Warning: long post, another post with some feedback!
Here we go:
First things first: I have been running on and off since 2005. A couple of stints at Tri in there, but generally a runner who has consistently trained.
Focus for the last decade has been the marathon, which has taken me all over Europe and usually results in disappointment after big expectations.
My last two marathon builds have been Pfitz via an online coach who tweaked it to my needs. The first resulted in a 2:48 and the second a blow up and 3:02. With Pfitz I was running more, but my assumption is the load created was more and the fatigue too great to benefit from it. Pfitz sometimes feels like survival mode. I also tried a Canova build from a coach I had and that was just so hard, I ended up with a stress fracture. Personally I think you need huge mileage and a history of it to use the amazing stuff Canova has shared. If you don't have that history of big mileage or the ability to do it, Canova is probably not for hobby joggers and why would it be, he's an elite coach. NSM strikes a better if not close to a perfect balance. With Pfitz I was just overcooked most of the time. I've been chasing breaking 2:45 for a while now. I've gotten older but shoes have brought it back in reach again.
Go back in time to April last year and a friend tells me about a guy my age, running less, who just ran 2:24. I assumed he was some ex elite, but no. I looked into it and found this thread and it was just a normal guy with an unconventional approach to the marathon. I also thought this seems too good to be true!
I read a lot of the posts. One thing that struck me was it wasn't a standalone marathon plan that was used. It was a long time project to maximise everything. So, like someone putting their last €20 on black, I dived into NSM.
After about 13 weeks I felt so much better. Easy running was so much easier. No coach had ever approved of me running 65% MHR and just running through the trails. This also meant I felt good and enjoyed, even looked forward to, the 3 workouts a week. But this easy running was difficult for me to accept at first. It flew in the face of most easy running I have done before, and most coaches I've had would say running this easy is merely a shuffle and for pure recovery days.
They were shuffles at first, but the strange thing is they became a lot faster after 4 months at the same effort. I almost just got more efficient at running, with very little muscular fatigue. It was quite strange to suddenly be running 1.5 minutes per km faster for the same effort. So you might shuffle at first but it all comes together, and as I say I really do feel fresh for the workouts.
At the end of this 6 months or so I had completed 3 workouts a week that closely resemble what became the vanilla plans in the book, every week apart from one day I was sick. I used distance but scaled to time that was close to either 3, 6 or 10 mins. For the marathon blocks I did distances that scaled to 16 min repeats. I decided to bolt on the marathon plan. I had the book at this point and reading that gave me huge confidence rather than just paces and numbers online. Plea: read the book, promote the book, help this inconspicuous and modest man get the message out there! I even emailed sirpoc to say thanks and he took the time to reply and congratulate me (incoming spoiler!)
I had got within a hair of my lifetime 10k on the basic plan so hoped the marathon plan would send me over the edge. Again, it was a bit blind faith as after 3 weeks it felt so easy compared to any marathon plan I've done before and I've done Pfitz and Hanson and as mentioned even a Canova build. It was just more of the same. I will concede, near the end it got tough but having read the book that seems to be by design! It's a fraction of the toughness I have felt by the middle. This work comes unusually late. I didn't run a half 3 weeks out but 4 weeks out and had done all the other workouts exactly as per the book up to this point , with a couple of the really specific ones coming super late as mentioned.
I followed the race pacing guidelines in the book (this might even be the hidden gem inside the cover) but couldn't quite believe my fitness could be within the race prediction calculations described in the book based on the 10 min repeats. Yet I went out with that goal in mind and simply couldn't believe how easy it felt compared to training. I just kept getting stronger and hit a lifetime pb of 1:15. I was almost stunned and felt like maybe the course was a KM short or something lol
Once I took stock and assessed, I realised I had leveled up and realised I had a chance, a real chance at sub 2:45.
Followed the taper, which again is late and unusual. I felt terrible in the week leading up to the marathon, in fact way worse than I ever have. Maybe nerves? As I knew i was close.
Race day: didn't sleep. Carb loaded the last bit in the morning. Again, reading the book helped here, as I don't really think it worries much more than carbs are carbs. I had carb loaded every time before but stressed over every little thing I'd eaten, making sure I had eaten the "right" things or what people say you should. This newish approach for me made the whole thing quite relaxed and it was really only my sleep that was affected from nerves.
The race itself! Well, I got to the start in plenty of time and found my place in my start corral. I tried to get to the front as my goal was up the road in the next group. Luckily it was well organised.
At the start, I quite quickly got onto the back of the group in front which was perfect for me. At that point, I just relaxed and let the KMs tick by. Again, the book helped here as this is the easiest I've ever felt in a marathon but I didn't push it. In fact, took a leaf out of sirpoc's book and whilst I don't usually look at HR I kept a glance on it just to check nothing crazy was happening. That was it really, I kept getting stronger, I was fuelling with 40g of carbs every 20 mins and felt amazing until 30km. Then I knew i was in a race but even though I had to dig deep, I never got the impression I was in trouble. Once you have done a number of marathons, you know when you are going to blow and it's more of when not if. Anyway, I made it to 40km and then just emptied all I had in the tank.
I saw the clock. It was 2:39:xx and I had maybe 100m to go which felt like an eternity. And there it was, pressed stop on my Garmin and I see 2:39:39. Not just breaking 2:45 but broke 2:40. I couldn't believe it. Still can't believe it. Don't even know how this has happened to me.
Thanks to sirpoc (obviously), but also anyone who has contributed in a positive way. Is it too good to be true? No. It's still hard work. In fact, I've run more overall in the last year, whereas before I was running more in small to medium builds and then mileage was taking a crash. It's the aggregate gains. Also, there is an excellent graph in the book that basically depicts what I was doing versus the benefits of nsm long term. This is the key. This training can bring you the consistency that is as close to a magic pill as you can get.
This consistency has been huge for me. I have been completely injury free for the first time in years. I've also broken the boom and bust cycle that a lot of people in this thread have mentioned being stuck in.
I am yet to break 17 for the 5k. I will do this hopefully in the next couple of weeks. This is more of a when, rather than if, based on where my fitness is now.
Thanks again!