This is update number 3 in my quest for a sub 2:45 marathon. After an up and down first two months and fairly low mileage in July, I finished with a massive 5 km personal best (PB) at the end of the month.

Training volume has been low this month. This was due to a dip in motivation and a week-long holiday, which wasn’t conducive for marathon training. I’ve missed my weekly goal of 80km, posting the following in July:

Week 1: 77 km
Week 2: 75 km
Week 3: 62 km
Week 4: 56 km

That is far from the distance required in marathon training. With only two months left before the race in October, I will need to focus on getting my weekly mileage up to 90km-100km. That’s a sweet spot for me. Anything more than that and I start to feel mentally and physically drained.

I plan to focus on strength and mobility rather than adding 10km per week.

5km Personal Best (PB)

The best news this month has to be my 5km PB.

As mentioned in a previous post, my training plan includes a time trial on the final weekend of each month. This is a good way to measure how my fitness is improving over time.

Having missed the first two attempts in May and June due to sickness, I finally had a go at the end of July.

I ran the 5km in 16:47, averaging 3:21 min per km. My previous 5km PB was 17:25 so that is a 38-second improvement. The result even caught me by surprise.

Conditions were good but not ideal. The last 1.5kms were into a slight headwind and I’d just come back from a week-long holiday in Croatia where I had indulged in all things holiday (too much eating and drinking). In addition to that, the Springboks beat the British & Irish Lions in a game of thrilling rugby the night before, so I woke up on Sunday with a slight hangover.

It sounds like a lot of excuses but what I’m trying to say is that there is room for improvement. I’ll be aiming for a sub 16:40 at the end of this month.

The quality sessions and long runs have made a big difference to my fitness. Finding the right balance between quality training and easy/recovery running is so key.

In my first post, I talked about earning the right to run fast. Training should be based on your current fitness level, not where you want to be. With this new PB, my training pace/speed will increase. Fast training, combined with consistency, will result in further improvement over the next few months.

So what does this mean for the marathon? Using the VDOT app my predicted marathon time is now 2:40:51. That is encouraging given my goal time of sub 2:45.

Training Plan for August

I’m feeling inspired by this new PB (a sub-17 has been a long term goal and I smashed it). With two months of good training left before marathon season here are some key areas I’m going to focus on in August:

• Increasing weekly mileage – this needs to be up at 90-100km for the marathon. This will come from longer weekend runs and a longer mid-week run (14-15km)
• Long(er) runs – the total distance of longer runs will increase up to 32km and will include sections at my target marathon pace. The key behind this workout is getting the body used to longer distances and more comfortable at a marathon pace.
• Quality sessions – keeping this consistent but not at all-out efforts. The marathon is about strength and endurance, not all-out speed. This will ensure that my body is able to recover between sessions and can withstand the higher weekly mileage.
• Strength – two sessions per week. Marathon running is all about the last 10km and strength plays a big factor in this.

With a few races in September lined up, August is my last month of focussed training. I’m excited to see where my fitness is at the end of the month.