Sub2:30

Jack Foster was a recreational cyclist and a little pudgy when he started running at the age of 33. By 41 he had run a 2:11 marathon.

It's not when you start, but how you finish that matters.

There was a Kenyan athlete that won Boston (I can't remember his name right now) AFTER his doctor told him that he was overweight and needed to start "jogging" before his weight had an adverse effect on his health. I'm pretty sure he was in his 30's when he started "jogging"... and it is annoying me that I can't remember his name! I hope someone else knows it???

Elijah Lagat - winner of the 2000 Boston Marathon

What about any average joe american they maybe played football or something like that in high school? Better yet, a H.S. football player that got a little chucky so decided to start running in his twenties and finally ran a 2:30??? That would be something to talk about.

My high school coach started running to get in shape after a football injury in college. Started running marathons competitively around 23 or 24 and had a PR of 2:31 or so. He ran with Kim Jones when she won NY I think.

I never ran in high school or college and did my first marathon at age 26 in 3:08 and then 6 years later ran a 2:27. Along the way I was fortunate to get knowledgeable coaching/advice given my inexperience. Hit a plateau with several mid 2:30's before getting coaching advice that lead to a breakthrough to the next level.

Met a number of others who never ran until after college and went sub2:30. Good luck.

My coach wrote:

My high school coach started running to get in shape after a football injury in college. Started running marathons competitively around 23 or 24 and had a PR of 2:31 or so..

Hmmm, mine too. He told me his was 2:30:xx though.

Did he play football at Miami of Ohio? I could have the time slightly off, you know.

would you mind sharing some of those nuggets of wisdom that helped you with your break through race? it would be greatly appreciated.thanks.

there are quite a few wrote:

I never ran in high school or college and did my first marathon at age 26 in 3:08 and then 6 years later ran a 2:27. Along the way I was fortunate to get knowledgeable coaching/advice given my inexperience. Hit a plateau with several mid 2:30's before getting coaching advice that lead to a breakthrough to the next level.

Met a number of others who never ran until after college and went sub2:30. Good luck.

Yes, I would love to hear how you got from 3:08 to 2:27 in 6 yrs.

I coached a runner who started running as a 23 year old, got down to 2:28 (with Bronchitis mind you). Also went from 37:50 to mid 31s for 10 km.

Glenn

My question is why didn't you run in high school or college in you had this running potential in you?

Glenn,

What was the 23 yr olds PR before you started coaching him, if he had previously ran a marathon? How long did it take him to run a 2:28? Also, how long did it take him to go from 37min 10k to 31min 10k?

He started working with me when he was 26. He had run 2:58 in his 4th marathon (started with a 3:17 at 24). It was 4 years from 37 and 2:58 to 31s and 2:28. He was very talented, should have run sub 2:22, but his head got in the way. He is now 37 and we are still in contact, he ran 2:34 2 years ago in his last marathon, which he won outright.

Glenn

You asked what "nuggets of wisdom" got me from 3:08 to 2:27. None of this will come as much of a suprise, but if I had done it all by myself I would have done too much too soon and got injured.

1. Think long range and work on developing your aerobic base by slowly building up your mileage base. You still need to build that lifetime base. However one advantage over people that did run in HS or college was I wasnt suffering the burnout factor that seemed pretty common in those runners.

2. Be consistent. Consistently putting in the miles is key. Running the 3:08 was off of a 50-60 miles a week. Running the 2:27 was after consistent 90-110 miles a week.

3. "If the marathon is your chosen distance, you need to focus on it at the expense of other distances". This was something one of my coaches said to me as I was trying to get faster in the 5K and 10K. The training was focused on running faster marathons not shorter stuff. Consequently my 5k and 10K PR's are no where near what the charts would say someone with a 2:27 PR should run. Crazy Jason Mayeroff I believe has said something similar.

3. Mix it up. Your training needs to change over time to work on areas that need to be developed and to keep things fresh. E.g. Lacking strength - empahsize hills.

When I hit that plateau of mid-2:30s, my current coach hooked me up with a different coach (who had a 2:18PR) and we shifted the training to more intervals given my lack of background of HS and college speedwork. We did longer intervals on Tuesdays, shorter on Thursdays, 4-6 mile tempo on Sat and Long Run on Sun. We did 3 week cycles that started with 6 x800 on Tuesdays and 6x400 on Thursday. Each week you added on more rep until you got to 8. If you could hold a consistent pace on this then you bumped up the distance of the intervals and started at 6 reps with them at the same pace as before. Otherwise if you struggled to hold the pace than you repeated the cycle. The goal was to get up to repeats of 2 miles at the same pace as the first cylce of 800s. Never got to that goal as only got up to 1 mile repeats before ran the 2:27. Of course the Sunday long run was key and as the training went along sections of it were run at marathon pace. Started with 3 miles and progressed to 12.

Ironically, after I ran the 2:27 I wanted to go to sub 2:22 and got injured because I failed to mention little pains to my coach and they grew to be bigger pains and then nagging injuries that lasted years.

thanks for this info. always good to hear.any others have insights to offer?

Portland wrote:

My question is why didn't you run in high school or college in you had this running potential in you?

I didn't know I had this running potential in HS. Additionally, I have asthma which used to bother me more when I was younger. I was on the HS tennis team used to dislike running when they made us do it.

[quote]Harvey the Bug wrote:

thanks for this info. always good to hear.

any others have insights to offer?[quote]there are quite a few wrote:

I will try to remember some others. However the main point for me was to find a knowledgeable marathon coach who could tailor a program to your individual needs. Sure I read some of the books on marathon training, but I still felt I needed the guidance of someone who had been there before. Additionally, you need to truly believe in the program/coach you follow. For example, my first coach was big on even pacing for the marathon and something we worked on almost every run. My third marathon was the Boston marathon and the day before the race a guy with a faster PR at the time tells me there is no way I can even split Boston. Having complete faith in the training program, I brushed the comment off and was glad to find him the next day to share that I negative split the course by a minute.

that is very solid and sound advice!