What do I need to do to be a contender at the trials?

so are you going to post your PR or what?

ric flair woo wrote:

so are you going to post your PR or what?

Does it really matter? I’m one of the many Americans who has run between 2:12 and 2:15. What’s it gonna take for a guy of that caliber to make the jump?

I Want to Be Better wrote:

ric flair woo wrote:

so are you going to post your PR or what?

Does it really matter? I’m one of the many Americans who has run between 2:12 and 2:15. What’s it gonna take for a guy of that caliber to make the jump?

quit your job, find training partners, run more, and don’t get hurt or burned out along the way.

Although there is some training differences between a 2:12 guy and a sub 2:10 guy; most of it is just mental. If you can run 2:12 you can probably run under 2:10, you just have to believe in youself and have that mentality that "I want this more than anyone and I will do anything to get it." You can however maybe increse your mileage by 5 every 3 or so weeks, and drop tempo pace/threshold pace by 8 sec per mile every 3 workouts you do of that. Thats all I can really give ya. Best of luck; hopefully we both can make this country proud in the sport of running!!

Shoot yuki an email and ask him how he handled training and full time work all those years, he might have some ideas.

Get out of 80 to 100 mpw and make it 80 to 120. With your job, you'll have no time for anything else in your life, be sure you are prepared for that reality.

Your job is hopefully one that isn't too stressful, that can kill more than the hours.

Can you go part time at work temporarily for the next 18 months while you give this a shot? This could allow you to pursue your running while keeping one foot in your career still.

Regarding making ends meet as a runner, to oversimplify things there are two sides to the equation: income as well as expenses. If you seriously want to be a pro without running the times yet that will bring real money, attack the other side of the equation. Buy a van with a bed, dresser, and fold out kitchenette that comes out of the rear hatch so you can cook while standing behind the van. Now your expenses are drastically cut. Just make sure if you live somewhere cold you don't kill yourself by doing something stupid like use a propane space heater inside of it.

If you can with part time instead, get

roommate or move into a friend's spare bedroom.

Or go part time plus live in a van. Then you'll be saving lots of money so if you suddenly run 2:10, you can quit your job while you make the final dedicated push and live on savings while trying to get those last few minutes.

OlympicHopefull wrote:

Although there is some training differences between a 2:12 guy and a sub 2:10 guy; most of it is just mental. If you can run 2:12 you can probably run under 2:10, you just have to believe in youself and have that mentality that "I want this more than anyone and I will do anything to get it." You can however maybe increse your mileage by 5 every 3 or so weeks, and drop tempo pace/threshold pace by 8 sec per mile every 3 workouts you do of that. Thats all I can really give ya. Best of luck; hopefully we both can make this country proud in the sport of running!!

Thanks for the advice! I agree that the mental aspect of making the jump is bigger than any training aspect I can change. It’s frustrating to see everyone bashing the type of performance we put up. Of course we all desperately want to be international caliber marathoners and compete for a spot on the Olympic team. How to get to that point when your not a big shot out of college and receive minimal support is the challenge. See you in Atlanta!

Based off the statement "between 2:12 and 2:15" the poster must be one of the 15 men listed here:

2:12:24 Jared Ward

2:12:28 Scott Fauble

2:12:35 Elkanah Kibet

2:12:52 Shadrack Biwott

2:13:08 Chris Derrick

2:13:16 Aaron Braun

2:14:19 Jonas Hampton

2:14:27 Nicolas Montanez

2:14:29 Parker Stinson

2:14:30 Seth Totten

2:14:40 Ahmed Osman

2:15:00 Fernando Cabada

2:15:22 Tim Ritchie

2:15:31 Ryan Vail

2:15:44 Jeff Eggleston

Why would any of these guys go to letsrun for advice? lol 7/10 troll

OlympicHopefull wrote:

Although there is some training differences between a 2:12 guy and a sub 2:10 guy; most of it is just mental. If you can run 2:12 you can probably run under 2:10, you just have to believe in youself and have that mentality that "I want this more than anyone and I will do anything to get it." You can however maybe increse your mileage by 5 every 3 or so weeks, and drop tempo pace/threshold pace by 8 sec per mile every 3 workouts you do of that. Thats all I can really give ya. Best of luck; hopefully we both can make this country proud in the sport of running!!

Aren't you like 12 and said you want to break world records more than anyone on the planet. You should be out training since your competition is right now!

3200y5000 wrote:

Based off the statement "between 2:12 and 2:15" the poster must be one of the 15 men listed here:

2:12:24 Jared Ward

2:12:28 Scott Fauble

2:12:35 Elkanah Kibet

2:12:52 Shadrack Biwott

2:13:08 Chris Derrick

2:13:16 Aaron Braun

2:14:19 Jonas Hampton

2:14:27 Nicolas Montanez

2:14:29 Parker Stinson

2:14:30 Seth Totten

2:14:40 Ahmed Osman

2:15:00 Fernando Cabada

2:15:22 Tim Ritchie

2:15:31 Ryan Vail

2:15:44 Jeff Eggleston

Why would any of these guys go to letsrun for advice? lol 7/10 troll

Ok then, detective (and everyone else), give individual advice for each one of the athletes listed.

But you can't start with Parker, that's too easy.

Start running and training for 3 minute kilometer splits as opposed to 5 minute mile splits. Also, start doping. Hopes this helps.

3200y5000 wrote:

Based off the statement "between 2:12 and 2:15" the poster must be one of the 15 men listed here:

2:12:24 Jared Ward

2:12:28 Scott Fauble

2:12:35 Elkanah Kibet

2:12:52 Shadrack Biwott

2:13:08 Chris Derrick

2:13:16 Aaron Braun

2:14:19 Jonas Hampton

2:14:27 Nicolas Montanez

2:14:29 Parker Stinson

2:14:30 Seth Totten

2:14:40 Ahmed Osman

2:15:00 Fernando Cabada

2:15:22 Tim Ritchie

2:15:31 Ryan Vail

2:15:44 Jeff Eggleston

Why would any of these guys go to letsrun for advice? lol 7/10 troll

Having met Seth Totten and getting the impression he's a real prick, I vote for Seth Totten.

Answer to the questions:

1 )

https://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/a19536794/reasons-americans-are-fat/

2 )

https://www.liveabout.com/gay-population-statistics-in-the-united-states-1410784

3 )

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/11/15/opinion/are-americans-just-stupid

4 )

https://m.mic.com/articles/140107/racism-in-america-today-is-alive-and-well-and-these-stats-prove-it#.C80YRvFqE

5 )

https://m.ranker.com/list/famous-american-serial-killers/web-infoguy

You’re welcome.

3200y5000 wrote:

Based off the statement "between 2:12 and 2:15" the poster must be one of the 15 men listed here:

2:12:24 Jared Ward

2:12:28 Scott Fauble

2:12:35 Elkanah Kibet

2:12:52 Shadrack Biwott

2:13:08 Chris Derrick

2:13:16 Aaron Braun

2:14:19 Jonas Hampton

2:14:27 Nicolas Montanez

2:14:29 Parker Stinson

2:14:30 Seth Totten

2:14:40 Ahmed Osman

2:15:00 Fernando Cabada

2:15:22 Tim Ritchie

2:15:31 Ryan Vail

2:15:44 Jeff Eggleston

Why would any of these guys go to letsrun for advice? lol 7/10 troll

You left out everyone who ran CIM

Fast

Start running 3 minute kilometres wrote:

Start running and training for 3 minute kilometer splits as opposed to 5 minute mile splits. Also, start doping. Hopes this helps.

Bump !

You're a juggernaut. I don't know how people find the energy to train at that level while working 50+ hours a week.

Hi Shad!

OlympicHopefull wrote:

Although there is some training differences between a 2:12 guy and a sub 2:10 guy; most of it is just mental. If you can run 2:12 you can probably run under 2:10, you just have to believe in youself and have that mentality that "I want this more than anyone and I will do anything to get it." You can however maybe increse your mileage by 5 every 3 or so weeks, and drop tempo pace/threshold pace by 8 sec per mile every 3 workouts you do of that. Thats all I can really give ya. Best of luck; hopefully we both can make this country proud in the sport of running!!

It's mental and if someone runs 2:12 they can break 2:10? At that level, everyone trains hard and is mentally tough and the OP might, or might not, have the natural ability to run that fast.

Okay, OP did not give much information about his training, other than total mileage. I agree to previous posters who said 80-100 mpw is low for sub 2:15 level, more realistic would be 120 mpw or even more.

If we knew more about his training structure in detail, better advice could be given. Do you do enough specific work to prepare you to run multiple sub 5 min miles/sub 3:10 kms? Check out Canova training on this. Just easy long runs is not enough. Try 10 k medium effort + 10 k marathon pace (33 + 31 min) in the morning, no lunch inbetween, and the same 10+10 (33 + 31) in the evening again. If just the idea of this session kills you, you are not ready for anything close to 2:10.