The Long Run Route

As we get into July we are getting into our favourite time of year – another marathon training cycle.

The long run starts to ramp up this time of year. There are many things you need to know and learn to master the long run. But one that often gets missed is the route you run. The more specific this is to your race the better. The most important aspects of the race course to mimic are the changes in elevation (ie lots of hills, flat, net downhill) and the twisty-turny-ness of the course.

In an ideal world you’d run the actual race course in training, like many of you did with us prior to BMO Vancouver marathon this spring. But if you don’t have the luxury of living in the city you’ll be racing in, you can still take some time to plan a route that has similar features to the race course for your fall marathon. We did this for our Boston Prep long run in Vancouver, with our UBC-Camosun loop.

This will benefit you both physically and mentally. You can train your body to better endurie ups and downs and twists and turns. The more efficient you become at these the better you’ll be on race day. And simply knowing that you’ve done long runs to mimic the course should give you the confidence to race without fear of the course bearing you.

Coach DW has been doing some route planning with a few of his athletes who are running the Jack & Jill marathon in July. The course runs along an old railway bed and has a consistent downhill grade that drops from 2,500ft to 500ft over the 42.2k. This is a unique course and we’ve been practicing that downhill by doing some race pace sections of their long runs on the revamped Arbutus greenway. Let’s hope it pays off!