Training for MCM Marathon at about 75 mpw for the last couple months. I'm less than 3 weeks out (really 2 weeks), what should I reduce my mileage by?
9/22: 76 mi
9/29: 66 mi
10/6: on pace for 64 mi
Does that look right so far? How much more should I drop for a race in 3 Sundays? Thanks
2 weeks out 55
last week 35
Last long run, 1 week out and if you've been getting in long runs of about 20 miles, it should probably be about 12-14.
Short speed workout on Tuesday or wed. For example if you've been doing 3-5 x 1 mile, make it a little quicker and only do 2. If you've been doing 16 x 400, make it 8.
I find the best results with myself and my athletes has been to take a travel day (Friday) with no training and then an easy 15-20 minutes the day before the race.
My last week then would look like:
Sun. Easy 12-13 with penultimate mile at race pace.
Mon. 5 miles easy
Tues. mile warm-up 2 x 1 mile, 1st at race pace, 2nd at 5km pace, mile warm-down
Wed. 8 miles easy
Thursday 3-4 miles easy
Friday travel day
Sat. 2 miles
A ton of people will come on here and say that is not enough, but believe me, there is no workout that you can do in the 5-6 days prior, other than running too easy, that will benefit your outcome.
My only fear is that I've never responded well to heavy tapers. I don't want to enter the race on tired legs, but also when I turn down the mileage and intensity too much I tend to feel flat and stale when the race comes because I've backed off so much from the level I was training at. I want to make sure I'm finding that good middle
I agree with Ray's schedule for the last week. For the tuesday workout, I typically just do 3 miles at MP with a mile or 1 warmup and cool down. Weds i actually cut it to 5 or 6 miles. The only thing I would be careful with is cutting too much out in the 2 weeks prior. I think 55 is good.