In December of 2021 I commenced training for my return to the marathon. My last marathon was Melbourne Marathon in 2017, it’s pretty crazy writing that and realising how long its’ been between marathons!

Starting point

In December I wrapped up a 10km training block where I targeted the Melbourne Marathon 10km. It was pretty fun doing a big fun run again but ended up being a fairly tough one! The course is reasonably hilly, a warm day and due to a poor position in a staggered start there was a lot od dodging and weaving through the field. I ended up running 48:57 but felt like I could run a better 10km in better conditions.

Other times I ran around this period include 22:28 for 5km, 22:35 for 5000m, 6:00 for 1500m and 3:48 for 1000m.

Training program

For this marathon training block I’m following Pete Pfitzinger’s “Up to 55 Miles per Week 18-Week Schedule” from the book Advanced Marathoning. I had already tried Pfitzinger’s training for the 10km block and thought that style of training would be perfect for the marathon. There’s nothing that special about this training, essentially it’s about getting longer runs and mileage in, while gradually building and getting more specific towards race day. I’d say there’s less hard intervals and workouts than some other programs, which I think helps with being able to manage a larger volume of training. There’s also a focus on longer runs, usually with both a mid week long run and a Sunday long run.

Block 1 – Endurance phase

Training commenced 20 December 2021 with 3 weeks of additional base running, before formally starting the Pfitzinger plan with a 6 week block of aerobic endurance. There’s very little fast running in this first 6 weeks. There was one session per week alternating between short fast reps (10 sec hill reps and 100m strides) and longer thresholds (6-8km). Other than that all aerobic running with a mix of general easy running, recovery runs, long runs and some long runs with marathon pace.

Mileage for this phase:

Pre-Week -3 – 53.7km
Pre-Week -2 – 34.1km (unfortunately missed runs with travel – new years period)
Pre-Week -1 – 58km
Week 1 – 52.1km
Week 2 – 56.3km
Week 3 – 64.1km
Week 4 – 67.9km
Week 5 – 72.4km
Week 6 – 53km (Recovery)

I also slotted one track race into this phase during Week 4 where I ran 5:51 for 1500m which I was really happy with!

At the end of week 2 we had a big life event with moving into our new home! Very tiring and it was super hot and humid during this period, thankfully we had help from one of the removal companies near me. I actually still attempted a marathon pace run the morning after moving in and totally failed, only managed a few km at marathon pace then jogged the rest. But on the plus side I didn’t miss training at all while moving house!

Block 2 – Lactate plus endurance

This next 5 week block of training introduces mid week long runs and continues to up the sessions with longer threshold runs (10km+) and longer long runs and marathon pace runs.

Week 7 – 69.2km (replaced one run with a spin bike session)
Week 8 – 83.1km
Week 9 – 79km
Week 10 – 88.2km
Week 11 – 70.5km (Recovery)

Highlights from this block include racing 3000m at the AVSL Playoffs in Week 8. I had in my head that around 13 mins would be nice (4:20/km) but ran a little quicker with a 12:41 (4:12ish/km). Shortly after the race I found out I was a close contact so had to rush off and isolate for a week.

This was a bit of a shock as I had my first 32km long run planned for the next day, but I still did it! I’m not good at treadmill running, I find it much harder than outdoor running and have to run a bit slower to keep the perceived effort and heart rate the same. So 3 hours and 26 mins on the treadmill accompanied by Zwift on the ipad and podcasts to keep me sane. I then kept my training going with 10km, 23km and another 10km run on the treadmill through Week 9. I’m really proud that I got through that week of isolation with not missing a single run!

At the end of Week 9 I was very glad I could get outdoors for my marathon pace run. This was 26km with 19km at marathon pace. This was my first run in the New Balance FuelCell RC Elite v2 (what a long name for a shoe) and I realised right away that I had found my marathon shoe.

Another highlight was my long run in Week 10. Another 32km run but this time at the You Yangs. I started with Great Circle drive clockwise, had a quick drink and gel at the carpark, then decided to turn around and complete it again counter clockwise. In total 511m of elevation gain over 32km. I’ll admit I was pretty stuffed after this one and Elisha can vouch I didn’t even want to stand afterwards and just sat on the floor for my shower!

I can also say that during this block I’ve completed my largest volume training weeks ever. Before this I had peaked with a few weeks over 70km in 2017 and biggest week of 73.9km. It’s kind of comparing apples to oranges as the training I did back then is different to now, but I’ve clearly gone a step above that volume wise in this training block.

Block 3 – Race preparation

This next 5 week block introduces V02 max intervals and tune up races as well continuing long runs and marathon pace runs. The intervals are all at 5km pace varying between 600m to 1km intervals. As of writing I’m in the second week of this block. The first week I ran a total of 82.8km including a 10km time trial as my tune up race.

For the time trial I had overcast and cool weather which was nice but it was very windy which was bad. Running into the wind for the first 6km definitely cost me a bit, but I thought this was a good training run as the same thing could definitely happen on marathon day. Time wise I ran 47:08 (4:43/km) which I was pretty happy with, especially for a solo time trial!

I have a couple more of these time trials over the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how things track.

Goals

I have thought about doing Great Ocean Road Marathon for a long time. Just seems like a really cool run to do running from Lorne to Apollo bay along the great ocean road, enjoying the views! However it’s a hard one to pick if you want to run a good marathon time and that’s why I haven’t chosen it before. There’s hills, there’s a chance of getting a strong head wind and you have to run longer than a marathon (44km!).

But for my return to running a marathon after so many years, I just want to get out there and enjoy it. At least as much as you can enjoy a marathon in the back half! I can say that I’m not aiming for a PB at all. I’m expecting to be slower than my Melbourne PB pace. I’d like to run under 4 hours for the marathon split which I think is doable. Although no guarantee with not knowing the course that well and how much the hills and weather might take out of me.

So I’m hoping to have a “good” run which for me will be to get through the run at what feels like a reasonable pace for the terrain and conditions without crashing and burning! And then followed with a few weeks recovery and slot in to cross country season with potentially a faster marathon for my next one!