Marathon training: summary

My first marathon is next Saturday, but after 15 weeks, 668 miles (44.5 per week on average, 60 peak), 108.3 hours (7.22 per week on average, 9.5 peak), my build-up is officially complete (Intermediate reports: [1], [2], [3], [4]).

I have no clue how the race will go, but I’m already celebrating the training: my endurance went through the roof and I witnessed my body being capable of things I never thought would be possible. Most importantly, it was super satisfying and fun.

Some more stats:

  • Fraction of the total distance run at marathon / half-marathon effort – 6.6%
  • Threshold – 2.8%
  • 5K / VO2Max – 1.7%
  • Anaerobic intervals – 0.22%

totaling 11.4% of non-easy miles. Perhaps this percentage could have been a bit higher (say by more threshold work), but I was cautious not to get injured, since such a high overall volume was new to me.