Sub 2h30 Spring Marathon - The Quest For Amateur Glory Rides Again!

My training this past week.

80 miles

Workout 1: 10x1000 repeats with 2:30 active rest. 318, 319, 317, 315, 309, 309, 305, 304, 255, 257.

Workout 2: 2x4 mile threshold with one mile float rest. 518, 520, 518, 515, 630 (float rest), 513, 517, 511, 505.

Half marathon next week. Trying for sub 70.

I am a half inch taller than you and currently weigh 25 lbs more. My body type would never let me get down to 130, that would be grossly unhealthy. But hopefully I can get back down to the mid to low 140s.

Wow, nice work guys!

After some rest, I got back at it last week. The intention was to focus more on speed and recovery with reduced mileage. The first half of the week was good, but then I kind of fell back into the routine of medium-hard pace all the time. I need to learn how to be disciplined on the easy days, even if feeling good.

Total: 91 mi

Mon: 13 @6:53/mi waking back up from a day off

Tue: 13 w/ 8 x 1 mi with 1/4 mi jog targeting HM HR (treadmill)

Weds: 10 recovery @7:34/mi

Thur: 12 easy @7:11/mi + 8 15s hill sprints

Fri: 10 @6:27/mi w/ 10 x 1:00/1:00 (5k perceived effort)

Sat: 13 @6:36 slight aerobic progression

Sun: 20 @6:22 steady aerobic with some pressure on the uphills

The 8 x mi was a tougher effort than I gave it credit for. I really enjoyed doing that on the treadmill though because I could peg my HR perfectly. I think those two easy days helped a ton, but I spent the recovery poorly. I'm planning two more similar weeks then a mini-taper for the upcoming HM on March 15.

Nice week, BigRoundNumbers. Adding that bit of speed to the monster aerobic base you have built should get you in very nice shape for Boston.

My week:

Monday: off - needed a rest day after a weekend on the road that included lots of running and not enough sleep

Tuesday: 10 easy (6:54)

Wednesday: 11 easy (7:00). Core and weights.

Thursday: AM 5 easy (7:15); PM 11 with 5M tempo at 5:29 average.

Friday: AM 6 easy (7:16); PM 9 easy (7:00) with 6 x 20 second strides

Saturday: 10.6 easy (7:00). Core and weights.

Sunday: 18.2 miles with 12 steady (5:53 average) in the middle.

Total: 80 miles

The Thursday tempo was a nice controlled effort that has me feeling pretty good about the HM I'll race on March 15. The Sunday steady run was intended to be a little longer and slower. I was targeting 14-15 miles at 6:0X, but I couldn't stay disciplined on the pace early; didn't help that I was running with a super fit friend. I feel like I could have completed the additional 2-3 miles at the effort I was running, but I wanted to make sure to avoid going in the tank, as I have in the past after overdoing the pace on similar extended efforts. 13 weeks to VCM.

@jvarunner - Not doing Grandma's, but I did run that as my first marathon back in 2018. Loved every second of it. Hoping to go back at some point and lay down a fast time.

Antonio Gramsci, I was jealous of your tempos last week. That's a rock solid base.

Here is my week for those who are interested...

Mon - 7.0 mi EZ @ 8:05/mi

Tues - 2 mi WU, 7.37 mi @ 5:38/mi, 2 mi CD

Wed - 7.3 mi EZ @ 8:03/mi

Thurs - 13 mi @ 6:50/mi (Bridge Loop)

Fri - 10 mi @ 6:14/mi

Sat - 7.1 mi @ 7:56/mi

Sun - 18.5 mi @ 6:08/mi, 2 mi CD

I knew I wanted to do a fartlek of sorts on Tuesday and after searching through the archives here and online, I found the Savage Fartlek. It goes from 7 minutes down to 1 minute with your recovery being half of what you ran and the pace drops accordingly. I started out at 5:20/mi for the 7 minute segment and cut down five seconds each ensuing interval before closing out in the 4:50/mi range.

Friday was a bit rough with a sustained 15 mph wind and gusts up to 30 mph, but I was able to find a little bit of relief. It was a 10 mile aerobic run and after the first few miles I felt like I would have to treat it like a progression, but soon enough I hit where I wanted with my effort and cruised from there. My last seven miles came in at 6:07, 6:01, 6:02, 6:07, 6:05, 5:59, 5:55.

Then on Sunday I made the journey up to that Little Slice of Heaven about 1 hour away. You know, the undulating country road that rarely offers more than 400m of flat ground. Strava said I got in 783 feet of elevation, if that's to be believed.

I did 5 x 2 mi @ MP with 1/2 mile of active recovery after 6 conversational miles. Once again, I focused on effort and not time. Here are the splits - 5:49, 5:41 | 5:44, 5:41 | 5:47, 5:46 (Worst hills they got) | 5:42, 5:41 | 5:43, 5:37. I'm pleased with the consistency and once I did get to the rare flat during a 2 mile rep, my pace dropped to 5:35/mi, which is right where I want to be all things equal.

I accidentally did Sunday's workout without water. It wasn't planned that way, but I felt pretty good minus a slight side stitch that I had to fight through in the last 2 miles. When I go back in a few weeks, I need to either carry water with me or drop a bottle around an area that I make a few passes by, because I hardly go back around to my car until the end.

I don't plan on doing any MP work on flat ground until I use a half marathon as a training run during a 15 @ MP workout. This leads to an interesting question: Do I add on during the middle of the run (It will probably be an out-and-back at some point, so I would go out 1 mile and turn around) OR Do I plow through the finish and keep going? Chances are I could win this thing.

Looks good everyone. It looks like many of you are coming back strong after some down time.

I did 80 miles last week with the following workouts:

Wednesday: 2 wu + 13 (avg. 5:47) + 2 cd

Saturday: 8 easy + 8 x 1000 w/ 2 min. active recovery (avg. 3:11) + 2 cd

My Wednesday workout ended up being much harder than I had hoped. I did a similar workout two weeks ago and had no problem maintaining 5:45 pace, but this week my heart rate was 3 or 4 beats higher at the same pace which means that I began to fade pretty bad towards the end. I'm hoping this is just due to tired legs.

Saturday was a little better, even though my legs are still pretty dead. Averaging 3:11 wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't too draining either and I finished feeling stronger than when I started.

I'm hoping to boost up the mileage this week to do about 90 in singles. 9 weeks until I race!

Tyler, depending on the size of the race, it seems like it would be an even greater challenge to try to do 3 MP miles and time it so that you come through the start just after the gun goes off. Then see if you can weave through the pack and chase down the leaders!

Had a down week last week before we hit it hard for Shamrock Shuffle.

M: off

T: 8.06 @ 6:59

W: 10.65 miles @ 6:05 average (3 miles easy, 12 x 1min on/1 min off, 3 miles easy)

This felt so smooth. Kept the ons between 4:47-5:00 pace (turns were awful on this 800 meter square) and between 5:43-6:00 on the offs. Ended up with 5:21, 5:26, 5:25, 5:23 for the 4 miles during that workout.

TH: 10.01 @ 7:16

F: 4.3 @ 7:20

S: 15 @ 6:37 with the last 5 miles at about dropping from 6:09, 07, 05, 03, 01.

Sun: 12 miles @ 6:59

Total: 60 miles

I feel solid. Minor achilles issues on occassion but other than that good. I'm running everything in New Balance 1080s. No workouts in vaporflys at all. The active rest is encouraging right now and I'm recovering pretty nicely.

We're bumping back to 80 now and I feel good. Ran 17.25 (13 mile, 4.25 double) miles on Tuesday and hit a workout yesterday feeling fresh.

Workout yesterday was:

3 miles easy, 3 x 1 mile @ HMP/2 minutes easy, 4x 1 minute @ 5k/2 minutes easy, 3 mile cooldown

Miles were 5:15, 5:13, 5:13 with the rests being at 6:27 average, averaged 4:49 for the 1 minute pickups with 6:15 pace for the rests. Had a bunch of sleet/snow hitting me but it didn't slow me down. I can't wait for the winter to be over.

Anyone else gonna be in Atlanta for the trials this weekend?

Weekly recap before work really gets going this morning! I did another week that was more speed oriented with reduced mileage and more deliberate rest days.

Total: 91 miles

Mon: Recovery 10 @7:22/mi

Tue: Easy 13 @7:05/mi with some light strides

Wed: 13 @6:25/mi with 4 mi @~5:39 on rolling hills, 4 min easy, 6 x 45s hill sprints

Thurs: Recovery 10 @7:30/mi (treadmill)

Fri: 13 @6:38/mi with 10 x 1:00/1:00 a little faster than 5k effort

Sat: Recovery @7:32/mi

Sun: 22 @6:31/mi on a Boston simulator route, mostly relaxed

Interesting week for me. Work has been super stressful, so I've had a tough time staying focused and clicking it into gear. Weds was a pretty controlled effort, though it didn't feel as smooth as I would have liked. Friday, I hit the highest HR that I've seen in at least a year, which is interesting - that's kind of a sneaky workout. Sunday was just running by feel on a Boston-like route. The first ten miles were pretty easy, then there are like six mile-long hills - the last few into a headwind, of course.

I'm starting to feel a little behind the curve with recovery, but my lingering hip problem is actually improving, which is a huge relief as I was terrified to spend much time faster than MP. I don't think I'll do as many workouts over the next two weeks so that I can try to come up a bit for the HM. Holy cow, seven weeks to Boston!

marathonNoob wrote:

Tyler, depending on the size of the race, it seems like it would be an even greater challenge to try to do 3 MP miles and time it so that you come through the start just after the gun goes off. Then see if you can weave through the pack and chase down the leaders!

I'll have to see how the course sets up for that. I like the idea of getting two MP miles before the race and working my way through the others, but I think they start the 5K and 10K after the half marathon, which might make it ROUGH.

Copying this over from the Road Racing & Training thread.

Mon - 7 mi EZ @ 8:19/mi

Tues - 3.5 mi WU, 7.81 mi @ 5:51/mi, 3.5 mi CD

Wed - 7 mi EZ @ 8:13/mi

Thurs - 13 mi @ 6:54/mi

Fri - 2 mi WU, 3.1 mi @ 5:36/mi, 4 mi @ 7:55/mi

Sat - 6.2 mi @ 8:00/mi

Sun - 20 mi @ 6:33/mi

At some point in my hilly long run last week, I either pulled something in my back or slipped a rib. It has been incredibly uncomfortable, but I have been trying to grind it out.

Tuesday and Friday were polar opposites of each other.

I had a 2 x 1.5 mi @ T w/ 400 recovery and then 6 x 800 @ 5K w/ 400 recovery on Tuesday. I got through the tempo intervals with some mild discomfort, but nailed them - 5:17, 2:38 | 5:17, 2:38. Then I couldn't hit 5K pace if my life depended on it after those and had to settle for somewhere between 5K & 10K pace with them mostly at 2:30-2:32.

Friday was ROUGH. It was supposed to be a 3-2-1 tempo with 400 recovery. But after that first 3 mile interval, where I really had to reel in the pace (5:27, 5:23, 5:17), my back locked up and I didn't want to push it any further. I did 4 miles after that with some surges thrown in, but that was the extent of the workout.

Sunday felt a bit better, but there were several times when it felt like I was going to throw up since my rib cage was so tight. I managed to get in 20 at a 6:33/mi pace. I cruised most of them and hit an aerobic feel for a few miles at a time whenever I came up on my bridge loops.

I need to get this issue sorted out before too long because I have a HUGE training week coming up with 10 x 1K @ 10K pace on Tuesday and 4 x 3 mi @ MP on Sunday up on the hills. I may have to shift things around and just do aerobic on Tuesday, but I really don't want to do that.

Drove down to Atlanta this weekend to watch my coach and some friends race at the trials. Easy shakeout on Friday before a 10 hour drive down.

Workout was in the middle of my long run. 6 miles easy, 8 miles at MP, 3 mile C/D.

Route was pretty hilly. I ended up with a little over 1000 ft of elevation through it. 6 miles were just at about 7:00 average. Ended up started on the Belt Line and just going back and forth to get the 8 miles out of the way.

Averaged 5:35 pace for my workout. Splits were: 5:40, 5:41, 5:33, 5:37, 5:33, 5:37, 5:24.

Last 3 miles were about 6:39 average or so.

Unfortunately those hills really gave my achilles a beating. Ended up having to take Sunday off due to an 8 hour drive home and really sore achilles. I'm getting pretty agressive with the rehab and we will be backing off a bit on the easy day. Thankfully I haven't run anything in vaporflys so I'm not giving myself more strain there. Should be back healthy relatively quickly. Aside from the achilles issue, I feel good. I'm excited to see how far down I can get at Boston.

@beersandmiles - Nice work on that long run in Atlanta. There is definitely some good running to be had in that city. I did the Peachtree Road Race this year and stayed a few days before and after. Wasn't disappointed.

Do you like that 12 x 1 min on/1 min off workout? If I'm not feeling up to my 10 x 1K tomorrow, I might shift workouts to that one to get some good work in.

Tyler_Runs_Lifts wrote:

@beersandmiles - Nice work on that long run in Atlanta. There is definitely some good running to be had in that city. I did the Peachtree Road Race this year and stayed a few days before and after. Wasn't disappointed.

Do you like that 12 x 1 min on/1 min off workout? If I'm not feeling up to my 10 x 1K tomorrow, I might shift workouts to that one to get some good work in.

Thanks man. It was quite an incredible experience.

I really liked the workout. I focused the 1 minutes off as floats so it kept me working. Really easy way to break things up and I ended up running a little bit less than 4.5 miles at like 5:25 pace. If you're feeling a bit banged up it may be worth it to back down a week to focus on getting back to 100%. Do you think the hills are putting a lot of strain on your back?

That sounds like a solid workout. I am definitely going to borrow that one. Seems like a good way to get in four miles of strong work.

And I don't know. I don't think it has been a compounding effect on me with those hills. This just started acting up after my last long run in them two weeks ago. I plan on seeing how it feels going forward and might stay local for the 3 x 4 mi @ MP this weekend and do it on a flatter bike path so I can really lock in the pace.

Solid week gents! Take care of those nagging injuries. I’ve had achilles and lower back issues before, so I can relate.

As for me, I took a down week to race a half marathon 8 weeks out from marathon. I ran 1:08:58 on a USATF certified course. I’m pumped about it and have a lot of confidence heading into the marathon.

I need some honest feedback though. The course was a net 200 loss in elevation. The marathon course I’m racing is almost net 0. What would my time have been on a net 0 course? I’m asking so I can get a realistic idea of what I can run in the full. I’m thinking the downhill helped my time by no more than a minute.

Actually just calculated my marathon course as being a loss of 130 feet in elevation, so somewhat similar to my half. My full will have a lot more turns though since my half was essentially a point to point.