My first peak week of 2026 has concluded, while my last marathon was less than 2 months ago, my next challenge awaits within 3 weeks: the Coast Marathon “Nationaal Park de Hollandse Duinen | https://www.bearsports.nl/coast-marathon-42k/)
Four weeks out is being considered the traditional peak week, I decided to make the most out of this week both in terms of quantity aswell as quality!
This week ended with 101 km total, spread out over 6 days. In terms of quality this week featured a 23 km tempo run, a 16 km progressive run (zone 2 => 3 => 4) and today a 28 km progressive run (zone 2 => 3).
With my hamstring still noticeable (but managable) I will have to consider how to approach next week, while my plan was to use a short taper (0,5 - 1 week) I am considering a normal taper atm (2 - 2.5 weeks), most likely I will decide based on how tomorrows recovery run goes.
Sunday morning run!
Today I went for a long run, as I normally do on Sunday early mornings. My setup was to stay within low zone 2 for the first 18km, then increase the pace to zone 3 for the last 10km and finish the run with a short cooling down (0.5km).
I started the run at 07:45 which is a bit later than I normally do, but allowed me to have breakfast with my family. It was still dark and cold when I left, but that provided amazing views as the Sun rose during my run!
I approached my run as a dress rehearsal packing everything I needed for a full marathon and sticked with my race day nutrition plan (Drinks, Gels, Salt tabs) this went pretty smooth. With regards to my hamstring it took quite a while to loosen, basicly the zone 2 part (18 km) it was still tensed (no pain), when speeding up to zone 3 it went to the background (which is a good sign as it doesn’t seemed to have real damage, so a quality taper should do the trick!)
Overall very fun peak week! Feeling ready for the marathon!
Happy running!