I've been pretty surprised by big improvements in recent workouts and have confused myself on what MP I should target. If anyone has any thoughts given these runs from the last 2 weeks I would really appreciate it. If a day isn't listed, it's 6-10 mi @7-7:20 pace. The race is mid October. And no, I'm not experienced at marathon training.
Week 1 - 67 mi total
W: Yasso 800s (2:53 splits) - felt really easy and not like much of a workout
Sa: 26 mi (7:10 pace) - meant to do 22, got lost and accidentally ran a 4 minute marathon PR with medium effort
Su: light strength training
Week 2 - 62 mi total
M: 9 at 6:38 pace
W: 8x 1 mi hill repeats (5:57 splits) - the hill is about 100 ft up, recovery was 3 min. jogging
Sa: 19 mi fast finish - 10 at 7:30, 9 at 6:10. It was raining and my shoes felt like lead weights.
Su: light strength training
M (today): 4x (2 mi @7:15, 1 mi @6:15)
As background, I was a fairly serious runner in HS but never much more than a sub 17 5k guy. I got in pretty bad shape during 9 years of college (yes there was grad school). Last year someone got me to do a marathon. I basically didn't train and well, let's not talk about it. I decided to do another in the spring, did about 45 mpw of all easy distance runs and managed a 3:13. I thought I would actually train this time (I've also dropped about 15 lbs) and shoot for sub 3. My workouts make me think that should be easy, though. I would like to run the best I can, but also don't want to die at mile 20 again. Is 2:45 too much of a stretch?