by Paal Strømstad, Answer by Marius
(Oslo, Norway)
What do you do if you are missing training one week before the marathon ?
"Marius,
Week 14 of the training program, I will spend mountain trekking. Typically slow walking 8 hours a day with heavy backpack. Not exactly an ideal run up to the marathon. What can I do to compensate? Should I do some Smart Strides or light interval runs in the evenings?
Looking forward to your advise."
Answer: Hi Paal, and thank you for your question. You are on the right path with the Smart Strides - these can be used to keep your legs fresh during this week. What I recommend is the following :
Every other day of this week (not every day) jog 20-30 minutes after the long walk followed by 2-3 x 4 minute intervals at Effort 3 and then the Smart Strides.
If you do not have time for this (or energy !) then a small jog of 3-5 minutes followed by 5-6 x Smart Strides is more than enough to keep you going.
Now. When you arrive back again, then be really conservative on your interval training/runs in general - hold back and do not try to "gain back" training lost ! You will likely feel "light" on these runs but if you push too much, then this can affect the marathon performance. This period is even more important to be disciplined than the week you are away !
Point is : you can use the week with long walking to supercompensate your performance - and this can in fact be positive. BUT, you have to be disciplined once you arrive back down again. Meaning, follow the schedule but place yourself maybe 3-5 heart rate beats lower (if you use heart rate) or really hold back if you run without heart rate. In addition to this, use warm baths in between runs to loosen up your legs.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's.
Good shoes are crucial if you want to stay injury free during your marathon journey. In general, the best is to find a shoe that fits your feet according to your foot type.
However, these three shoes will do an excellent job with their mild correction - and will work for most runners :
1. Asics Gel Kayano (click for zappos reviews for other runners views)
The legandary shoe from Asics. You cannot go wrong with this one.
The most sold running shoes ever - and by every model seems to get better and better. About the same weight as the Kayano but the fit is a little bit different.
The 2150 is a great alternative for the faster work you'll be doing in the 100 day plan. It is one of the few shoes that "feels" like a lightweight one but at the same time has more than enough stabilty to prevent injuries with the marathon type length of some of the interval sessions.
A tips for international (non-US) runners : check out roadrunnerssports.com :
Example : Asics Kayano (RoadRunnerssports) they ship worldwide and it can really save you some money on your shoes.
I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's. 
