9/1
Ran a very early, swampy 1/2 this morning. I really thought the humid days were over but no. I finished again with fully soaking wet everything including squishy shoes ugh. I pulled off a decent time.
As the season changes my speed will increase.
I did some intervals in this run today. Taking it slower than amping up. I specifically ran as fast as I could up every hill which is a hoot at 5:45am 
9/2
Did an early AM strength session with a notable set of 80’s for 15 reps on flat. When I tell you that the last 2-3 reps were all out it would be an understatement! I followed that with 50’s until absolute failure.
Spent the rest of the day at the ocean with my family. My 6 year old had me in the ocean waves most of the day. That’s a recipe for great sleep!
9/3
Eartly AM recovery walk and natural movement throughout the day. Hit a PM strength session but feeling very tired from the long runs. So today would be considered a “back off” day which is essential sometimes!
9/4
“Short” recovery run 5 miles at a moderate pace. Again noting when you start to train and compound the training you body will send signals. if you ignore them, that’s when overtraining kicks in and “diminished return” on your training slowly creeps in.
I also did a PM strength session with some exercises I hadn’t paired together before:
Shrugs 190 x 17 (3 sets)
Dips 28 24 21 (3 sets)
Biceps pulldowns (3 sets to failure)
Iso pullup hold 45 seconds
Short stretching sequence
9/5
Did the wake and walk thing under the stars again. Super cool. Close to 7000 steps some pretty deep hills but didn’t break a sweat. Nice and chilly with the sun down and followed that with 60 minute Bikram yoga class in 110 degree heat.
Began to eat a bunch of quality carbs hitting around 200 on the day for 2 days. I genuinely hate this force feeding! But with no gas in the tank, the car stops.
9/6
Hit an almost 17 miler yesterday. Started off fantastic then the nasty heat kicked back in and turned me into a swampy mess with squishy shoes. I ended up doing a mile and a 1/2 extra in walking totalling around 30,000 steps on the day.
It really felt great and if the temp and humidity would chill out I’d be easily going over 20m. But rather than push it I back off. I don’t want to risk overdoing it, not this close to the marathon.
9/8
70 minute Bikram class 110 degrees!
9/9
Nice and smooth early 7 miler. My favorite run type. This is the run I want to do. The run that makes me feel the best all day. Especially in the cool temps.
When marathon training is over this will be my default trainer and maintenance run. 1 hour, 8:00-8:20 pace.
9/10
Short strength session with one nasty drop set for incline dumbbells: 80lbs x 13 reps drop to 50 til failure. Hammered out some 200lb shrugs 3 sets of 15-18 hard reps.
60 minutes Bikram yoga in 110 degrees. Boring, repetitive, necessary!
7000 step PM walk Zone 2.
9/11
3 mile train run
3 mile hike (trail walk)
10 sprints
More natural movement throughout the day totalling 15,000+ steps!
9/12
Took it easy on the legs today and hit a nice upper body strength session.
New PR: 80lb dumbbells for 16 reps! Wow. It keeps climbing, I can’t believe it.
I’m also actively trying very hard to reduce body fat again. My goal weight for the marathon is 155lbs. Less weight, less body fat will help a ton over the 26 miles.
Super high protein, low carbs on non-running days
9/13
I did a wicked barbell squat workout, short walk and short upper body strength session.
Worked with a client and did 110 air squats alongside him, then when he left I went right into barbells and got up to 225 x 11 reps.
Felt so great. I feel I could have gone a few more but didn’t want to f up my plan to do a long run in a few days after recovery.
9/14-9/15
Took it real light on my feet to recover and be ready for my long run. I spent the day on on the beach with a 6 year old which is actually more work than a mararthon lol and had a couple of beers!
The next day just light activity BUT I hit a new PR and did 80lb flat dumbbells for 17 reps! What the holy hell!
I have been carb loading and had several cups of my homemade granola and have to attribute the extra power to having so much fuel in the tank.
It’s very odd to me still to hit these PR’s. 7 years ago or so when I began to bring my muscles back to life 80lb bumbbells were a milestone weight. So wild!
9/16
6 weeks out from the TCS New York City Marathon. Today I hit a 23 miler (Happy Monday to me) at a steady 8:46 min/mile pace. This is about the exact pace I signed up for to do the marathon in to hit 3 hours and 50 minutes.
I’m looking to go faster and would like to complete it in 3 hours 30 minutes 8 min/mile, but if I hit this goal I’ll be happy with it.
This marathon is the most time and energy consuming thing I’ve ever taken on by the way. I f’n ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes straight on a Monday morning lol like what the actual f is that.
I also have taken my already relatively busted feet and made them look like something on your lawn on Halloween all jacked and blisters ugh it’s bad.
For the next few weeks I’ll be in “Peak Training”:
Keep long runs between 18-23 miles. My last long run should be 2-3 weeks before race day.
Do one tempo run each week at marathon pace, around 5-10 miles.
Add one speed session per week, like ½-mile or ¼-mile repeats.
After harder days, I’ll do easy/recovery runs at least 60-90 seconds slower than marathon pace.
I’ll continue to include hill workouts and strength training sessions.
Starting 2 weeks out “Taper”:
I’ll drop my long run to about 12-14 miles.
I’ll keep intensity with tempo and speed work but reduce the overall volume by 20-30%.
During race week:
My final long run will be 8-10 miles at an easy pace.
I’ll cut my mileage drastically, about 30-50% of what I usually do.
I’ll still do a few short runs with marathon pace miles to stay sharp.
I’ll focus on resting, hydrating, and carb-loading (so insanely gross) the last 2-3 days.
@followers
Michael Baker
Strength Training: GetUpEarlier.com
#Run #Lift #Hike #Yoga #strengthtraining
9/17
60 minute Bikram class in 110 degree heat in the am. It was a tough one my legs and lower back and lower abs really sore from the 23 miler.
In the PM I did a sunset walk outside in the perfect Fall temps. 3 miles or so, just as some more active recovery.
Finally got my homemade granola recipe up:
