Over the last two years, D’Amato cemented herself as one of the greatest marathoners in US history: In January, the 37-year-old broke the American record when she won the Houston Marathon with a time of 2:19:12, just a few months after earning a fourth-place finish in Chicago Marathon. While D’Amato is lining up in Eugene last-minute as an alternate, she’s more than qualified to represent Team USA in the grueling sport. “I’m beyond proud to represent the country the way I know how. “It seems crazy, but I’m so excited at the same time,” she says. This time, however, she managed to add a single 22-mile training run as the crux of her “prep.” And that was only possible after some serious logistic juggling, which involved rearranging her family’s travel schedule to skip a planned appearance at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4 and canceling plans to be at a family reunion in order to get to Eugene, Oregon, for the World Athletics Championships marathon on July 18. Two weeks out during typical marathon prep, D’Amato would be just starting to taper her mileage in anticipation of the race.
Training for a marathon builds mileage over time, and then, typically a few weeks before the actual race, runners taper-reducing their mileage to save energy and strength for a final push on race day.Įven for the pros like D’Amato, training works in a similar fashion. Those running the New York City Marathon in November, for instance, may just be starting their plans. But she hadn’t been planning on racing another marathon until the fall, so she was nowhere near her normal training buildup for a 26.2-mile race-let alone one that will take place on July 18.įor those unfamiliar, non-professional marathon training plans generally last anywhere from 12 to 18 weeks.
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