Training for a Sub 2:30 marathon

Work up to 80-90/week. Long tempo runs and threshold repeats (2 miles x 3-4) with short rest. Weekly 2 hour long run. It may take a few years.

Get your half down to 1:10 first.

The weekly marathon training thread is an excellent resource for this sort of thing. If you just search for that, you'll have access to tons of training weeks for several runners with sub 2:30 PRs/goals, as well as those with slower PRs that will surely be stepping stones on your way to a 2:30. Not to mention, it also has a lot of other valuable information on nutrition, injury, and other important things that can come up. Plus, if you end up posting your training on there with the rest of the guys, it's also one of the most supportive and engaging threads (read: the only supportive and engaging thread) on letsrun.

Here are a couple I've pulled up for you. Best of luck with your goals!

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3995613

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3984992

(P.S.: just to reiterate another posters advice, you might want to consider significantly reducing your half time before shooting for a sub 2:30 marathon... ultimately, it's up to you, though!)

You need some intermediate mileage and racing goals. Run some 5ks, 10ks, half marathons, etc. You won't run 2:30 all of a sudden. The first couple races might be discouraging, since you're starting from basically zero.

dont take anything i say without a grain of salt. i havent even run the marathon yet, but want to run sub 2:30 within a few years (debuting in new york this fall).

the way i look at it, you have to be good at 3 very generalized things:

1) running 5:43 pace efficiently - duh

2) not getting tired - duh

3) running 5:43 pace when you're tired

you CANNOT run to your potential in the marathon without all three.

1) to be good at running 5:43 pace, its important to run both faster and slower in practice. a lot of marathoners neglect ever running faster than MP in practice, but its important to have a few workouts at significantly faster than MP. something like 10x(2 minutes @ 5k/10k pace, 2 minutes easy) or just a classic 5 mile LT/AT/AnT around 20-30 sec/mile faster than MP.

2) When you do enough 10 mile long runs a given pace, it becomes pretty easy. if you continue this for a long time, 11 or 12 will feel easy, but 13-14 suddenly becomes really long. practicing spending approximately 2.5 hours running will makes racing for 2.5 hours a little less of a shock. these, IMO, can be as slow as they need to be to stay feeling good.

3) Running 5:43 pace when you're tired. Anyone can run 75 minutes in the half. It's running 5:43 pace from 25-35k that gets you to a 2:30. Best workouts for this are classics like 10 miles easy 10 miles at ~MP, 18 miles of 1 mile easy 1 mile at MP, or 4x5k (or Hanson's 2x6 mile). These simulations make or break the race, hands down.

Yeah I want to rock out a 1:10 before going after anything. Easier days used to consist of 12 miles at 6 min. pace but it's been a while. It's going to be frustrating at the beginning to have fallen so far. But I'll get it back over the next 6 months or so. And thanks for those links! Those guys are awesome and encouraging!

You DO7, NOT have to run 1:10 in order to run under 2:30. My PR's are 1:09:50 and 2:27. My PRs in HS were slower than yours, so, I like your chances. My advice is ramp up the easy mileage. How high? More than 100 mpw. Just make sure to run that mileage easy - like what 7:00 pace felt in HS, even if right now it's 8 or 9 minute pace.

Nelz90 wrote:

Easier days used to consist of 12 miles at 6 min. pace but it's been a while.

Then you should be shooting for 2:15:00 or faster.

Haha I'd love to hit that. But we'll make sure I hit 2:30 before I go try qualifying for the trials. And that was also with a team of guys, not by myself training. Which, I believe, is going to be my biggest battle: Running alone. I hate it.

Your 3 mile race pace was @ 5:20 per mile, yet your easy

recovery day was 12 @ 6 per mile. Do you see what is wrong

with this?

Not wrong... just a huge lie

My high school PRs were about the same as you - 16:00 for 3 miles and 4:41 for the mile. This was off 40mpw.

In college, I increased mileage to 70-90mpw and eventually went 14:19/4:06.

Now I'm washed up and have two kids - I'm in my 30s. But I went 1:10 for the half recently and I'm working towards a sub-2:30. I agree with the previous posters that this might take you a few years of concerted effort and training, and that you should be comfortable going 1:10 before you consider trying sub 2:30. I'm going to follow Jack Daniels marathon plan. Good luck and post back with progress!

I didn't say I ever had speed. And my coach believed in pure mileage, very little speed work. Yes, the 12 were EASIER but not easy (like I said). And no I did not lie.I was pretty frustrated with my race times. We did a 5xmile and I averaged 5:01 but my races never came together. But thanks for your input.

You don't need 80-90 miles/week. Get back to enjoying your running. Based on your history I would point you towards <10 3200m, then <16' 5000m, then <55 10 miles. That should take you about 1 year. From there you'll have six months to train for Chicago.

I'll start my post by saying I have yet to break 2:30. I've run 2:31 twice...BUT have since run 1:09:28 in the half.

That said, I totally agree with Link about running easy. For someone shooting for a 2:30 marathon, 6:00 pace for 12 miles is NOT easy. What I attribute much of my consistency to since moving up to the marathon is my ability to SLOW DOWN the majority of my runs. I was about your speed in high school, I was a 16:38 5k and 9:46 3200 guy. In high school and college, my training runs were never slower than 6:45 pace. Now all my easy days are 7:15+ pace...sometimes they even approach 8:00 pace, depending on how I feel. The only time I run hard (or moderate even) is during workouts or long runs. This allows me to string months together of consistent high mileage, being relatively injury free (some minor niggles, but everyone has those).

If you're just starting again...basically from scratch, that's all the more reason to run slower. And yes, it will take time to get your fitness back. Consistency is the key, don't worry about workouts for a while, just run.

I'm running Chicago this fall with the idea of a sub-2:30, though I think I could possibly run 2:26 on the right day. I'm trying out some Canova workouts leading up to the race, here's some Canova workouts if you're interested:

MARATHON WORKOUTS (LAST 6-8 WEEKS BEFORE TAPER)

Paces are based on a MP of 5:40/mile

Aerobic Power Workouts (one per week):

1) 10 x 800 w 1:30 jog @ 110-112% of MP (5:04-5:09/mile)

2) 6 x 1 mile w 2 min jog @ 108-109% of MP (5:12-5:15/mile)

3) 4 x 2 mile w 3 min jog @ 105-106% of MP (5:21-5:24/mile)

4) 3 x 3 mile w 4 min jog @ 103-104% of MP (5:27-5:30/mile)

5) 2 x 4 mile w 4:30 jog @ 102-103% of MP (5:30-5:33/mile)

5) 2 x 5 mile w 5 min jog @ 101-102% of MP (5:33-5:37/mile)

6) 6 mile continuous run @ 104-105% of MP (5:24-5:27/mile)

7) 8 mile progression run @ 100-106% of MP (5:21-5:40/mile)

Aerobic Endurance Workouts (one per week):

1) 18-22 miles steady run @ 90-95% of MP (5:58-6:18/mile)

2) 24-26 miles easy run @ 80-85% of MP (6:40-7:05/mile)

3) 18-22 miles progression run @ 85-100% of MP (5:40-6:40/mile)

4) 12-15 miles simulation run @ 100% of MP (5:40/mile)

5) 20 miles - last 5-10 miles @ 100% of MP (5:40/mile)

6) 20 miles incorporating 10 x 800 @ 103% of MP w 800 jog (5:30/mile)

7) 6-7 miles @ 85% + 6-7 miles @ 100% of MP (workout done AM and PM)

Thanks! Those workouts like sick! I like the challenge. And good luck training for Chicago, hopefully you'll catch some cooler weather this year.

On a side not, Ran 3 miles last night and Hit 7:08 warming up and then went 6:16 and 6:14. Pretty good for my first day in my opinion. I felt in control until about the last 1/2 I could feel my legs lagging a bit. Although, I paid for it trying to run again this afternoon, everything was tight as could be. I guess I'm not 16 anymore...

if you are trying to get in shape why did you go run 3 miles at that pace. You have got to build a base first. Go run 5 or 6 miles at 8 min pace

I wanted to see where I was at. Ill be jumping up to 25 miles next week. I just wanted to figure out how far I was from back in my old HS days.

I would see myself as a serious runner and i agree with all the above comments but noone ever mentions the recovery process. This is so important because if you do not recover properly it leads to fatigue which can lead to injury and sickness.

This reading may help you along the way

http://www.runningmanathletics.com/articles.htm