Marathons

Preparing for the Seville Marathon 2023: Part 1

The Zurich Seville Marathon takes place on 19 February 2023, drawing runners from across Europe and the world to its predominantly flat, fast route. For this year's edition of this popular race, SportShoes and Mizuno will be on the starting line with one of our most committed athletes Fabio Giudici.

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While marathons might seem like a walk in the park – albeit a long 42 km walk – it takes a whole lot of discipline and consistency to get around your chosen marathon course in your target time. In this interview, Fabio opens up about his training and the importance of following a schedule ahead of the upcoming Spanish marathon.

And to ensure he has the best chance possible of achieving a marathon PB, Fabio will be racing in the brand new Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro, a premium racing shoe targeted at athletes aiming to run 5K to full marathon distance at pace.

Want to know more about this exciting new super-shoe? Then check out our preview article here

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Ciao Fabio, great to see you again! We loved following your races at Milan Marathon and Amsterdam Marathon in 2022, so we’re excited to see you perform in Seville. Tell us about your training and what apps you use to monitor your progress.

“Yep, I’m back for a new adventure. I took three weeks rest after Amsterdam Marathon before looking ahead and getting my thoughts in order for Seville. With help from my coach Tito Tiberti, we’re going for more specific quality training sessions over quantity.

The biggest unknown for me this time around has been the timing on the calendar. Seville is on the 19th February, which means the bulk of my marathon training has to be done in the middle of winter. This takes some extra thought. Having the time off work over Christmas gives you headspace to focus on training, because it’s definitely not easy to get the miles in January when already dark as you commute to work.

Almost every training session this winter has had a ‘purpose’, or at least some sort of specific work at its core. Instead of generic advice like ‘go for a two-hour run’, we’re inserted something like 3 x 5 km with a 2km rest, or 8 x 10 minutes at marathon pace. There are three objectives here: the first is the obvious one – time on feet, looking to cover around 75% of my overall marathon race time in one session; the second is to mimic the intensity of racing; and the third is to run at race pace for a sustained period. 

I track all my sessions using Tredict, a platform for training analysis that dissects all my data, physio appointments and illnesses. There are more widely used platforms that do a similar job, but I like this one because it prioritises the performance part over the social aspect. While it looks super straightforward, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes and it gives me real insight into my training trends and how future sessions will impact my general fitness. There’s no actual app and Tredict was designed for use on your computer – I really rate it and am confident knowing that the software is constantly being developed with great user support on hand.

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Pictured: A screenshot from the start of the week. I’ve highlighted my running activities.

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Pictured: This is a screenshot from one workout. The data is really digestible. As you scroll down the page, it gets even more in-depth, featuring more graphs than even I know what to do with.

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In the build-up to any race, but especially a marathon, I make sure I’ve got 4–5 pre-race races on my calendar. This isn’t usually a problem but given that Seville is in mid-February and that the race calendar in Northern Italy is pretty empty in winter, I’ve not found it easy. I’ve had to settle for just one half marathon on 6 January. The plan was to hold marathon pace for 15 km before going full gas to the finish but once I had pinned on my race number, the plans went up in flames and I finished in 1:12:56.  Overall, a decent time and it felt good so I came away happy.

The second race is a 10 km just two weeks out from the marathon. I’m using this as a burn-up for the legs, making sure they’re unblocked and ready for speed but taking care not to overdo it.

In my next instalment, I’ll talk about speedwork, drills, and enjoying time on the sofa.

Thank you, Fabio and good luck with the rest of your preparation for Seville!

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Interview with Fabio by Emmie Collinge and Phil Gale

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Fabio Giudici is an elite SportsShoes athlete, based in Northern Italy. His road PB's include 32:30 for 10K and 1:12:26 for Half-Marathon and 2:32:46 for the Marathon.

Click here to keep up with Fabio’s adventures.

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