2 Weeks of Jared Ward’s London Marathon Training

Published September 9, 2020 02:34PM

Olympian Jared Ward is training for the 2020 London Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 4. He detailed his training for us from Aug. 24–Sept. 6 as he prepares for the race on an accelerated time frame.

I committed to the London Marathon on Monday, Aug. 17, just 7 weeks ahead of the race. They announced the race days later. I have been excited and honored to be a part of a historic race in a unique “bubble” experience. But my preparation timeline has been limited — now I’m 3.5 weeks way — making this a very different build up. I like to have 3 months to get ready for a marathon, and that’s if I’m already fit-ish. Maybe even 4 months.

Fortunately, I had been doing workouts throughout the summer. But these were speed workouts — 6 x 800, 8 x 400, etc. — and my mileage has been 60–70, sometimes 80, miles a week. Now my weekly mileage is over 100, and I’ve traded speed sessions for long tempos and 2.5 hour longs runs. I’ve been constantly tired since aggressively increasing training volume, but I think I’m finally adjusting.

I’m presenting here my last 2 weeks of training starting 6 weeks out and 5 weeks out from race day on October 4.

Week 1 Training: August 24–30

Monday, Aug. 24

I ran my 13.1 mile loop from home in the morning. It’s mostly flat. Recovery days become a good gauge for me. I don’t try to hit a time, but by running by feel and seeing my time I can gauge fitness. I have come to believe that marathon fitness is about making my body resilient to fatigue, so how I recover is a better indicator of fitness than how fast I run. Today’s morning run was in 1:20. When I’m moving on these runs I’ll be a couple minutes faster, but this is a good sign. I did a little core work afterwards.

Tuesday, Aug. 25

Today, coach (Ed Eyestone) had me head to the “lake loop” for my favorite workout: 3 x 2 mile repeats. However, this time I was a little intimidated by the workout because I’m not quite fit yet. But I’m 5.5 weeks from London. I felt pressure to put up good times because of how little time there is left. I laced up my Endorphin Pros and ran 9:20, 9:28, 9:24. The times weren’t anything to write home about, but for the last mile of the third interval I started to feel a familiar rhythm. Fast, but kinda relaxed.

In the afternoon I ran 5 miles at 7 minute pace, and did strength training: hang snatches (3 x 5, 65 lbs), squats (4×5 — slow down, pause, fast up — 165 lbs), nordic curls (3 x 10), core (dead bug exercises and side plank dips), and pull-ups (3 x 7).

Wednesday, Aug. 26

I ran the 13.1 mile loop from home again. I felt tired today (1:22), but I tacked on 4 x 20-second strides. Then, I snuck in 4 miles up in Salt Lake City after signing on some real estate.

Thursday, Aug. 27

4 x 1 mile repeats today, with Micah (Adams). Training this week has been with Micah and Doc (Ian Hunter) as other training partners, Millie (Connor McMillan), Clayton (Young), Jake (Heslington), and (Connor) Mantz are all racing in California this weekend. I ran on the track, in my Endorphin Pros: 4:29, 4:28, 4:27, 4:26 with 1:1 rest (equal time recovery) in-between. I felt pretty good.

Friday, Aug. 28

Saturday, Aug. 29

Coach likes me to do 4-5 25 mile runs as part of a marathon cycle, this time I get just 2: this week and next. I told coach I would try and hit 3-4 miles at marathon pace towards the end and he said, “Ya, I like 4.” Coach will sometimes push me, but only when I’m not fit. So I get the message. I switched to Endorphin Pro’s after 18 miles with Micah at just sub-6 min. mile average, and ran miles 18-22 at 4:47. I really surprised myself, and left this run feeling like maybe I could be ready.

Sunday, Aug. 30

Week Summary

Week 2 Training: Aug. 31 – Sept. 6

Monday, Aug. 31

13 miles in the morning up in Kaysville, Utah, (where my wife and I are both from) on a dirt path, then 5 miles in the afternoon.

Tuesday, Sept. 1

This morning I met the Honey Stinger video and photo crew at 6:45 a.m. I hung out with Alicia, Dag, and Danny for the rest of the next couple days. They filmed the workout, then we did a series of staged shots immediately following the workout and throughout the rest of the day. The workout went well (2 x 3 miles in 14:15, 14:19, 1 x 2 miles 9:14 — 5 min. recovery), but the shooting was exhausting. We had a 90 min. break mid-day and I snuck in another short jog. School also started today, so I lectured at 12:30.

Wednesday, Sept. 2

Today I counted the Honey Stinger shooting for mileage. We got 3 miles logged in the morning (broken up like a series of strides), then they left and I ran 10 miles in 70 minutes. Then, in the afternoon, we did another 3 miles of sunset “strides.” I left wondering how I was going to wake up for tomorrow’s workout…

Thursday, Sept. 3

Today’s workout was “The Michigan.” It’s a mile breakdown (1600-1200-800-400) on the track, with tempo miles on the grass in-between each interval. We take a 90-second rest in between tempos and track, and 90 seconds after the track to get back into a tempo mile. I was pretty tired during the warm-up, but as the workout got moving I felt pretty good. Mantz really kept me going. Our splits were as follows, regular font are the tempo miles and bold are the track breakdown: 4:59, 4:26 (1600m), 4:52, 3:15 (1200m), 4:48, 2:08 (800m), 4:43, 1:00 (400m), 4:46.

Friday, Sept. 4

Today I ran 8 miles alongside Doc’s bike in the morning, and 7 miles with Sarah and Marissa Cummings at Deer Creek in the afternoon heat. Great company today and chill running.

Saturday, Sept. 5

On today’s run my legs felt tired from the beginning. But by the end, marathon pace kinda came. 2:26 total time for 25 miles, with a 5 mi pickup from miles 18-23 at 4:55 avg.