Berlin Training in Miles

I know I've done this before I've run several other marathons, and I feel like it's a good exercise for me.  Looking over my training log, thinking about the miles and the tough days (and the fun days), makes me start to feel more confident and race ready.

For purposes of this exercise, I am counting the three times that I did my long runs on Saturday as if I'd done them on Sunday instead. 

My mileage breakout in groups:
0-30.0 miles per week:  2 weeks (plus this week I expect!)
30.0-34.9 miles per week:  3 weeks
35.0-39.9 miles per week: 1 weeks
40.0-44.9 miles per week:  3 weeks
45.0-49.9 miles per week:  4 weeks
50.0-54.9 miles per week: 1 week
55.0 or more miles per week:  4 weeks

Or, as I used to look at it, 3 weeks under 30, 4 weeks in the 30s, 7 weeks in the 40s, and 5 weeks in the 50+s. 

I've logged over 800 miles in the 19 weeks of training (well, 18.2 and counting, but I'm over 800 already).  It's definitely the most I've put into a single marathon. 

I wrote recently about how I think I've moved my "breaking point" in terms of running -- I can sustain more weeks at slightly higher miles than I could in past years.

"Research has shown that the training characteristic that has the closest correlation with improvement in running performance is running volume, or the amount of running you do each week. This is only to be expected. Running fitness improves through a process of stress and adaptation. Workouts stress -- or challenge -- the body, causing it to adapt in ways that render it better able to handle the same stress when it's repreated. The more stress you apply, the more adaptation you get. Of course, there are such things as exceeding one's limis, doing too much too soon, and a law of diminishing returns. But as a general rule, you will run best by doing close to as much running as your body can handle."

Brain Training for Running by Matt Fitzgerald

While my training this year was not what many marathoners would consider high mileage (lots of people are regularly in the 70 mile per week territory, and of course there are some who are higher than that), it was higher than normal for me, and I think it worked well.  If nothing else, I had a great training season. 

I need to focus more on how prepared I am, how it will feel to hold race pace for 26.2 miles, the fact that I can hold the pace, and how happy I'll be when (trying to say when, not if) I hit this goal.

My last run with my buddies was this morning, and we fly to Europe tomorrow.