First 18-mile Run For This Training Cycle

As a veteran of 13 marathons, my most successful ones were the ones where I completed the full distance (a running buddy and I actually ran a nine lap, 3-mile loop) during a training run about 4 - 6 weeks before the actual target race - just a long, slow distance training ran slower than our intended race pace. I also adopted a technique gleaned from a famous marathoner, Jeff Galloway - walking breaks. (http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html...) I took these walking breaks during both the training runs and even during the actual race (I would slow to a walk as I approached the water table). Now, I'm not talking about multiple-minute breaks - more like 30-45 seconds or just long enough to get all the water I felt I needed down. During the first race I tried this technique; I worried that I would lose too much time, so I had to force myself to fight the urge to run through a water station. What I ultimately found was that out at around the 20-mile mark, while those around me seemed to be struggling, my legs were still very much game to finish those last 6 miles - in fact, my legs felt well enough to blow past many runners in those final 2 -3 miles.

As mentioned above, running the full distance during a training run is strongly encouraged. There's simply no better way of preparing your legs (even your psyche) than to have run the total distance during practice. I ran earlier marathons where my longest training run was 20 - 21 miles, and those last miles during a race were still miserable. I came to believe that my muscles had "muscle-memory" of about 4 - 6 weeks - meaning that whatever my longest run had been within the last 4 - 6 weeks was what I felt very comfortable in repeating during an actual marathon race.

I wish you much success with your running and racing. Good luck.

Mike :-)

I've noticed that my muscles also seem to have a memory ... kind of like batteries when you charge them after not letting them fully drain. I ran 18 miles today in preparation for Boston in April - this has been my longest run thus far but I do find it amazing that as I blew past my previous longest run markers I saw a marked difference in labor. Hopefully but the time April comes around, 18 will seem like child's play. When I did 8 for the first time I couldn't believe it; when I did 14 I couldn't believe how eay 8 was ... now I run 8 on a regular day. There is definitly something to this thing about your body remembering the threshold. Thanks for the advice on the walk breaks ... I've actually been doing a bit of that - glad to hear that someone who's been around has been employing that.