt, run less. This should feel like an easy long run—still longer than a normal weekday run, but not depleting. If you’re not sure what to do, run 90 minutes.