This is the third of four Marathon Maker workouts and things are getting serious! This session has 15k worth of work, so when you add in recoveries and warm up and warm down jogs, you’re logging A LOT of miles!

Marathon Maker #3

5k – 4k – 3k – 2k – 1k (5k & 4k @ your marathon pace, 3k & 2k @ your half marathon pace, 1k @ 10k pace)

1k recovery run between each interval

Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway.

The length of this workout is the big challenge (let alone having to accelerate up to half marathon and then 10k pace at the end) so it pays to treat this session as your long run (or one of your long runs) for the week.

And it also reinforces the need to pace yourself really well in that first 5k block at marathon pace. Know your fitness and aim to hit your splits right from the start.

This workout has what I call a “Bake the Cake” result. It brings many different ingredients together (endurance, aerobic fitness, good mechanics, speed base, pacing skills) and applies some heat (in terms of a good long workout) to hopefully get everything working in harmony.

It’s not the sort of workout you’d do in your base phase or off-season, but rather has a specific purpose of preparing the body to run long as fast as possible (i.e. great for the marathon, half marathon and even shorter ultra marathons).

Now, if you’re in the situation of having a marathon, half marathon or ultra just around the corner or you just haven’t done much mileage, don’t worry we can tweak this workout to suit your goals and fitness. To do so just drop either or both the 4k and/or 3k sections. So, you might just do 5k-2k-1k or you might do 5k-4k-2k-1k or 5k-3k-2k-1k. It’s important to adapt workout to your fitness and goals, so don’t be afraid to tweak this one!

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

As you warm up and prepare for a workout like this (or like next week’s session) it can be quite daunting, so here are five tips for making sure you crush this bad boy. (And so it doesn’t crush you!)