Road to Boston – Week 14

The journey continues from last week.

This week, most of my running took place aboard another cruise ship—this time on the Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.

The cruise departed Barcelona last Sunday, shortly after I completed my long run around the Basilica de la Sagrada Família, and set sail around the western Mediterranean.

The Legend of the Seas is a brand-new ship, having completed its inaugural sailing less than two months ago. I was incredibly impressed by its fitness facilities. It has a massive full-sized gym that is better equipped than many commercial gyms I’ve visited.

But most importantly, it has something every runner on a cruise ship dreams of:

A dedicated outdoor running track—with separate slow and fast lanes.

The track measures approximately 0.67 km per lap, which also makes keeping track of distance relatively straightforward.

The First Week of Taper

This was officially my first taper week, so I didn’t have much need for the ship’s impressive gym. My remaining strength work could easily be completed with resistance bands inside our stateroom.

The week consisted of 4 structured running sessions, all completed on the outdoor track, along with several short scenic recovery runs through the cities we visited. Total running volume was approximately 48 km.

I completed one running-specific strength session early in the week but cancelled the second to prioritize recovery. There were also no cycling sessions.

Despite the reduction in structured training, this was still a very active week.

Once again, sightseeing meant a lot of walking and accidental rucking—actually even more than the previous week in Barcelona. Unfortunately, the combination of running, travelling, and spending so much time on my feet meant my legs didn’t recover quite as well as I had hoped.

My left leg, in particular, remained quite sore throughout the week.

Wednesday Speed Session

Wednesday’s speed session consisted of:

• 2 × 8 minutes in mid-Zone 3, with 90 seconds of walking recovery
• 2 × 4 minutes in high-Zone 3, with 60 seconds of walking recovery
• 4 × 75 seconds in high-Zone 3, with 30 seconds of walking recovery

The goal wasn’t to build a huge amount of new fitness at this point. It was to maintain some intensity and keep the legs sharp while allowing the accumulated fatigue from the previous training weeks to gradually dissipate.

Saturday Long Run

Because of our early travel plans back to Canada, I moved my usual Sunday long run forward by one day to Saturday.

The session was considerably shorter than my recent long runs: 14 km of continuous running, including 2 × 4 km at marathon race effort, along with easy warm-up, recovery, and cool-down running.

Both Wednesday’s speed session and Saturday’s long run took place on the outdoor track while the ship was moving.

Running fast on a moving cruise ship was definitely an interesting experience.

Temperatures hovered around 30°C, and the relatively narrow track became challenging whenever there were other passengers walking on it. Running at marathon pace or faster while navigating pedestrians and negotiating tight 90-degree corners required considerably more concentration than running on a normal track.

It certainly wasn’t a replacement for running on solid ground.

But I’d still choose it over an indoor treadmill any day.

Finding the Right Balance

Throughout the week, I had to keep reminding myself of the purpose of tapering.

The goal was to finish the week feeling better than I did at the beginning, while still maintaining enough intensity to preserve fitness and keep my legs sharp.

Too little training and I risk feeling flat.

Too much training and I carry unnecessary fatigue into race week—or worse, get injured.

It’s a fine balance.

Accurate pace data was also difficult to obtain while running on a moving ship because GPS tracking becomes unreliable. Instead, I focused primarily on heart rate and perceived effort.

Based on the post-run data and some calculations, I estimate that my marathon-effort pace was approximately 4:30/km.

That’s considerably slower than my target race pace, but these workouts were also completed in approximately 30°C heat, on a moving ship, around tight corners, and on tired legs.

Given the circumstances, I’m not reading too much into the pace.

Running as a Digital Souvenir

The highlight of my running this week actually wasn’t the structured workouts.

It was the recovery runs.

Whenever our schedule allowed, I went for short, easy runs through the cities and landmarks we visited. These weren’t about improving VO₂ max or hitting a particular pace. They were simply opportunities to explore somewhere new on foot.

The GPS maps also became little digital souvenirs of each place we visited.

Long after I’ve forgotten the pace or heart rate from these runs, I’ll still be able to look back at those maps and remember where my feet took me.

That’s becoming one of my favourite parts of running while travelling.

Nutrition on the Cruise

Nutrition remained surprisingly disciplined throughout the trip.

My rule from Barcelona continued:

If I can easily get the food back home, it probably isn’t worth indulging in while travelling.

But when an opportunity came along to enjoy something genuinely local—like authentic Italian pizza or tiramisu in Naples—I didn’t hesitate.

That’s part of travelling too.

On the ship, most of my meals consisted of simple whole foods: egg whites, chicken breast, lean steak, fish, vegetables, and fruit.

I also tried to strategically time more carbohydrate-rich and sugary foods, including crepes and desserts, around my speed session and long run. That allowed me to enjoy some of the foods I wanted while also putting those carbohydrates to good use for training and recovery.

It’s a balance that has worked surprisingly well throughout this trip.

Not Exactly the Taper I Had Hoped For

Unfortunately, recovery this week hasn’t gone quite according to plan.

My left calf and hamstring continued to bother me, although they were slightly better than the week before. With race day only one week away, however, I had hoped they would be recovering more quickly.

Then on Friday night, I woke up in the middle of my sleep with a massive cramp in my right calf—the opposite leg.

Completely unexpected.

And, of course, it happened the night before my long run.

Thankfully, it didn’t significantly interfere with Saturday’s workout.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

And Then I Got Sick

To add insult to injury, I also came down with a cold in the middle of the week.

Sore throat. Runny nose. Nasal congestion. Cough.

Something was clearly circulating around the ship, as many passengers seemed to develop similar symptoms toward the end of the cruise.

This is the first time I’ve become sick during this entire training block, and international travel certainly increases the opportunities for something like this to happen.

My HRV subsequently dropped significantly—a warning sign I pay close attention to—while my resting heart rate climbed into the high 40s.

Fortunately, I feel like I’m beginning to recover, although some symptoms remain.

My Garmin-predicted VO₂ max remains at 57, although it hasn’t been properly reassessed because my key workouts this week were completed on a moving ship without reliable GPS pace data. My final speed session back home next week should give me a better indication of where things stand.

Getting sick one week before a marathon certainly isn’t ideal.

But if I had to choose when to get sick during a marathon training block, taper week is probably better than during the peak training phase.

I’m trying to stay positive.

At This Point, the Work Is Done

I’m writing this post on the flight back home and haven’t had access to a scale since the beginning of the trip.

I have absolutely no idea what I weigh right now.

And honestly, with only one week remaining, it doesn’t really matter anymore.

The time for chasing fitness and weight loss is essentially over.

The focus now is simple:

Rest. Recover. Stay healthy. Maintain sharpness.

Months of training have already been deposited into the bank. Trying to squeeze in more fitness now would probably do more harm than good.

All I can do is give my body the opportunity to absorb the work I’ve already done.

One Week to Georgina

There is now just one week until the Georgina Marathon and my Boston Qualifier attempt.

This isn’t exactly how I imagined entering race week. I’m returning from international travel with tired legs, lingering calf and hamstring soreness, a recovering cold, disrupted recovery, and plenty of uncertainty.

But marathon training rarely goes perfectly.

Over the next week, I’ll complete my final few runs, begin my carbohydrate-loading strategy, and do everything possible to arrive at the starting line healthy and rested.

At this point, the fitness is what it is.

Now I need to recover enough to use it.

I’ll likely post one final update a few days before the race.

One week to Georgina.

See you next time.