Hypothetical Marathon Time

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

9 years ago 07/21/2014 6:41pm EDT

I'm a sophomore in college. My friend and I were having an argument after we jogged a local half marathon for fun. He says he doesn't think he could break 3 hours for a marathon, at least not at first, even after training for it. I think I could do it easily and I'd say hes a better runner than I.

He is a mid distance runner with 800/1500 prs of 1:59.2/4:03 and an 8k cross country pr of 27:06.

My pr's are slightly slower but I think the both of us would have literally no issue in running under 3 hours. I'm not sure if I'm underestimating the marathon or if he's just being ignorant. I've done 16 mile long runs at 6:50 pace with literally no issue.

Thanks for any insight, I just wanted to know who's right.

9 years ago 07/21/2014 6:52pm EDT

re: ThatAverageRunner

I had PRs of 2:11 and 4:40 and 18:30 (5k) when I was your age and like to think I could have gone sub 3. Much slower than you guys, so I definitely think you can

As for the easy part, probably not as easy as you make it out to be. Big difference between 16 miles and 26. When I finally got around to running a marathon (30 years later) I put in what I thought was plenty of mileage (65 mpw peak, a couple of 20 milers) and yet the wheels fell off at mile 23. Pace slowed by 3 minutes per mile, literally over the span of a half mile. One minute I'm going strong and the next I am crawling

9 years ago 07/21/2014 6:57pm EDT

re: ThatAverageRunner

Sub 3 shouldn't be a problem if you guys did even a very basic marathon training plan AND you didn't go out too hard.

There are plenty of guys who could have easily broken 3 hours in their first attempt but went out at 2:45 pace or whatever and totally crashed and burned.

9 years ago 07/21/2014 7:06pm EDT

re: Faux Brandon Moen

Thanks for the responses. Thats what I suspected. 3 hours shouldn't be an issue. My friend more than likely would be one of the guys who would go out at 2:45 pace and crash.

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