The training continues from last week.
I managed to squeeze out some time to write this post in the middle of travelling with my family. This week, all of my training took place in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain.
Marathon Training While Travelling
This week consisted of 5 runs (71 km total volume), no cycling sessions, and 2 running-specific strength sessions. Without access to a bike, cycling was temporarily replaced by the enormous amount of walking we did while sightseeing.
Fitting everything in while travelling was challenging, but I’m happy to say that I completed every planned session.
Our flight to Barcelona was scheduled for Monday morning, so I woke up at 3:00 a.m. to squeeze in my strength workout before leaving. This was my final opportunity before the marathon to complete some heavier barbell squats and deadlifts, so I was determined not to miss it.
I was already quite sore from the previous day’s long run, and spending hours cramped in an airplane seat certainly didn’t help. By the time we arrived, I felt stiff, sore, and jet-lagged. I tried to sleep as much as possible on the flight, but travelling with three children doesn’t always make that easy—and airplane sleep isn’t exactly the most restorative.
We arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday morning and checked into our hotel around noon. It was sunny and over 30°C outside. After a long flight with poor sleep and jet lag, going for a run was probably the last thing I felt like doing.
Nevertheless, I did it.
And I’m glad I did.
Running Around La Sagrada Família
Every run this week took place around the iconic Basilica de la Sagrada Família.
Other than Tuesday’s run, I ran early in the morning before sunrise to avoid both the heat and the crowds.
It was a completely different experience from running endless laps around a track. Watching the basilica and surrounding neighbourhood slowly come to life each morning made the kilometres pass remarkably quickly.
I felt genuinely privileged to be able to train around such a beautiful and spiritual place. Over the course of the week, I began to feel surprisingly connected to the church and the surrounding neighbourhood.
I also felt quite safe running there before sunrise. Police and security were frequently present around the basilica, while the streets were largely empty except for a handful of other runners and vendors beginning to set up for the day.
Wednesday: Speed Work in the Heat
Wednesday’s speed session consisted of 4 × 12-minute intervals in upper Zone 3, with 90 seconds of walking recovery between repetitions.
This was probably the workout most at risk of being abandoned.
My left calf and hamstrings remained quite sore after the flight, and my body was still adjusting to the time-zone change. I cautiously started the session knowing that I would stop if anything felt wrong.
Fortunately, the workout went remarkably well.
Despite temperatures around 25°C, I was hitting approximately 4:00–4:10/km during the intervals.
As the week progressed, I also noticed that I was becoming increasingly accustomed to running in the heat.
Heat makes running harder because the body has to devote more resources toward cooling itself. As temperature and humidity rise, a given pace generally requires greater cardiovascular effort. That’s why during hot-weather training I’ve learned to pay much more attention to heart rate and perceived effort rather than pace alone.
Trying to force a particular pace regardless of conditions can easily push a workout into the wrong training zone—and potentially add unnecessary fatigue.
During these runs, I also took short hydration breaks approximately every 20 minutes.
One thing worth remembering is that the dramatic drop in body weight after a hot run isn’t fat loss. Most of it is simply fluid lost through sweat and will return once properly rehydrated.
Over the course of the week, I could feel myself becoming better adapted to the Barcelona heat.
Trust the Process
Thursday morning, my left hamstring was still quite sore, so I skipped my hamstring-hold exercise rather than risk aggravating it.
At this point in the training block, there is very little fitness to gain from forcing one strength exercise—but potentially a lot to lose from causing an injury.
Friday and Saturday consisted of recovery and easy running to prepare my legs for Sunday’s final major workout.
During these easy runs, I noticed something that really put my progress into perspective.
At 5:30–6:00/km, my heart rate was sitting comfortably in the 110s and 120s, despite the heat.
Just a year ago, running at those same paces would have pushed my heart rate into the 160s.
It’s a powerful reminder of how difficult it can be to notice improvement when you’re looking at yourself every day.
Sometimes you simply have to trust the process.
Sunday: One Last Big Marathon Workout
Sunday’s long run consisted of 4 × 5 km at mid-Zone 3 marathon effort, with two minutes of easy jogging between each interval, for a total volume of 25 km.
That’s 20 km of marathon-effort running within the session.
This was also one of the final workouts from which I can expect to absorb the full training benefit before race day. From this point onward, the emphasis will gradually shift away from building fitness and toward shedding accumulated fatigue.
For this run, I started preparing the night before with a solid carbohydrate load at a Mediterranean pizzeria.
Unfortunately, I had a terrible night’s sleep. I think it was a combination of lingering jet lag and racing thoughts about the upcoming long run—and, increasingly, the marathon itself. In fact, throughout the week I had been consistently waking up around midnight and struggling to fall back asleep.
This night was no exception.
After tossing and turning for about 15 minutes, I decided to stop fighting it. At 1:00 a.m., I got out of bed and ate my pre-run breakfast, consuming approximately 300 g of carbohydrates. I then went back to bed, giving myself several hours to digest the meal while hopefully getting some additional sleep.
Thankfully, I managed to sleep for about another three hours.
My alarm went off at 5:00 a.m., and by 5:45 a.m., I was out the door and running.
Not exactly the ideal pre-long-run routine, but sometimes marathon training—especially while travelling—is about making the best of the situation you’re given.
Unlike my usual track workouts back home, there was nowhere convenient to leave a nutrition box, so I carried all of my fuel and hydration with me.
The run lasted more than two hours, which meant I eventually had to continue after sunrise. As the temperature climbed and the kilometres accumulated, my perceived effort gradually increased. By this point in the training block, I was also really beginning to feel the cumulative fatigue in my legs. During the final two intervals, my legs started to feel like lead, and maintaining marathon effort became noticeably more difficult.
Rather than chasing pace, I focused primarily on heart rate and effort.
Overall, it was a great session. As a pleasant surprise, I also accidentally broke my half-marathon personal record, finishing in 1:34:37—despite running at marathon effort with jogging recoveries between intervals, while jet-lagged, after a poor night’s sleep, and on very fatigued legs near the end of a demanding training block. I wasn’t trying to set a personal best at all, which made the result even more encouraging.
In the heat and on fatigued legs, I was still able to hold approximately 4:12–4:25/km in mid-Zone 3. I’m not yet certain whether I’ll be capable of sustaining my target 4:07/km race pace for the full marathon two weeks from now. Hopefully, with a proper taper, fresher legs, and cooler, flatter race-day conditions, I’ll have a little more speed waiting for me.
But the work is almost done.
The run also felt bittersweet. This was my final run around La Sagrada Família on this trip. I hope I’ll return one day—not only to run around the basilica again, but perhaps to explore even more of Barcelona on foot.
Accidental Rucking
Although I couldn’t cycle this week, I certainly wasn’t sedentary between runs.
Sightseeing meant spending hours walking around Barcelona every day—often while carrying two backpacks, six bottles of water, and pushing my son in a stroller.
In other words, I accidentally spent much of the week rucking.
It certainly wasn’t a replacement for cycling, but all that low-intensity movement probably provided some additional aerobic stimulus while giving my legs a different type of strength-endurance work.
Eating Well While Travelling
Nutrition required considerably more discipline than usual this week.
Airports, long flights, restaurants, and endless tourist temptations aren’t exactly the easiest environment for sticking to a nutrition plan.
Fortunately, food portions in Spain tended to be relatively modest, and there were plenty of nutritious options available. This allowed me to experience a variety of local dishes without constantly overeating.
We also visited local grocery stores to stock up on fruit, vegetables, high-protein yogurt, eggs, and nuts, rather than relying exclusively on restaurant meals.
I gave myself one simple rule:
If I can easily get it at home, I’m not eating it here.
Ice cream? Burgers? Generic snacks?
Not worth it.
But if something was genuinely local, authentic, and difficult to experience outside Spain, I allowed myself a small portion—even if it wasn’t perfect for my macros.
Training matters, but so does experiencing the places I’m fortunate enough to visit.
With some planning and discipline, I was still able to hit my daily calorie and protein targets while enjoying Spanish food and culture.
For me, that’s a balance worth finding.
Fitness Update
My Garmin-predicted VO₂ max has now climbed back to 57—the same level it predicted immediately before the BMO Vancouver Marathon.
Interestingly, when I underwent laboratory testing in late June, Garmin estimated my VO₂ max at 52, while the laboratory measured 56.
That naturally makes me wonder what my actual VO₂ max might be now.
Perhaps I’ll return to the sports lab for another test once I’ve fully recovered from Georgina.
More importantly, VO₂ max isn’t the whole story.
Even though my Garmin VO₂ max is now similar to where it was before Vancouver, my running economy and efficiency at marathon effort have improved substantially. I’m able to utilize more of that aerobic capacity while remaining at a sustainable intensity.
My legs also feel significantly stronger than they did earlier in this training block. The running-specific strength program appears to be paying off, and I’ve become noticeably more resilient. Perhaps most encouragingly, I’ve made it through this training block so far without a major injury—something I certainly couldn’t say about much of my previous year of running.
My HRV dipped at the beginning of the week, likely reflecting both the previous long run and the stress of travelling across time zones, but gradually stabilized as the week progressed.
My resting heart rate remains around 40–42 bpm.
I don’t currently have access to a scale, so I have no idea what I weigh. Visually, however, I appear leaner and more vascular than I did before the trip.
Overall, I’m extremely pleased with how this week went.
Two Weeks to Go
Barcelona has easily become one of my favourite cities I’ve visited.
The culture. The food. The architecture. The art. The urban design.
And, of course, the running.
But now it’s almost time to race.
There are only two weeks remaining until the Georgina Marathon.
Next week marks the beginning of my taper, with training volume decreasing by approximately 25% to allow accumulated fatigue to dissipate while preserving the fitness I’ve spent months building.
At this point, most of the hard work is behind me.
Now I need to trust it.
Two weeks to Georgina.
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