I run a lot slower then you (usually 7:15-7:45 pace) and I ran 2:40 in Chicago in 2010 and think I can get way under 2:40 this year. You should be thinking sub 2:50... maybe sub 2:45... or be slowing down your easy/long runs.
I also train a 3:01 girl (Phily last year) and most of her runs are at 7:45-8:10 pace. I have no doubt she will run 2:55-57 this spring (your goal) yet she runs 1:00/mile slower then you on her mileage...
Pace on easy runs tells you nothing about how fast you can race.
Pittsburgh May 15 14 weeks out
goal 3:40
Mon lift 90mins
Tues ellipt 60min
Wed off
Thur ellipt 60mins
Fri eliipt 60mins
Sat 5miles
Sun 9miles
Finally got out on the icy road this weekend and my hamstrings are feeling it. Right foot is still feeling funky, even after almost a month off from any running at all. I am going to try and run through it and see if it gets any worse. I have a little soreness in the ball of my foot and a little sore spot below my calcaneus. I am reluctant to go for a cortisone shot as it seems to be becoming an annual springtime ritual. I have to find a way to run and stay healthy without regular doctor visits. I am going to experiment with adding a little padding/support to my insoles.
Good luck to everyone and hoping for warmer weather. I could use a little less slippin' and a-slidin'.
GoalRace: Cleveland
GoalTime: 3:2x
~40 with one workout-last 6 in a 10 mile run at 10mile race pace. I'm running a 10 miler next saturday (I should be low 70s if I want to run my goal pace in the marathon) and then starting marathon specific stuff and a higher volume. A half after four weeks of that to get a feel for what my marathon goal time should be. Then ~7 weeks after that for longer marathon specific stuff and a taper (2 weeks).
This doesn't seem very long and I am absolutely not ready. The cleveland marathon just posted a 100 days till race on their website and it about gave me a heart attack.
I'm getting into shape, but have not done any longer work. This is on purpose, but it still freaks me out. Somewhere along the way I got the idea of running an ever increasing long run every other week (hal higdon?) even though this is not what I need to be doing. I cannot shake that, unfortunately, but I am sticking to longer tempo work, with long runs, etc. toward the end.
Wow, that was really whiny! Does this post make me look fat?
Goal Marathon: Country Music Marathon
Goal Time: 2:30-2:35
Mon: Easy 3 miles(7:00s) and easy 7 miles (7:20s)
Tue: Easy 5.5 miles (7:20s) and easy 8.5 (7:20s)
Wed: 7.5 miles with 5.5 mile fartlek at 3:00 steady, 1:00 easy and 8.5 miles easy(6:50s)
Thu: Easy 6 miles (7:00s)and another 6 miles (7:30s)
Fri: 10.5 miles with 2 miles at 10:44 (lost about 10s on a 600m hill), 4:00 jog, 1 mile in 5:01, 3:00 jog and then 8x400m with 1:00 jog in 69.9 avg.; Very easy 6.5 (8:30s) with strides
Sat: Easy 7 miles (7:30s)and easy 4.5 miles (7:30s)
Sun: 19 miles with the first 14 at 6:52 average and then 5 miles steady (5:40, 5:31, :36 (.1), 5:32, 5:30, 4:39 (.9)
Week Total=100.5 miles
I was really happy with Sunday's session because the fast running at the end was very relaxed, and I couldn't feel the 14 prior miles at all. I picked it up a little the last .9 miles, but I didn't mean to run that fast at all.
Rhrunner – I do not disagree with you. Any suggestion as to what a good indicator would be?
4TM— Thanks for the encouragement.
I am a 34 year old former D-1 soccer player and lifelong “hobby jogger” who just got serious about running last year— I have zero competitive racing experience. I jogged a marathon last March and finished in 3:34 after getting dehydrated on an unseasonably warm day and blowing up at mile 22. I was not training hard and was only running 3-5 days a week averaging around 40 miles.
Targeting around 2:55 seems more of a natural progression for me, although I know I have the talent to run sub 2:45 at some point. Perhaps I will try some miles @ 6:30 pace and see how it feels.
On my long run this weekend running 7:30 – 7:22 pace felt great and was done while holding a conversation with a random runner I met. I normally do not run the second half of my runs so fast, but I was using it a point of reference for where my fitness level is. I consider this a hard workout.
Goal race: Detroit
Goal time: 2:34
M- off
T- off
W- 6 miles at 7:07 pace
T- 5 miles a 6:30 pace
F- 6 miles at 6:40
S- 6 miles at 7:34 pace
S- off
23 miles for the week
99flapper wrote:
On my long run this weekend running 7:30 – 7:22 pace felt great and was done while holding a conversation with a random runner I met. I normally do not run the second half of my runs so fast, but I was using it a point of reference for where my fitness level is. I consider this a hard workout.
My take on marathon training is that long runs should be one of your hard workouts in a week, the other either tempo/interval/fartlek. Then lots of mileage in between, usually doubling. A 20+ mile run is fairly hard on your legs no matter how fast or slow you do it. Picking it up to a good clip at the end is a very good workout and can tell you a lot about how you will do in an actual marathon. Other than that it's just racing. People can crush workouts and run really fast all the time but if you don't show up on race day who cares?
Fri: 10.5 miles with 2 miles at 10:44 (lost about 10s on a 600m hill), 4:00 jog, 1 mile in 5:01, 3:00 jog and then 8x400m with 1:00 jog in 69.9 avg.; Very easy 6.5 (8:30s) with strides
Sun: 19 miles with the first 14 at 6:52 average and then 5 miles steady (5:40, 5:31, :36 (.1), 5:32, 5:30, 4:39 (.9)
_________________________________________________________
blaznbison24 - Damn dude, nice workouts. Can't be mad at that! Any tune-up races on your schedule?
99flapper - Either you have set the bar too low or you're running some of your runs way too fast. No reason you should be doing 10 at 6:50pace the day before your 20miler. Maybe 7:50s.
My advice? Slow down
This week was an exercise in fortitude. The aforementioned Blizzard of the Century moved thru town. Many hours of shoveling. Grateful to have a treadmill, because this week would have been a total loss had not.
Goal Race: Boston
Goal Time: 2:48
M: AM: 8 EZ, PM: 60 min stretch/core routine
T: AM: 6 Treadmill, PM: 6 Treadmill
W: AM: 10 Treadmill, five hours of shoveling.
T: AM: 6 Treadmill, PM: 6 Treadmill
F: AM: 10 Progression run 7:30 down to 6:00, Treadmill; PM: 60 min stretch/core routine
S: AM: 11 EZ (back outside on the roads!)
S: AM: 18, snowing, horrible footing, very slow and a lot of work
Total: 82 miles
Mileage is where I want it to be. Next week is a down week, then back at it after that for two more four week cycles.
Great great work everyone. I love keeping up with everyone, especially those of you with similar time goals or those running Boston!
Rhrunner – Thanks for the reply. Doubling is the next logical step in my training, but a busy life and laziness makes it hard.
NoleRunner26 – Thank you for the advice. I re-read the workouts in this thread and noticed that your advice is in alignment with what everyone here is practicing. I would love to think that I have set the bar too low, but given my running experience I probably haven’t.
Another - Nice new diet plan...whenever you need to drop a few pounds, get the flu!
GranpaChook - Just judging from your semi-recent 10k and the 200 sessions you did this week...it seems to me that you have speed to burn, but lack some endurance. You still have time to figure out a goal (that half in March should really help), but I'm thinking you should think about having 2:50 in mind, then re-evaluate if the half goes well. This thread is full of knowledgeable people, stick around and you'll get some great advice.
NoleRunner - Great week man! The forced down week really seemed to re-vitalize you. FWIW, I ran a couple of 4 mile tempos a few weeks before my 1:09 half...they averaged out to 5:18 pace, and guess what I averaged for the half...yup, 5:18. Just sayin' that 4-5 mile tempos have been very good predictors for me in the past for 15k-half marathons. If you can run a few more tempos at sub-5:20 pace during a high mileage week....and NOT be drained at the end, you'll break 50 at Gate.
oz - I know what you mean about 95 degrees and 100% humidity, that season is right around the corner for us in FL. I'm just enjoying what little time I have left of good running weather.
Hans E. - You've been putting in excellent mileage the last month or so, most of it pretty easy. What kind of paces do you run for your average, ordinary run? Or do you just take it day by day?
99flapper - I love the random fartlek, you don't need a marked course, a certain pace, or even a watch...you just run. I definitely agree with the others though, unless you're severely underestimated your marathon goal, you're running way too fast. I've run 2:31, and I hardly ever run 6:30 pace for a random 8 miler.
blaznbison - Wow, awesome workouts man!
Question for those who've done the elite development thing at Chicago:
Is the elite development on a first come, first served basis? I ask because I qualified with 3 different times, with my half marathon being 90 seconds faster than the qualification standard...but I checked my registration status today, and under "Corral", it says "Corral A". I wouldn't mind being put in Corral A, but I do have legitimate qualifying standards, and would like to be in the Elite Development. I know it's really early and I'm being nitpicky, but I'm just wondering.
Pablo: I've ran in the elite development program and your status should say so upon registering. I had the same issue and just sent a friendly reminder to the support staff and it was corrected. On that note - does 'Top 100' still get until September to register or did they do away with that?
Goals: NYC Marathon (TBD)
NYC Half (1:15 - 3/20)
4:00 (1500), 15:30, 33:00
Mon: off
Tue: 7 - (8:26 - easy/TREACHEROUS run on icy roads)
Wed: 2 - (7:40 - easy)
Thu: 10.5 (7:03 - 5 mile progression -> 6:20, 6:06, 5:51, 5:45, 5:32)
Fri: 10 (7:06 - easy, hilly run)
Sat: 10.8 (6:57 - easyish w/ 8 x 100m strides)
Sun: off
Total: 40.3 miles
Not a great week. This winter is testing my patience! Wednesday I got on the treadmill but only after 30 minutes on the stationary bike waiting for it to open up. Then time ran out. I wanted to get a second workout in this week but it didn't happen.
Great training everyone! Just curious about long runs when training for a half marathon. Is there a benefit of going longer than 2 hours / 16-17 miles? Obviously it's essential for the full marathon, but just wanted to get some feedback based off personal experiences with the half. Thanks!
Pablo,
Most of my daily miles over the last few months have been slow, between 7:20 and 8:10. I live at 7000ft though, and almost in the mountains, so it's hard for me to compare my paces on any runs (tempos, intervals, long runs) with others (or what I used to do before moving here). The altitude definitely slows one down and the mountainous terrain keeps one from ever running anything like a steady pace. Maybe there are some benefits to living and training at altitude, but living up high prevents one from getting accumstomed to the long steady tempo and race pace runs that are crucial for marathon. After a long while of trying to replicate the way I trained at sea level up here, I'm now experimenting with higher (slower) mileage.
cbreeze - Thanks, I sent them an email this morning. And to answer your question, I cut and paste this directly from the Chicago Marathon website.
Acceptance into the Elite Development Program is based on the qualifying standards below.
Key Amenities include:
Extended registration deadline of September 1, 2011
Separate and secure start/finish area tent
Private toilet facilities
Private Gear Check
Access to the Elite Development Start Corral 15 minutes prior to official race start
Opportunity to start directly behind the Elite Corral
To qualify for the Elite Development Program, you must have run a documented race time no earlier than January 1, 2009 and no later than September 1, 2011 that is faster than the following:
Hans - Thanks for the info. I have no experience running at altitude, the highest elevation I run in FL is 100 ft +/- going over bridges, lol. I'm interested to see how it works out for you. If you don't mind me asking, where do you live/train? I know places like Lake Tahoe, Cheyenne, Alamosa, etc. are upwards of 7,000 ft above sea level.
Goal Boston ~2:25
M : 55 min
T : 60 min
W : 55 min
TH:75 mins + strides
F : 6M tempo (5:05 - 5:15)
S : 85 mins
SU: 130 mins
~80 miles
Friday was one of the few days where there wasn't ice all over the sidewalk and roads where I run in beautiful Jersey City.
4TM - bummed to hear your sick. Hang in there brother, still got a long time to recover and rally for Boston.
pablo wrote:
Is the elite development on a first come, first served basis? I ask because I qualified with 3 different times, with my half marathon being 90 seconds faster than the qualification standard...but I checked my registration status today, and under "Corral", it says "Corral A". I wouldn't mind being put in Corral A, but I do have legitimate qualifying standards, and would like to be in the Elite Development. I know it's really early and I'm being nitpicky, but I'm just wondering.
It is not first come, first serve. It says Coral A for a few weeks and then they change it. It actually took until April for them to change it for me when I did it a few years ago but it will happen. It's an awesome experience doing that, you'll have a lot of fun!
Goal: LONDON Marathon in 2:35
Monday: Unplanned rest day. Ill. (0)
Tuesday: Ill. (0)
Wednesday: Ill. (0)
Thursday: Ran to track and back. Sluggish. (6)
Friday: 10 miles. Felt much better than yesterday (10)
Saturday: AM Cannon Hill Parkrun 5k 16:16 1st position. Really windy (12) PM: 4 mile jog(4)
Sunday: 11 miles. Felt awful. Exhausted. (11)
Week total: 43 miles
2011 total: 394 miles
Liberty,
I'm doing better now. Pretty much back on track and "only" missed 4 days. Solid week dude... 6M tempo at 5:05-5:15? Nice man. Quite the jump in fitness over the last few months. I love it! Just make sure you get in a good amount of MP running in there too. Still lots of time... I haven't even started workouts yet (starting next week)...