Marathon Long Training Run

Today we're going to be talking about my favorite long run for the marathon. This is about 20 miles in length. We're gonna basically start with the first 15 miles aerobic, so at a pretty low heart rate. I calculate my low heart rate according to the 180 formula from Maffetone. So we're going to be running 15 miles, 24 kilometers, just below that heart rate. So for me, that's 146. So I'll probably run around the 40, 1:45 mark. And then the last 5 miles, the last 8 kilometers, we're going to finish strong. So we're gonna finish with about 15 seconds faster than marathon pace. So I'm trying to run a sub-3-hour marathon, qualify for Boston 2018. So for that, I have to run a 6:51 minute mile average. So I'm going to be running 6:51 minus 15 seconds would be about a 6:36 minute mile. So Let's see how the last 5 miles are gonna go. I'm actually run commuting right now. It's a Wednesday, a little bit past 6 o'clock. It's still pretty hot. It's about 80 degrees. So most probably my pace is not going to be that fast because we're going to be running partly on trail and the temperatures are still high. So just gonna take it easy. First we got a little fence. There we go. So yeah, today we're going to start with 15 miles aerobic, so let's get started. So nice out here. Really, really mellow. Ah, heart rate alarm.

Going too fast.

Chill out. With the higher temperatures and with some of the hills over here on trail terrain, definitely notice that the first 15 miles are going to be rather slow. If you actually really want to train this well, would actually not be a bad idea to do this on road in similar condition to your marathon. I'm actually going to be running a trail marathon next month, that's why I'm actually adding some trail. I would say try to train in the conditions that you're going to be racing in. Look at that, beautiful! So lucky to have these, uh, trails in our backyard over here. One of the main advantages of this is that when you hold back at the beginning of a run you're teaching your body to really reserve a little bit of energy. A real marathon, and I've said this before, does not start until mile 20. Everything before mile 20 is just a warm-up. So what we're doing here is we're just warming up. We're just slowly jogging at an aerobic pace. Actually, because I'm on a hill in the heat, even right now at like 11-minute miles, I'm already hitting my aerobic pace, but Anyway, so we're going for a slow jog, and then once we get to mile 15, boom, then it's really to work. So you're teaching your body, hold back the energy, so when it's go time during a marathon, you really know when to go. Right now, here's a little flat part. I'm about 4 miles in and running about 8-minute mile at 140 heart rate, so just cruising along. Well, let's get some climbing. I have my heart rate alarm set at 146 heart rate, and that way I don't have to keep looking at my watch. But definitely a lot of slowing down. It's not real ideal for like fast marathon training, but on the other hand, I'm still getting some of my aerobic miles in. There we go, 147. The good thing is what goes up also must come down. I'm about 8 miles in and it's way too steep to run.

I think it's about a 500-foot climb over here, as you can see behind me.

I'm just going for a short little mellow jog, or actually a mellow walk, until we get to the top.

Then we can start jogging again.

Almost 10 miles in, going well. I've been climbing about 2,000 ft already, so definitely the pace is a lot slower than I normally would run on flat, but yeah, feels good. This was an interesting one that just happened. I just got passed by two guys and they didn't even go that fast, but because I'm trying to keep my heart rate low, actually went by me. And normally I would think, oh, I can run that fast, so I can run faster. Yet right now, just have to leave the ego at the door and just keep running slowly because I have to hold back right now. And even during a marathon, that's what you will have to do. Like, you're going to feel really good at the beginning of a race, of a marathon. You have the tendency to go run really fast right out, but it's so important to hold back when you're feeling good. And just training that actually in your training runs is really beneficial. So when race day comes around, you're actually used to that feeling of like slowing down and hold your energy for mile 20 when the race really starts. FaceTime with the family for a little bit before the kids go to bed. Hey, what are you doing? Hey, hey! And it's already dark. Almost 15 miles over here, so then we're gonna run fast. 5 miles at 15 seconds faster than marathon pace. 6:36 minute mile. Let's do this. Almost 17 miles in and I'm struggling. I can't get my heart It keeps spiking up really high.

I finished the 20 miles and that did not go according to plan. The last few miles my heart rate kept going up super high and I just was not feeling it. I got a side ache, completely out of energy.

After 17 miles I still ran fast and then 18, 19, 20s I ended up up running it much slower than I initially wanted to.

The reason we do these long runs is so we can experiment, see what food works, see what shoes work, see what outfit works. And eventually you take all your learnings from this, and next time when race comes around, you have all these learnings, you have your taper before you go into a race, and you should be well prepared that you run a smooth race as this is. So although today's run didn't go according to plan, I'm actually stoked that this happened. I'd rather have this happen now than that it happens during a race. So yeah, that was definitely hard work. I think I underestimated how high some of the hills were in the first like 10 miles, 10-15 miles. I did so much climbing. I think in total I did 2,300 feet of climbing. So the first half marathon took me almost 2 hours. So overall, this long run is typically better on a pretty flat surface where you do the first 15 miles aerobic at a low heart rate, then the last 5 you run fast. And that is obviously much easier when the terrain is flat, when the temperatures are lower, And yeah, when your body is fresh. I just worked 10 hours as well. I went into it almost in an arrogant way. I didn't really think about the food much. I didn't have any food on me. So right before I left, I got some cookies out of the vending machine.

And yeah, that obviously is not the right approach going into a long run.

So anyhow, take my learnings and we'll be back next time again for another long run. This might happen to you as well. Well, even when you might go out on some of these training runs, you go in there with high hopes and they might not go according to plan. So keep trying, just don't let it get to you. This is what training is for. At least you got it out of the way right now. Hope you enjoyed this video. More videos coming up on my website very soon. And yeah, have a good one on your long run.