Feeling good ahead of Twin Cities- training for a sub-2:40

I have the Twin Cities Marathon coming up in 4 weeks and I am happy to say that I am in the best shape of my life. My goal is to break the 2:40 barrier. I ran my last shorter race in mid-August and have been building up the mileage for my fall marathon ever since. I ran the Scandia 10k and finished 5th in 35:33. I was one second slower than my time at Butte to Butte on July 4th which I would say is a much tougher course. I got a pretty warm day at Scandia which did not help produce a fast time. At the start of the race, one guy shot out to a 10 second lead and I was running in 2nd through 4th until I fell off a bit at 4 miles. I went 5:31, 5:35, 5:37, 5:42, 5:55, 5:52, and then 80 (.25ish). I ended up getting passed around mile 5 and finished 5th. The early leader would eventually fall back so the winner came out of our little group. I would have liked to have seen something under 35:00 but this day was more about competing with who was around me.

That was back on August 13th. In the 4 weeks after that race, I hit 81, 88, 91, and 102 miles. Up to that race, I had spent most of the summer building a nice base hanging out in the 60-70 mile range. My marathon cycle has been all about the long run. Here is what I have been up to:

7/17- 2 hours on Brice Creek Trail, 5400 ft. of elevation change

7/24- 14 miles and almost 2 hours at Forrest Park in Portland, 2700 ft. elevation change

7/31- 17.5 miles easy (6:54 pace on the roads)

8/7- 15 miles easy (6:49 pace on the roads)

8/14- 17.65 miles easy (6:49 pace on the roads)

8/21- 18 w./ 12 @ 6:01 pace

8/28- 19 @ 6:31 average w./ a 4 mile push from 13-17 in 5:55, 6:02, 6:05, 5:57

9/3- 21- 2 mile warmup, 4 mile tempo @ 5:55 pace, 9 miles easy, 4 mile tempo @ 6:05 pace, 2 mile cooldown

9/11- 24 @ 6:44 average w./ a 4 mile push from 17-21 in 5:53, 5:57, 5:53, 5:45

This has given me all the confidence in the world that I can hold 6-6:05 at Twin Cities. Here is what my 102 mile week looked like from 9/5-9/11:

9/5- AM- 12.25 @ Mt. Piscah- 1:50:00 (3000 ft. elevation change), PM 4.15 @ 7:30

9/6- 11 easy @ 6:48 pace

9/7- 16- 3 up, 4 mile tempo 23:39, 3 mile tempo 17:28, 2 mile tempo 11:29, 1 mile 5:36, 3 down

9/8- AM- 10 @ 7:00 pace, PM 5 @ 6:50 pace

9/9- 11.1 @ 6:56 pace w./ 8 x 200m hills after mile 6

9/10- 9 miles @ 6:57 pace

9/11- 24.1 miles @ 6:44 pace, w./ a 4 mile push from 17-21 in 23:28- 5:53, 5:57, 5:53, 5:45

I think this has been the best week of training in my life. I am now 4 weeks out from my goal marathon. 24 will be my longest run in the buildup and 102 will be the highest I get up to. I am going to run the Albany Half Marathon next weekend (3 weeks out) with a goal of running around 1:16. Honestly, I won't be upset if I run slower with all of the volume I've been doing. I am not tapering too much. My workout this week is 10 x 1km on Wednesday and then Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be a 9/5 double, 8 miles, and 7 miles, respectively. I'm looking forward to Twin Cities and going after a marathon PR!