20 or 22 miles for final long run?

I considered the 70 mpw plans but could not see fitting it into my schedule (I work 60hrs per week and have young children...and travel a bit!) so I settled on the 55m peak plan. I did the FIRST plan last year for MCM, 3 days running 2 days x-train, probably peaked at 42miles so running the 50-55 mile weeks consistently was quite a step up for me.

With my relative lack of experience & miles, therefore relatively unknown endurance past mile 20, change my race strategy? I would obviously like to finish as fast as I can, but I need to keep the Boston goal in mind and not blow up trying to go sub 3:10 vs. my 3:20 goal.

WWRD wrote:

I considered the 70 mpw plans but could not see fitting it into my schedule (I work 60hrs per week and have young children...and travel a bit!) so I settled on the 55m peak plan. I did the FIRST plan last year for MCM, 3 days running 2 days x-train, probably peaked at 42miles so running the 50-55 mile weeks consistently was quite a step up for me.

With my relative lack of experience & miles, therefore relatively unknown endurance past mile 20, change my race strategy? I would obviously like to finish as fast as I can, but I need to keep the Boston goal in mind and not blow up trying to go sub 3:10 vs. my 3:20 goal.

If the course is mostly flat go out in 1:39 and aim for even splits to maximize your odds. You will either be able to run even splits or feel great and negative split, or not. If not then it just wasn't going to happen that day.

No need for preventive advil, actually it is performance de-enhancer.

http://www.prleap.com/pr/7279/

Just take a baby aspirin before the long run and full marathon. Though I think that is unnecessary for a well-conditioned athlete as well.

Why not do as Ryan Hall does and do a 20 with the first half at MP + 30-45 secs and the second half at MP? Should give you a confidence boost and also helps with the psychology of not going out too hard on race day (which is generally the biggest mistake novice marathoners make).

I'm running Kiawah Island, which is flat as a board. I've decided on the 20, you guys cemented that for me. We'll probably start easy negative split the training run with the last 3-4 at goal pace. Also I do plan on being at 1:39-1:40 at the half and stay there until mile 20, if I've got anything I may pick it up a little there.

Once again, thanks for all the advice, and good running out there!

Sorry! I should have said 3:30:59.

Sort of on topic wrote:

I have a history of blowing up, so I want a decent marathon under my belt. I went out in 1:28 in Richmond a few years ago on my way to a 3:50. The fattest women marathoner ever passes me and it kills me to this day.

you got passed by oprah? some people might call that an accomplishment.

I'm working on the pfitz 18/70 plan for the first time.

So far, i love it because i am never tired and my legs never feel too heavy like they had with the daniels plan. As a result, i would just stick with the plan and follow it without tinkering too much.

The 70 plan peaks with a 22 miler but the final long run is a 20 miler i think. The truth is that if you are hitting the correct pfitz paces (90% of MP) then the difference between a 20 and 22 miler is quite big. For example, the 20 milers were fairly easy for me but after the 22 miler my legs were very heavy, all the glycogen was sapped out and it required 48 hours recovery. In any event, i would reiterate - stick with the plan and don't overdo the long runs given your low weekly mileage.

The one area in the pfitz plan which i am not sure about is the 3 tune-up races. I can't really find an appropriate race for those dates so i am thinking about just doing them myself on track. Any thoughts on this? -- sorry to hijack the thread.

As someone in the 3+ hour range, my best effort had me on my feet about as long as my expected race time, but something like a minute and half slower per mile. I'm not quite sure how far it was, probably about 22 miles.

I ended up doing 20 (actually 20.38), the last 10 I averaged 7:22 with the last 6 at 7:06...I know I'm an idiot, but there were other runners out there and I'm overly competitive....I had no issues with my VO2max workout this morning though so I think I came out fine.OCD -I've really liked the plan too, I'm relatively new to the sport so getting to 55miles was actually a step up for me.As for the tune up races. We had the same issue. First we do our long runs on Saturday so we'd have to change our schedule to find a Saturday race, which we really didn't want to do then it was finding the right race! What we ended up doing was mostly simulating races. Similar to the lactic threshold (LT) runs in the plan we'd warm up a couple of miles then run 6-8 miles at lactic threshold. It's tough to get yourself to do this, but I think it worked. I noticed I was doing these faster than I was doing LT runs a few weeks back (as fitness has improved). This brings up one of the things I liked about the Phitz plan, running this tough run then following it with a long run. I think this, to some extent, prepares you for running late in the marathon, I was wiped out at the end of the long runs the day after these but made myself push at goal pace, I hope it pays off in 3 weeks! Related the last of the "race" days in the plan is this week for me, we adjusted our schedule and are doing a Turkey Trot thursday and going long on Friday (16m)!Good luck OCD!

OCD wrote:

The one area in the pfitz plan which i am not sure about is the 3 tune-up races. I can't really find an appropriate race for those dates so i am thinking about just doing them myself on track. Any thoughts on this?

Yes, do them on your own; but run them on the roads, not the track.

Use the same type of conditions as the race.

I will take a shot at this one wrote:

As someone in the 3+ hour range, my best effort had me on my feet about as long as my expected race time, but something like a minute and half slower per mile. I'm not quite sure how far it was, probably about 22 miles.

Yes, that's good advice. Time on feet is important, it helps maintain concentration for the full distance, which is essential in preventing that loss of form in the last few miles.

Sorry to jump the thread, but there seems to be a lot of knowledge and experience in the previous posts. I have been ill during my build-up and have averaged just under 20 mpw during the past two months. With a couple of runs in the 20 mile range (only run of the week!) at 7:15 pace, what kind of time should I expect to run next monthd?

Don't run a Marathon without a decent build up. That's the best advice I can give.