Seville Marathon 2023 — Build up

Introduction

A big part of the reason I run is curiosity. Sure, I love the places running takes you, the people you meet, and the feelings you get from a good training session or race, but the challenge of figuring out how to be a better runner is very satisfying for me. Even if I don’t have a good race, I can learn something that might make me a little better in the future.

I have always enjoyed reading about other people’s training, but I’m often frustrated because I want to know more. The typical week or sample training session doesn’t do it for me. I want to know the details.

So I decided to share my training, in the kind of detail I would find interesting. I was particularly inspired by Killian Journet’s excellent article last year. The very best sharing his training and the thought process behind it in fine detail. I have read it several times. My training wasn’t ever going to be as interesting, but I hoped it would have some value.

The goal I had for this winter was a debut road marathon. I picked Seville because of the timing, and decided to share my training on social media. I didn’t think that Twitter or Instagram were the best way of getting across the detail I enjoy, so I have also decided to write something in a longer format - which is what you are reading now.

This part was mostly written before the race, so it isn't biased by the final result (2:17:53 - not great, not terrible). A second part will follow where I will reflect post race and try to figure out what I have learned.

Goals

To start, I think it is worth explaining what I wanted from this period of training.

I hoped that Seville Marathon, and the associated training, would be a good step toward learning what I require in training to run a good marathon. It was my first road marathon and the focus wasn’t necessarily on running the best race possible this time, but building a foundation I could build on in future races.

I wanted to run well and I had some time/race goals in mind but they weren’t fixed and the outcome wouldn’t decide if the endeavor was a ‘success’ or ‘failure’.

It was about getting stuck in to the training process and seeing how things developed. It was an experiment. What do I know about training and how can I apply that to this, new, goal?

I didn’t want to put pressure on myself all winter. I wanted a solid winter of training, capped by a race that would excite me. I didn’t want to approach the race with any arrogance based on what I have run before over shorter distances. I was thinking about how this block would help me in the coming years.

Plan

I viewed this ‘block’ as the 13 weeks from from the 14th November until the Seville Marathon on the 19th February. I raced the ‘Short Trail’ race (38 km!) at the World Trail and Mountain Running Championships on the 5th of November, had a week off, and then started building into this.

Running is what I do for fun, so I tend to bounce from one thing to the next. It might have been better to take a longer break after the mountain running, but I like the routine of training and felt quite well recovered after few days.

This meant that I started training for Seville after an even longer race (3 h 18 m). Before that, I had spent a number of years focusing on races in the 8–30 minute range (5000–10000 m on the track and sprint orienteering). I think the years of training prior are as important as this training block itself.

The rough outline was 5 weeks of building volume with a focus on threshold/strides/long run (which is how I like to train at a basic level), followed by 8 weeks focused the marathon more specifically. I don’t tend to think about periodization in a strict sense. Shifts in training focus tend to be just that — a shift — much remains the same between ‘blocks’ and ‘phases’. Maybe that is something I can improve upon, but it suits my lifestyle.

I planned to follow a rough schedule of two high volume weeks followed by a lower volume week, but a couple of illnesses through the block meant I adapted this as I went.

One of the difficulties of being self-coached is resisting the temptation to constantly tweak and adjust things. Training takes time, and if you constantly change things you may not understand what works and what doesn’t.

My approach more recently has been to allow myself to tinker with smaller details. I would tinker with individual sessions — whether I run 10 x 1 km or 6 x 1 mile — but not so much with the high level plan. Of course it might be better to work with a coach who makes those decisions with an outside perspective, but I quite enjoy the freedom of deciding my own schedule.

At a fundamental level, the plan was not to push things too far from the training I have done before. I would rather finish the block under-trained and under-prepared than over-trained, stale, or injured.

I have raced well over a variety of terrains and distances while following a relatively similar program. Something in there works for me. I’d characterize that general training philosophy as being based on consistent volume, strides, a regular long run and threshold.

I wanted to take that general philosophy and push a little in areas I thought might help me in the marathon — mainly the long run. I didn’t want to run my biggest ever week or toughest ever session. I wanted to consistently run quite a lot and consistently run quite tough sessions. Not pushing into the unknown.

Outline

The basic framework of my training week was:

Monday: 35–45 Easy & 35–45 Easy OR 60–75 Easy
Tuesday: 30–40 Easy including strides & Track Session
Wednesday: 30–40 Easy & 80–90 Easy
Thursday: As Wednesday
Friday: Road/Track Session & 30–40 Easy
Saturday: As Monday
Sunday: Long run

I rarely ran that exact week without some modification. On an easier week or if I felt I needed more recovery, I could skip or shorten easy runs. I also gave myself freedom to move things around if needed — move a session/run to give myself more recovery or to fit better around work/life.

I have trained with a similar general structure for a few years, and I’m comfortable with how I should feel during the week. I find that having a routine which I am comfortable with is very helpful.

Tuesday sessions took a few general forms:

• Long threshold repetitions: e.g. 10 x 1 km (200 jog).
• Short threshold repetitions: e.g. 3 x 8 x 300 (100 jog).
• Threshold — Fast — Threshold: e.g. 2 mi threshold, 10 x 400 (70 s), 2 mile threshold.

I tried to stick to a few outlines of sessions and stick to these, rather than doing completely new sessions each time. I think this helps to track progress — running faster for the same effort or running more repetitions — but I don’t think it is necessary to force progress, especially over a short period.

If progress came naturally, that is great, but if a session was a good stimulus at the start of the block, chances are it would still be a good stimulus in a few weeks time. I think there is something to be said to mastering the effort required for a certain session.

I planned to have a similar routine with a few different types of sessions I would rotate on a Friday: a mix of shorter repetitions, hard efforts and longer repetitions. However, I prioritized getting the longer sessions done, with a few cross country races as harder efforts. I didn’t do many short repetitions (apart from in Tuesday sessions).

Sunday long runs were an important part of the training. I started off by increasing the time on feet at an easy/steady pace. I wanted to consistently run 2h 10m to 2h 20m. As I got more comfortable with the time on feet, I increased the pace a little. I also ran some relaxed strides near the end of some of some long runs — just to get a feel of running faster with tired legs.

I ran one ‘marathon specific’ long run, where I ran long repetitions at marathon effort in the long run. I could/should probably have done more of these as they are so specific to the challenge of the race, but I also expected that these would be the easiest way for me to overdo things in training. I was cautious because of this.

Training Diary

In the 12 weeks prior to the final taper week I averaged 11 hours 30 minutes of running per week — 151.8 km (94.3 miles). This included two weeks which were significant down weeks due to sickness (Weeks 4 and 9–113.5 and 96.1 km). My average week across 2022 was 10 h 4 m running, 132.8 km (82.5 mi).

Daily training duration (blue = running, green = strength)

Below is a week to week summary of overall volume and key sessions. My full training diary is here — I don’t tend to write much each day, so it isn’t the most interesting read!

Week 1:
11 h 19 m — 156.6 km (97.3 mi) — 1260 m (4140 ft)
T — 10 x 1 km (200)
F — 8 x 30 s hills
S — 2:14 Long run (4:09 min/km)

Week 2:
12 h 30 m — 168.7 km (104.9 mi) — 1008 m (3307 ft)
T — 25 x 400 (45 s)
S — XC race
S — 2:10 Long run (3:51 min/km)

Week 3:
11 h 4 m — 150.7 km (93.6 mi) — 800 m (2620 ft)
T — 3 mi (400), 4 x 400 (200), 1 mi (400)
F — 5 x 3k (200)
Ice

Week 4:
8 h 19 m — 113.5 km (70.5 mi) — 935 m (3070 ft)
Sick
S — 2:20 Long run w/ 4 x 15 s strides (4:10 min/km)

Week 5:
11 h 40 m — 167.9 km (103.8 mi) — 1270 m (4170 ft)
T — 8 x 1 km (200)
F — 4 x 5 km (2 mins)
S — 2:15 Long run (3:45 min/km)

Week 6:
11 h 49 m — 168 km (104.4 mi) — 1450 m (4760 ft)
T — 3 mi, 2 mi, 1.5 mi (400)
F — 8 x 1k hard/1k float
S — 2:15 Long run (3:41 min/km)

Week 7:
10 h 45 m — 153.1 km (95.1 mi) — 1120 m (3675 ft)
F — 20 x 300 (100)
S — 2 h 15 long run (3:35 min/km)

Week 8:
12 h 40 m — 171.1 km (106.3 mi) — 1276 m (4186 ft)
T — 11 x 1 k (200 jog)
S — XC race
S — 2h 20 Long run w/ 8 x 20 s strides (4:06 min/km)

Week 9:
7 h 19 m — 96.1 km (59.7 mi) — 1476 m (4840 ft)
Sick

Week 10:
11 h 58 m — 165.9 km (103.1 mi) — 1050 m (3445 ft)
T — 2 mi, 2 x 1 km, 5 x 400, 1.5 mi
S — 4 x 5 km MP (38 km @ 3:33 min/km)

Week 11:
12 h 17 m — 170.2 km (105.8 mi) — 1090 m (3580 ft)
T — 2 mi, 10 x 400 (70 s), 2 mi
S — 4 x 4 k (90 s)
S — 2:25 Long run (3:57 min/km)

Week 12:
10 h 3 m — 140.3 km (87.2 mi) — 1010 m (3310 ft)
T — 8 x 1 k (200)
F — 2 x 3 mi progression (1 mi float)

Week 13 (taper):
5 h 25 m - 71.1 km (44.2 mi) - 540 m (1770 ft)
T — 2 mi (90 s), 1 mi (2 mins), 3 x 400 (50 s)
S — Seville Marathon

Improvements?

There were a number of things that I thought might be worth looking into for future training blocks but, for one reason or another, didn’t end up in the plan this time around. It is worth noting that I wrote this before the race. So these are based on my perception of the training I completed, not the race outcome.

Most are things I would put in the nice to have bucket. Great if possible, but not essential. Overall, I think nailing the basics is the most important consideration, and that was my focus in this block. It is also possible that I don’t give certain things enough credit. That is part of the reason for writing this, to try to think of things I didn’t do that might be holding me back.

These things included:

• More: I think every endurance athlete thinks this at some stage. Whether it is more miles or longer/more frequent long runs or sessions, there is always a temptation to think that more might be better. This thought is backed up by science: training volume is the best predictor of endurance performance. However, that doesn’t mean that the runner who trains more will beat the runner who trains less. The purpose of training is maximal adaptation, not maximal training load. With a full time job outside of running, it is a careful balance. It would be fair to say that I could do more in future training blocks. I don’t think I hit my limit and that gives me somewhere to progress to in the future.
• Double sessions/Canova Special Block: All the rage right now, and linked to the “More” point above. I have experimented a little with double threshold sessions in the past and I liked how you can get in more work without the quality suffering. However, they can be hard to fit in with an otherwise packed schedule and I am not sure that they are completely necessary; at least at a basic level. The Canova Special Block (i.e., a super hard, very specific marathon training day with multiple fast sessions) is probably a great way of getting in a big, super-specific, training stimulus. But I don’t think I am so completely adapted to the task that I can’t get a good enough stimulus with one long hard session.
• Altitude or other training camp: Each year a switch is flicked on Instagram at the start of January where everyone seems to jet off on a training camp for a few weeks. I think a training camp in the lead up to a big race can be a great way to get away from things, complete a solid block of training, and (hopefully) get a nice bump in fitness. It is easier to do training in good weather with good company. However, I also think it is possible to do good training at home, in the cold and at sea level. There may be many more optimal training locations — which also make your Instagram much more interesting — but I think the first thing is to make sure the work is being done.
• Strength and Conditioning: I took a low key approach to strength training over this training period and aimed for two 20 minute sessions per week. I wanted to focus on the running and viewed the strength as a supplementary thing. The sessions consisted solely of rehab/activation type exercises — making sure to work the main muscle groups of the lower leg. Most was stuff I learned from James Cruickshank. I’ll do more heavy strength and conditioning when training to race over hills, but I was happy to pare back to the basics for this period.
• Specific races: It seems typical to race a half marathon or a few 10 km road races in the build up to a marathon. I would have like to have done this, if only to build some confidence, but didn’t see any obvious candidates for a good build up race which wouldn’t have involved fairly significant travel. As such, the only races I ran in the build up to the marathon were local cross country races.

There are also other things like increasing volume through cross training, more focus on recovery (including massage and stretching) and better overall nutrition which could be useful to think more deeply about moving forward.

However, the biggest gain may not be through adding things. It may be that removing things to reduce life stress is the most fruitful course of action. Both times I was sick in this build up were around higher stress times in my life — I don’t think that is a coincidence.

The interesting challenge may be figuring out how to build in some of the additions above, whilst also decreasing or maintaining general life stress and allowing sufficient recovery.

How did it go?

I think that I achieved what I set out to in terms of exploring the training and trying to understand the challenges of training for a longer distance. Of course the real proof is not only the result of the marathon, but how I recover afterwards and how I build on this in the future.

I'm writing another article which will go into the race in more depth, and my reflections afterwards. If you have any questions/comments/thoughts, please let me know. The purpose of me writing and sharing is to get better and I'm happy to have some of my opinions challenged - I definitely don't have all the answers!