Predict my time at NYC.

Fun handle & solid 70.3 time. Lots of room to improve there with a faster run.

I think sub-3 or 3:05ish is about right for you. I feel like 70.3 run pace is pretty close to open marathon pace. Your 10k says 2:50. Your half says mid to high 2:50s.

But an hour/week of running is not what gets you to a fast marathon. You're probably strong enough to handle 7:00 miles for 26.2 but 6:30s might feel good for 13.1 before a slow burn to the finish that might put you north of 7:00 pace.

I like starting out at 4:30/k. Don't run too hard in the 1st 2 miles up & down the bridge. Think about effort. Settle into pace in Brooklyn. Make sure you navigate the Queensboro bridge alright. Once you hit 5th have you can increase the pace slightly if you feel like you have legs for the last 10 miles.

I say 3:10. Obviously you’re fit, but I think to break 3 you just need the mileage. An hour of running a week isn’t going to prepare you for the torture of miles 18-26. In the last 4 months what is the longest run you’ve done?

I definitely believe in last minute entries and winging it (I was a last minute entry into my first marathon). I recommend running it at a sustainable pace and having loads of fun. Good luck!

Slowkate wrote:

I say 3:10. Obviously you’re fit, but I think to break 3 you just need the mileage. An hour of running a week isn’t going to prepare you for the torture of miles 18-26. In the last 4 months what is the longest run you’ve done?

I definitely believe in last minute entries and winging it (I was a last minute entry into my first marathon). I recommend running it at a sustainable pace and having loads of fun. Good luck!

I agree, about 3:10 to 3:15

Thanks a ton to all for the replies. I started out pretty conservatively as suggested, felt aerobically on point and a good chunk of the first half was (or at least felt) downhill so locked into around 4:10 per k. Legs locked up a bit about 15 miles in but I genuinely didn’t know if slowing down would have been any better than speeding up so I just stayed at the same effort.

Ended up with some gas in the tank the last 10k so slowly upped the tempo, and ran almost dead on 20 min for 30-35 and 35-35k. Little kick at the end wiped out the conservative start so official time ended up as 2:57:21, which I was honestly quite pleased with and got to enjoy the whole course, and didn’t really put myself into a “racing” mindset until Central Park.

Hopefully can get a proper marathon in with a real structured buildup and see what happens.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom!

Nice job!

You have almost an hour swim in a half iron?

Nice work, congratulations!

josh1988 wrote:

You have almost an hour swim in a half iron?

Not super fast, but not an hour (transitions). Would you like to critique his 2:06 bike??

No wetsuit + no swimming all year because of covid restrictions + long transitions…yeah my swim was crap and I wouldn’t say otherwise. Not an hour, but I’ll concede it was objectively quite bad.

Wasn’t really the point of the thread, I only stated the bike and run times since those seemed relevant (ie strong cyclist who isn’t a terrible runner but hasn’t focused on it at all lately).

Thanks to those who all offered feedback/encouragement! I reckon with a full winter of training I could get closer to the ~245 range, but who knows. Happy with how today went given my lack of running and everyone who responded was pretty much bang on and couldn’t have asked for better weather so I’ll take it haha

2:57 on 1 hour a week of running? That is really impressive. Gotta say I’m a bit jealous. I could never come close to swinging that.

Yeah -- congrats on the 2:57! Lines up with your 10k/half but still impressive off of ~1 hour of training. Maybe you ran more than that the month or two before the race?

Seems like you have a ton of talent & could give something like 2:45 a go. Would have to chip away at your 10k/half along the way.

If I were you I would build a swim/run base & go for your elite triathlon card. 4:15ish 1/2 iron usually gets you pretty close. Maybe 4 hours of each/week, which might mean scaling the biking back a touch depending on what kind of volume you're used to. 2:45 could take a few cycles but would be a good goal too.

Well done mate. Stellar effort! Like some of the earlier replies suggested, would be really interesting to see how you go with a few extra miles/hours running under your belt per week.. If it's a matter of "only so many hours in a week available to train issue" maybe try reducing your cycle training slightly and bump up the running. You might find your cycling times don't suffer much and your running improves markedly. Food for thought.

I feel a little silly saying I only ran an hour a week the last 365 days. It’s true, but probably a bit misleading. The volume I do on a bike, and the fact that from ages 12-18 running was my primary sport basically means the engine is there and I’m reasonably economical from having done consistent 40+ mpw (albeit a decade ago).

That said…you’re pretty spot on I think. Quite frankly my time trialing gains are getting more and more marginal. Could I get to 2 flat for 56 miles? Probably, but that’s a harder 6 minutes to gain in relative terms. Kinda been debating whether or not I can the triathlon thing entirely, but you guys are right…if I do a little swimming and get in 2:45 marathon shape, I probably lose very little on the bike and I could see 4:0x in the cards.

Also where I’m currently located, the winter is the time to do it (running is the only thing I can do outside the next couple months, and the pool becomes more tolerable when the weather is crap).

Question: if you were to pencil in 3 running workouts a week (assume I get in a little extra easy mileage jogging to the pool 2 other days a week, but outside of that I’m not doubling or running/riding on the same day) to target 2:45, what would they be? Ie one long, one threshold, one track? Appreciate it.

Appreciate it man. But yeah as stated I think you and some of the other posters are spot on in that reallocating some time on the bike to running (and swimming, but I’m here to chat with people who know running well haha) will do a lot. Just a matter of determining how to structure it (time isn’t a huge issue right now in that I do have 10-15 hours a week to train). I’d have no problem dedicating 4-5 of those hours to running especially over the winter. I think with a bit of easy running 3 structured sessions a week is totally doable. Presumably one of those is just a long run, but the other two…any words of wisdom I’m all ears. I will say my leg speed hasn’t ever been great (if I had to guess Id be hard pressed to run a 400 under 60 seconds, but I’d have to go to a track and actually clock one), but I’ve always been able to sit just below threshold for quite a while. Not sure if that effects the approach.

I think you have the right idea. & full disclosure I did my 1st 70.3 over the summer & did 4:20s. My swim + bike need work but I ran under 1:20. Pretty much doing the same thing over the winter but building my base for swimming/biking instead of swimming/running.

I would aim to run 5 days a week. For base training, I like a regular tempo run every other week (4-6 mile range). Threshold work 2 out of every 3 weeks (6-10 miles @ T broken up however you like). Long runs every week. One long run every 3 weeks with marathon pace (6-10 @ M straight). Do short reps as your main workout (no threshold, no tempo) the week you have your MP long run. So you're doing two main workouts a week. 3 is pushing it with good triathlon training. Something like that. & these workouts should all be manageable. You're never hammering a small set of k's. You're working half marathon pace a ton.

Then try to get in the pool 4-5 days/week. Bike 3-4. Come out on the other side stronger in the spring.

Cool. Much appreciated. I’ll give that a go, given that it sounds like we’re in the same ballpark too just have very different strengths.

Think you’re right about sticking to 2 run workouts and getting some extra mileage in 3 other days. For the long run…Are you saying 6-10 miles of the long run should be done at M pace every third week, and the rest just at E pace (I’m assuming you’re using Daniels shorthand for paces)?

Agreed on the shorter reps as well as main workout.

F.Y.I all these comments are super useful. And at the risk of tossing out unsolicited advice, there are some easy changes I felt like I made in my bike training that had nothing to do with volume but I had the fortune of getting some good free coaching some a few proper time trialists I know from the uk. Won’t go into detail here but stuff like (6x10s purely neuromuscular sprints) on the bike with full recovery…if you come from a running background you’d be shocked at how much more powerful you can get over 2 hours on a bike by having a >1000w sprint. You’ll never use it in a triathlon but it’s almost like doing strides in a way.

Yep -- using some Daniels shorthand. If you were going to do a 12 week run base, every third week would be a long run with a good chunk of miles at marathon pace. For a 70.3, maybe the 3rd week is 6 @ M, 6th & 9th weeks are 8 @ M, and hit 10 @ M on the 12th week. The other weeks would be an easy/steady long run with no prescribed workout since you would be doing two hard run sessions during the week.

Appreciate the cycling advice. Mapped out some base training (heading to Florida 70.3 first) but definitely overlooked the sprint work. Will go back & add that in. Thanks.