MAYEROFF wrote:
Primo Numero Uno wrote:I think we need some context here. Did you vastly underperform in your 2:44? Did you go out to fast and die? Were you barely training? Did you run the 2:23 on a way faster course with better runners pushing you?
A normal development curve doesn't go this way for most people so what were the reasons for your huge improvement.
I started doing high mileage training with very little speed work in January 1989 (100-130 miles per week). That was my sophomore year in college. My Cross Country coach was an ultramarathoner and he convinced me to attempt a marathon in Clevleand in May 1989. My longest long run was 15 miles, one week before the race. I went through the half-marathon split in 1:20, so the 2nd half was 1:24. The high-mileage approach was obviously good even without the long runs.
I improved to 2:40 at the 1989 Cal International, but injured my right achilles in the process. I was too heavy at that race, about 170 lbs.
I healed up and changed my program a bit for Cleveland 1990, more interval running and long runs, less miles (90 miles or so per week pretty consistently.) I also did an over-distance run (50km, 2 weeks before my marathon). I did intervals like 10x800 in 2:18 each. My tempo runs were like 14-16 miles in 5:40 pace, and I felt absolutely fantastic before the Cleveland Marathon. I improved to 2:27:12.
I ran 2 more marathons in the summer of 1990: San Francisco in 2:28:47 and Santa Monica in 2:31 (Real hot day in SoCal, won the race). I recovered quickly being 21 years old at the time, and trained hard, about 100 miles per week, lots of long runs, hilly runs and tempo runs, no intervals. I remember my best tempo run was 16 miles in 5:22 per mile, last 2 miles sub-5. That was 2 weeks before the Columbus Marathon in 1990. I felt really good going into the race and it was super cold in Columbus, about 30 degrees Farenheit. Steve Spence won the race in 2:12 and that got him in the World Championships (Tokyo 1991) where he won the Bronze. I went out too fast in Columbus, 15;45 / 32:00 / 1:08:00 are the splits I remember. I was really struggling by 20 miles and then my sub 2:20 was screwed. I should have just stuck with the pack going with Doug Kurtis, the guy who ran like 20 sub 2:20's in one year around that time. There were about 30 American guys under 2:20 in that race. That was my last marathon for about 10 years, until Rotterdam 2000. As a lot of you know I finally got my sub 2:20 in Berlin 2002, 2:18:27.
There you go, feel free to ask any questions. Yes you can improve a lot but you have to make a lot of sacrifices in your life to get there if you have marginal talent like me.