5 years ago, I was your standard weekend warrior. I would run a road race every few months, typically in the 16:30/34:00 range... with few exceptions. I was offered free entry into a marathon through a charity and decided to give it a go. Without the proper training, research, pacing, or fueling, I hit the wall in a major way and jog/walked the last 5-6 miles. I swore off the marathon forever. Weeks later, the pain and soreness faded... but the feeling of failure remained. I decided that I would start a slow progress towards what I viewed as a respectable marathon time: sub-2:30. Here is what worked for me.
As an aside, I'm posting this as I know there are a lot of other LRCers who are (and will continue to) shoot for a sub 2:30 marathon. I read every thread I could find that mentioned 2:30, 2:29, 2:28 training... and just want to add to the collection, I suppose.
Male, mid-30's.
Progression, Splits, MPW (avg for 8 weeks prior)
2012 - 2:44 (1:18/1:26) - 40mpw
2013 - 2:39 (1:20/1:19) - 60-65
2015 - 2:37 (1:17/1:20) - 65-70
2017 - 2:33 (1:15/1:18) - 75-80
2017 - 2:29 (1:14/1:15) - 85-90
Overall Training Summary
2012: Ran 1st marathon on a whim. Was running about 45-60 minutes a day at 7min/mile. No workouts, no long runs.
2013: Still ran about an hour a day, but did 1-2 long runs of 15-20 miles. No workouts.
2015: Increased mileage and consistency. Ran for a total of 15 straight months without a day off. Occasional fartlek and long run.
2017: Increased mileage further, incorporated weekly track workouts and long runs every week.
Lessons Learned
1st Marathon: Respect the distance and prepare. I hit the wall at 20 miles and never forgot how painful it was.
2nd Marathon: Patience pays off. Even/negative splits made this race fun.
3rd Marathon: Fueling is essential. It was a beautiful fall day, so I neglected to take any fluids on the course (took 1 Gu). I crashed with a mile to go, stumbled across the line, and was vomiting non-stop for the next 24 hours.
4th Marathon: [Boston] Sunshine and warmer temps can really take a toll on your body. The marathon is fickle and weather can totally derail your plans.
5th Marathon: Incredibly windy day, but things generally came together. Even splits, consistent fluid intake, running within my limits.
What Changes Worked For Me
- In my 2017 Spring Marathon, I started my taper about 15 days out from the race and felt that I suffered from this. I reduced both mileage and intensity and felt flat once raceday rolled around. In the fall marathon of this year, I kept the mileage and workouts consistent until 6 days before. I ran 80mpw the week before the race and did some fast (short) tempos during that time as well.
- 5 weeks out from my Fall 2017 Marathon, I began to turn my watch alerts off and ran entirely by feel. I wanted to run comfortably fast and in control on my workouts, then look at the splits afterwards. Incidentally, the GPS on my watch failed to kick in at the starting line and I had to run the race going off minimal feedback. Mentally, though, I was already prepared and it didn't disrupt things at all.
- 5 weeks out from my Fall 2017 Marathon, I stopped hitting the track and turned to M pace runs, hills, and HM-M tempos.
Key Workouts:
[12-6 weeks out]
- 10x800 @ 2:32avg, 1 min rest
- 10x1000 @ 3:14avg, 200m jog rest
- 4 mile tempo (5:24, 5:20, 5:10, 5:00), 2 x 1 mile (5:20)
- 3x2miles on road (10:45, 11:00, 11:00), 1 mile (5:20)
- 6x1mile @ 5:12avg, 1 min rest
- 6x1mile @ 5:07avg, lap jog rest
- 8 mile tempo on track, alternating between M pace (5:39) and HM pace (5:19)
- 4x2mile (10:42, 10:36, 10:33, 10:45), lap jog rest
- 20 miles at 6:00avg
- 19 miles with 6 easy, 10 @ 5:35avg, 3 easy
[5-0 weeks out]
- 22 miles incorporating: 6 easy, 5x2miles (5:30avg, 1 mile steady between each), 2 easy
- 8 mile tempo @ 5:31avg
- 20 miles with 10 easy, 10 @ 5:32avg
- 3 mile tempo (16:15), 4x400m Hill, 3 mile tempo (16:23)
- 20 miles @ 5:53avg
- 10 x 3on/1off
- 3 mile tempo (15:57), 4x400m Hill, 3 mile tempo (16:07)
Race Results During Marathon Training (for 2:29)
5k: 15:44 (12 weeks out)
10K: 31:59 (8 weeks out), 31:37 (2 weeks out)
HM: 1:12:30 (6 weeks out)
Miscellaneous:
- In 2016, I ramped up my mileage (70 -> 90) and intensity too quickly within a span of 4 weeks. This lead to a bout of piriformis syndrome that kept me sidelined for 5 months (and is still an on-going problem).
- For most of 2017, I had to subsidize my training with core strengthening exercises 3-4 days/week to be able to withstand (see above) 85mpw or more.
- It took a lot of social sacrifices to maintain 90mpw. Mostly going to bed early on Friday nights and limiting my fun-time to Saturday afternoon/evening.
- I drank about a beer a day during 2017, as the daily grind of getting in the miles and workouts would have been difficult without a nice reward at the end of the day.
Feel free to critique, bash, or ignore. Good luck, cheers!