Ran 14:00 for 5000m 10 years ago. Can I run 2:32 for Marathon by end of 2023?

Why do you think 2:32 is challenging?

I NEVER said it was.

Jeez dude. That is some serious talent. Any chance you’d be willing to post a Strava link for following along? Would be curious to see your progression.

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Strava Runner Profile | Bradley Taylor

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not sure it’s worth following along, but here ya go.

So why can't a weak person do it? it's not hard. Grow up

why didn't you run in college?

even if was a high-15 5K and on a fast course, that gives you a lot of options

Because I thought partying was cooler at the time. I was recruited by a lot of colleges. I was recruited by Oregon when Vin was their coach.

I didn’t consider getting serious again until my son was born and thought it would be cool to have him see me compete.

Care to post any evidence of that? Because from where I am sitting it is absurd and doesn't match reality. 32 year olds are likely to have more developed aerobic systems if they train for years. Otherwise they have the same aerobic system and poorer anaerobic.

I have a friend who ran 2:32 and has a PR of 15:37 in the 5000m. He is an endurance monster but not the "talent" that you are. So yes, if he could do it, so can you. You just have to run a ton of miles and do a lot of long tempos at pace (or better).

I also have a friend who is in his mid-40s and has no real 5000m PR because he never ran after high school. In fact, he just got "back into running" in his late 30s and now has a 2:37 PR based off of quality training and mileage. If he can do it, so can you.

You are clearly a talented athlete, the question is, do you want to do the work? If so, I think you can do it.

This is why I don't think he will do it. It's ten years later - he dabbles in some easy running and his life has moved on. Running is no longer defines him and he doesn't really care about it the way he used to, and he never will. To run 14:00 he will have spent years killing himself- he won't want to go back to those days. He won't prove anything by running 2:32 and he has lost the team structure - so he just won't have the motivation to actually do the consistent miles and workouts to get to 2:32.

hi matt

Based on your post and regiment. It seems you're willing to put in the training yo meet your goal and with you choosing cooler months. I think you can meet your goal based on the course you choose. A flat course in cool weather, I vote yes. Hilly course like Knoxville Covenant marathon i say no because of the course difficulty. My guess is the course will be your deciding variable. Yes on a flat course and no on a hilly course.

Fair enough. I remember a few years ago when I was training for a sub-3 attempt (I am old), and so was Bob Kennedy. I remember thinking that he should be able to jog a sub-3 but as far as I remember he didn't succeed. So yes, I agree with you. You have to do a lot of running in the marathon. Rarely can you run one well on "talent" alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/sports/new-york-marathon-2014-ex-distance-star-is-taking-it-slower.html?smid=url-share

To the OP, why did you pick 2:32? A first marathon shouldn't have such a weirdly specific time goal (unless you have a good reason). Why don't you just try to "run a marathon at sub-6 pace" and see how that feels? I don't know why you think 2:32 is the "sweet spot" for you.

Many posters have already told you that they did just that. I was a 4:20 college miler and 27 minute 8k XC. I started running again around age 27 and did 30 MPW for a few years and then decided on a whim to do a marathon. I ran 2:37 at age 30 doing 30 MPW and the longest run in my life before the race was 18 miles.

Something seems off about this post honestly. Candidly those are not the sort of college times that I would expect to translate to a 2:37 off of such minimal training. 27 minutes for the 8k is slower than the VDOT equivalent of a 2:37 marathon I believe and was presumably done on higher mileage with an already poor mile to 8k conversion. I feel like there has to be something else here (average MPW was actually quite a bit higher, you had an opiate problem in college you have since kicked, the course was heavily downhill for the marathon, you ran up a mountain in your one attempt at 8k xc etc.)

I think it is totally possible if you can actually complete a full marathon build without getting hurt -- that to me is the main challenge with you doing it in 2023. I ran 2:33:XX at age 40 and a 5k PR of only 15:4X, after a significant break running from about age 22-30. It took me 10 years of regular running before I completed a full marathon build without getting hurt though (though I ran 1:14:XX, 31:5X, and 15:4X between age 35-40 off relatively shorter and/or interrupted builds, with my best marathon in that time at only 2:48:XX). When I came back to running at about age 30 I was probably 15 lbs above my college race weight, and when I ran 2:33 (and the other above times) I was probably still about 5 lbs above college race weight. I only ran about 50mi/week in college though (I was an 800m runner) so wasn't trying to hit 100mi weeks or anything -- I ran 2:33 of of about 45mi/week. So you are relatively durable and can hit something relatively close to your collegiate mileage consistently by the time you start your actual structured marathon build, and then complete your build without getting hurt, I think you could do it. If you were relatively high mileage in college and are planning to do your structured build at significantly less than that to avoid getting hurt, I think it may take you a couple of years.

No. It was Marine Corps Marathon. I was always a very low mileage guy and didn't make top 7 in XC but liked track a lot more.

OP:
I had a similar PR 10 years ago (14:11) but I've been competing ever since. I ran 2:20 9 years ago in my first marathon but it took me years trying to figure it out. I dabbled in ultras, trails, track, and took me forever to finally figure the marathon out until I ran 2:16 last month at 31yo with a full time job and a kid. I think I could give you some helpful tips if you want to run sub 2:32 by the end of this year.

1st- Make CIM 2023 your goal race. The course is fast and the weather will most likely be great.

2nd- I would spend this winter just focusing on building a base and staying healthy. I would do one hill workout a week and a long run for now. If you can comfortably get to around 60mpw (I recommend one day off) then start adding in more focused workouts. It's January, you have plenty of time.

3rd- Once you've actually "returned to running" by getting to 60mpw or more, I would start doing some threshold workouts in addition to your weekly hills/speed. One poster recommended a HM first, I think a spring HM would be smart. Getting up to decent mileage will drop some of the extra weight + once you're fitter you can start to run some faster paces in your workouts.

4th- Post Spring HM give yourself a little break and then try to build a bigger summer base. Don't overfocus on super difficult workouts as December is still a long way away. Maybe even focus on 5k and 10k stuff to re-develop your speed but try to get to 70-80mpw with down weeks every 4th week or so if you have that kind of time/drive.

5th- Finally, in the fall, if you really do have 3/4 of a year of rebuilding speed and base, you will likely be quite fit. Keep a weekly hill and/or 10k pace workout with either a Saturday HM/MP pace workout and a Sunday easy long, or a weekend LR workout with HM or MP as the focus. Longest I did for my last build was 24mi (did that 3 times) and longest run at MP was a 12mi tempo in an 18 mi run about 3 weeks out.

I think you can run sub 2:32 no problem with a full year committed to running. Depends how seriously you take it. If you just screw around off and on, you'll learn the marathon can be a cruel, cruel beast.