Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 4/18

marmite - Yep, I absolutely love those shoes. Unfortunately, they don't make that exact model anymore and Boston was the last marathon I'll be able to run in them. Any word on the upgrade of those shoes...the Adizero Adios? The weight and heel rise of the two are very similar.

Beefy Marathoner - Like you, I'm fairly fresh out of college...one year. If you wanna get into marathoning seriously, I'd forget about your shorter distance PR's for now. My 5k/10k (from college) are 15:12/31:46, suggesting I should be running in the 2:28-2:29 range, and I've only managed a 2:34 and 2:37 in my first 2 marathons. I'm nowhere near 15:12/31:46 anymore, more like 15:40/32:50 on a good day. My assumption is that when you set those PRs, you were training for those distances exclusively. When you get into marathoning, you'll lose a bit of that speed simply because you're not doing the track stuff anymore.

I don't know how many times you raced the 5k or the 10k, but looking at the PRs, your 5k is better of the two. I'd say 2:45 is a good goal to shoot for in your first one, though you might be able to hit 2:40 on a good day with the weather cooperating. The marathon is a different beast, there are so many other variables that need to fall your way to have the race go well.

Hang around here for advice, I'm nowhere near as experienced as some of the other posters.

Average Joe - Thanks. I was wearing an orange singlet and sunglasses. We must have been running together at some point. We both had the same 5k split, but you, and many others, passed me later in the race. You got me somewhere between 25 and 30k. Glad your race went better than expected.

pablo - I beleive part of my problem may have been fueling as well. That was the reason I recently asked a question about carbo depleting. Although it seems extreme, the people I know who did it did not experience the late marathon slow down. I don't believe I carbo loaded enough either for this race. I guess I am looking for any excuse to tell myself that my training was good and I just had a bad day, because I really don't know what I would have done differently. Possibly some more MP stuff and faster finish long runs, but not much else.

Next marathon? I know I can run a better race and really want to do it at Boston. But, I will be 43 next year and want to run a fast time while I can. The summers here in Virginia are equally brutal with high humidity, making an early fall marathon tough. December is possible. Houston is in January (and flat), but I would be concerned about recovering for another strong marathon effort 3.5 months later. For now, want to get under 16 for 5k, not get injured and run some USATF Masters and XC races. Still enjoying the break right now and quads still sore. New cycle (altough not for marathon) starts on Monday.

Thanks Pablo for the advice. I'm really looking at this first marathon as an experience builder and to get a feel for the distance. I would definitely be satisfied with getting a 2:40 since one of my long term life goals since I was little is to qualify for Boston. I'm not quite sure what workouts to be doing so I'm going to try to frequent these boards a little more. So far I have been doing mile repeats, 1k repeats and tempo runs for the majority of my workouts with a weekly long run of 20 miles.

Congrats to everyone who ran Boston. Impressive performances. All these results are starting to fire me up to start workouts and begin racing this May.

Pablo: What is the terrain like that you train on in Florida? I am assuming it is dead flat. If that is the case your legs might have shutdown at the end because of the terrain in Boston, particularly the downhills. I train in a completely flat area and my legs were shot about 15 miles into the race at Boston 2008 because of all that pounding from the downhills.

Congrats once again everyone.

3TM - Thanks for the advice. I guess you're right, maybe I just need to give it a little time. Still kinda takes the wind out of your sails when you put in that kind of work and not see the result you wanted.

brett - Awesome splits man, very solid performance. Congrats on the first child! I don't have any advice on how to train with young ones, but if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to train...simple as that.

Abu - Yep, flat as a board around these parts. The only hills I see are highway overpasses, and I really don't like running on those...typically no sidewalks. 15 miles into the race I felt like I was working just to hold pace, my legs weren't shot until mile 22-23. But when I say shot, I really mean dead...like going from 5:45 pace to 7:00 pace dead - see my splits for further information.

Thanks, Pablo and Another. Uh, my brain is fried from studying all day. Just had a monster exam. Plan on busting another 2miler at 8min pace tonight. Legs finally starting to feel better.