Sub 2h30 Spring Marathon - The Quest for Amateur Glory is back!

Amateur - 94 miles in 13hrs probably not worth 110 in my opinion, but if I were averaging 7:30/mi it would be 104 so maybe you're right. Anyway, not worth getting caught up in it, just need to get a few more good days then recover for another 10 days, then crush a 50k. No sweat?

No sweat Reed. You’re fit and seem like you are someone who has his nutrition game down with the speed to go with endurance and climbing strength.

What is your goal for the 50k?

Amateur wrote:

No sweat Reed. You’re fit and seem like you are someone who has his nutrition game down with the speed to go with endurance and climbing strength.

What is your goal for the 50k?

actually, nutrition is my biggest worry, by far.

marathon nutrition is easy. take a few gels every 30 min, follow with a bit of water. if it's hot...more water.

ultra races are way more complicated. I have only felt like I fueled/hydrated well in 1.5/5 50ks I've done.

It’s only 4.9 miles longer though. Is it the duration because of the climbing?

Have you tried salt stick tabs during ? I can see how a pb&j would be awesome at mile 25 or so.

What’s the goal though??

No experience with ultra running although I have done some ultra distance skateboarding events and long bike rides. Fig Newtons and beef jerky were always great.

...had a rough workout today. Legs were dead on the warmup and super windy which made 30 feel pretty cold. Ran 18 continuous with 9xmile w/400 jog on the track and averaged like 5:44. Good mental toughness workout though to push through when I’m dead. Off running tomorrow thank God.

Amateur wrote:

It’s only 4.9 miles longer though. Is it the duration because of the climbing?

Have you tried salt stick tabs during ? I can see how a pb&j would be awesome at mile 25 or so.

What’s the goal though??

Yes, my 50k has about 4000' of climbing (1200m) and feels much longer than a marathon plus 5 miles. A road 50k would be easy to train for...just do marathon training and then goal pace is like 10sec/mi slower.

Salt tabs haven't been proven to work in ultras from what I've heard, as you

Don't really sweat out much salt until your race is really long, like 10+ hours.

Fig newtons and beef jerky would be fine for a bike ride but would be a no go for a race. The intensity during a 50k is still pretty high and you wouldn't be able to stomach it at 6:00/mi effort.

And to prove that my ultra training isn't making me slow, I just ran my best track workout in several years. Planned 6x1000 (100sec jogs) and ran 3:06-3:07 for the first 5 and then lengthened the 6th to 1200 that I ran in 3:34. Didn't feel very hard and my breathing was incredibly smooth.

Probably in PR 5k shape. Will run a couple 5ks in the 4 weeks between my 50k and my 50 miler.

Interesting and nice work with the k reps!

reed, that's an incredible workout and has to be an indicative of under 15.30 5k shape... congrats!!

I hope my training is going to the same direction after a good session at the track today - 13x1000m w/200m jog, avg 3.16.

this is how my last few days have been...

Sunday - 20 miles / Average 6:35

Monday - 7 miles easy

Tuesday - 7 miles easy

Wednesday- am - 5 miles easy

- pm - track workout. Did 13 x 1000 with a 200 jog between each (approximately 1:20). Fastest rep was 3:13

and slowest was 3:18. Average 3:16. Total of 12 miles+

next workouts:

thursday: 7 easy

friday: am 6 easy

pm 6 easy

saturday: 10 tempo (58/59)

sunday: 20 easy

am all set for Boston, managed to find a place to stay and now am waiting for the bib number confirmation. Hopefully i'll be in the first corral (2h30.41) and we can have a good group running together to chase the 2h29.

good week to all!!

rfmaioral wrote:

reed, that's an incredible workout and has to be an indicative of under 15.30 5k shape... congrats!!

I hope my training is going to the same direction after a good session at the track today - 13x1000m w/200m jog, avg 3.16.

this is how my last few days have been...

Sunday - 20 miles / Average 6:35

Monday - 7 miles easy

Tuesday - 7 miles easy

Wednesday- am - 5 miles easy

- pm - track workout. Did 13 x 1000 with a 200 jog between each (approximately 1:20). Fastest rep was 3:13

and slowest was 3:18. Average 3:16. Total of 12 miles+

next workouts:

thursday: 7 easy

friday: am 6 easy

pm 6 easy

saturday: 10 tempo (58/59)

sunday: 20 easy

am all set for Boston, managed to find a place to stay and now am waiting for the bib number confirmation. Hopefully i'll be in the first corral (2h30.41) and we can have a good group running together to chase the 2h29.

good week to all!!

How hard was it to find a place to stay? Is it still really pricey?

runthenight wrote:

How hard was it to find a place to stay? Is it still really pricey?

I don't think it will get any cheaper. I got my spot a few months ago and figured prices would only go up.

rfm I'll take your 13x1k over my 6x1k. very good session and consistent pacing too. that must mean you are in very good 10k shape, probably under 32:30.

I wish I had done more 1000 repeats in college so I have something to compare with. closest workout was 4-5 x 1600m done with 3min rest in 5:03 avg. I'm pretty sure I could do those in 5:00 right now on a good day.

dangit you guys...I want to race a marathon so badly now. I've gotten too fit. Did those 1000s on Tuesday, then did a pretty hilly 11 miles on Wednesday. Thursday I did 2.5 hours easy on trails (17+ miles). not meant to be a long run- I just had extra time to kill and was enjoying the trails. Today I debated doing my workout because of the 2.5 hours yesterday, but said F it.

with no warmup I did 12 miles at 6:15 pace but with 1600' climbing, and the adjusted pace according to strava was 5:51/mi when I was going at a perceived 50k effort (6:00-6:05 I thought). So 75 minutes at 5:51 basically, solo. That would be one of the hardest pre-marathon workouts I've ever done but it felt pretty easy today, definitely a pace I could hold for 50k if rested.

Even before my 71min half in January I was only hitting 6:05-6:10 for these moderate workouts, compared to 5:51 today.

I don't think that correlates to a 15sec/mi race pace improvement, but it's definitely a positive sign that everything is working.

anyway...sorry to hop in here just to brag. but I like it when you guys post your good workouts - it's very motivating.

You are on Strava, yeah? Every 30 minutes park your car and do a 1k easy jog. It will keep your legs fresh and look cool on Strava being in all these different locations.

Stretch after. Don't forget.

Reed - awesome work you’re putting in. Looks like your endurance and strength has improved a good bit in the last 6-8 weeks. I like everything about this except the “I’ve gotten too fit part.” Keep the ball rollin!

I can’t speak for everyone else, but you should target a marathon to see what you got. I think my half pr is about the same as yours (1:11:45), but averaging just 12seconds slower than that per mile for another 1:18 seems like a different task altogether, at least for me...

When is your 50k? Will you rest up to see if you can hold 5:50 pace? ...and how old are you?

Keep it up!

Question for the masses...

Next Saturday I have a workout planned - 8x1mi @ tempo w/ 1 min jog recovery

There is a 10K race about 3 hrs away from me on a hilly course (471 feet of gain) that I am thinking about using as my workout instead. No prize money, but I do enjoy racing and might have a shot at the course record (33:55).

What would YOU do?

I would probably do the workout because of the 3hr drive and would think it would leave me less beat up. However, if I wasn’t married and ten years younger I’d probably do the race. I’m 36.

Weekly training report, 13 weeks out from Ottawa Marathon.

Sunday: weights

Monday: 14 miles

Tuesday: 18 miles w/ 9x1mi - 400 jog. 5:44 avg. rain and wind!

Wednesday: weights

Thursday: 18 miles - 7mi into 10x800on/400off, averaged 5:24 pace for the 800ons. Windy again!

Friday: 14 miles

Saturday: 24 miles - 14mi ez(6:50) then averaged 5:47/mi from 14-23, 1mi cool down. Not windy!

88mile week in 5 runs. 26% of mileage around goal MP or faster.

The long run this week was encouraging. Got good sleep and nutrition all week after feeling a big tired in the legs Tuesday. Getting there!

Tyler_Runs_Lifts wrote:

Question for the masses...

Next Saturday I have a workout planned - 8x1mi @ tempo w/ 1 min jog recovery

There is a 10K race about 3 hrs away from me on a hilly course (471 feet of gain) that I am thinking about using as my workout instead. No prize money, but I do enjoy racing and might have a shot at the course record (33:55).

What would YOU do?

skip the race, do the workout.

my 50k is March 2nd and it's a trail race with hills, and it looks like it's raining every day this week so it will be sloppy and slow. Because it will take closer to 3:40 and not 3:00, I won't even aim for 5:51 effort because I can only hold that for probably 3 hours. More like 6:10/mi effort to be a little conservative. the rain is good news though because it will sap the energy of unprepared runners and make bonks worse. I'll be conservative and come storming through the last 10 miles.