Failed miserably at today's marathon. Race again soon? Or rest?

1.

Usually someone in your time range needs to run more not harder. You don't give any details on your training but I would not speed up your training, but just make sure you are running at least 55 mpw at first and then ramp it up to 65 mpw. 15 mile long run at M-pace should be good enough at first. Maybe in the three week previous to your goal race do 20, then 20, then 15 on Sunday at an easy pace. I am not really qualified to coach someone at the 4:00-level. I am sure you have a program that you follow.

Don't give up. I would try another marathon in 4-6 weeks if I were you. You won't be long-term tired like a 2:20 marathoner would be from today's effort. If you can make it to it, Grandma's Marathon is a very nice marathon about 6 weeks away.

If you can't break 4 then you are training terribly. Put in more miles. 4 takes literally barely any training. Maybe you're fat? So lose some weight, run more miles, break 4. Christ, it's over 9 min/mile pace.

Thanks for the response. My peak week in this training cycle was 71 miles, with an average weekly milage of around 50.

I did 20 two weeks before the marathon, and did that at a 8:07 pace (though i stopped the watch for water breaks/stop lights. Maybe thats the problem right there?)

Three weeks before the marathon I did a 20 mile trial race.

So the milage was there, just not the consistent pace in my long runs i guess.

Seriously? You're hoping to break 4:00 and you go out at 3:10 pace through 9k? ...and now you're wondering what went wrong?!

You went out too fast and you paid the price for it. Simple.

Anyway, June is too soon to race again after a marathon effort. Whether you race again in the fall or quit the marathon is up to you. Seeing how much it bruised your ego, you might want to do another just to end on a positive note.

After that, I'd suggest you be done with marathons. Marathon running is okay for hobby joggers, but for racers, marathon training makes you slow and increases the risk of injury. I haven't raced a marathon in 20 years and don't miss it at all.

You took it out way too hard which is the kiss of death in the marathon. Don't mess around with running another one on short recovery- you are asking for injury. Find a good fall marathon and run a negative split. Take the first 8-10k particularly slow.

runforthisrun wrote:

Thanks for the response. My peak week in this training cycle was 71 miles, with an average weekly milage of around 50.

I did 20 two weeks before the marathon, and did that at a 8:07 pace (though i stopped the watch for water breaks/stop lights. Maybe thats the problem right there?)

Three weeks before the marathon I did a 20 mile trial race.

So the milage was there, just not the consistent pace in my long runs i guess.

When I was a kid I read a book about Road Racing and Marc Bloom put the question of what the minimum mileage was to complete a marathon, not race it but just to complete it. Many people answered and the consensus was 55 mpw. I always remembered that because I was running about 50-65 at the time. I did my first one in 3:13 when I was 13.

I don't think the mileage WAS there if you were averaging 50. Of course, back at that time running a 3:40 was just considered completing a marathon. Racing one was considered running under 3:00 or preferably 2:50 to qualify for Boston, which was a big goal for us Michigan runners, who liked to run that race in the Spring.

So I would try running more at an easy pace. 55, then 65, then 75.

Certainly 8:07 pace is fast enough for long runs, that is 3:29 MAR pace.

Turn into a hobby jogger

runforthisrun wrote:

Thanks for the response. My peak week in this training cycle was 71 miles, with an average weekly milage of around 50.

I did 20 two weeks before the marathon, and did that at a 8:07 pace (though i stopped the watch for water breaks/stop lights. Maybe thats the problem right there?)

Three weeks before the marathon I did a 20 mile trial race.

So the milage was there, just not the consistent pace in my long runs i guess.

This has to be a troll job, who can't break 4:00 on 71 miles per week and can run a 1:40 half?

Fisky had it correct about your pace. Your training was easily good enough for you to break 4 hours, you just started the race way too fast. Even if you thought you had a shot at 3:40, you should have started the race just a little slower than that for the first couple miles. You should have run the first couple miles in 8:30 and then tried to hit 8:20-8:25 until half way. You would have still got to halfway in 1:51, but would have used a lot less energy and probably been able to break 4 hours.

runforthisrun wrote:

Thanks for the response. My peak week in this training cycle was 71 miles, with an average weekly milage of around 50.

I did 20 two weeks before the marathon, and did that at a 8:07 pace (though i stopped the watch for water breaks/stop lights. Maybe thats the problem right there?)

Three weeks before the marathon I did a 20 mile trial race.

So the milage was there, just not the consistent pace in my long runs i guess.

2/10 (A couple people bit.)

A 20 mile training run at 3:35 pace.

Ackley wrote:

runforthisrun wrote:

Thanks for the response. My peak week in this training cycle was 71 miles, with an average weekly milage of around 50.

I did 20 two weeks before the marathon, and did that at a 8:07 pace (though i stopped the watch for water breaks/stop lights. Maybe thats the problem right there?)

Three weeks before the marathon I did a 20 mile trial race.

So the milage was there, just not the consistent pace in my long runs i guess.

2/10 (A couple people bit.)

A 20 mile training run at 3:35 pace.

I think you should take a couple days off, lower your mileage, run a couple 10ks or 5k's until you feel fresh, then raise your mileage again and try to run a marathon in 2 months or so

If you gave up during the race and just jogged it in, it is possible to have a quick turnaround and run another marathon. If you were struggling just to get through it and could barely walk the next day, you need to fully recover and try again in the fall. If a June race is your next chance, you might just do better waiting for the fall given that the odds of good weather in June are not good.

The above posts are spot on about pacing. No one can get away with that kind of pacing.

You ran the first 9k a full MINUTE per mile faster than your stretch goal time. This is why you failed. Learn to run slower if you want to finish faster. You are running plenty of miles, you had plenty of speed, you just ran like an idiot. What you do next is your choice, but your training indicates you can break 4, you just don't know how to run the race.