Trials of Miles: A Mid-Life Crisis & Quest For Sub 3:00

17 Oct: 4 easy

18 Oct: 5 steady (3ish 7:30s to 7:10s)

19 Oct: 3 w/faster section (1 @ 6:35)

20 Oct: 3 w/faster section (1 @ 6:40)

21 Oct: 5 easy + weights

22 Oct: OFF

23 Oct: 7 easy

Total: 27 miles

I have no real plan. I'll run or workout with my students when needed so some of the above will simply be odd. No idea what to call any of these paces so steady and faster is what it is!

Alan

Good luck. I would bet against you though because I don’t think you understand the challenge involved here. I think you could do 3:15ish though if everything goes fairly well.

Try breaking 4 hours first before you think about breaking 3.

You have a lot of work ahead of you but you might get it done.

Well I have no timeline, so could be 6mo, could be a year, could be never! I ain't toeing the line until I think I can do it.

Biggest challenge will be time management.

Alan

Are you planning on losing wt? +40lbs from your running peak is a lot to overcome let alone the added age.

I'm trying to do the same thing Alan. Good luck to you!

Or maybe waist management. You have no chance if you don’t drop at least 35 lbs.

p.s. Ya gotta get a half marathon in the 1:24-ish range. Not a blanket statement, we are all built differently, but it's a fairly good indicator of breaking 3. Again, good luck and keep at it Alan!

Nah, you are assuming I will be getting down to my competitive running weight...that's not happening. My plan is to try and maintain most of my strength by lifting heavy a couple times week.

I'll probably lose maybe 10-20lb and get down to 170.

The last 'race' I did was the Army 10 miler in 2015 and I weighed 170lb, ran a 1:06 and ran 10mi ONCE during my haphazard training for that :)

Alan

OK so now you have no chance. You don’t understand the physiology here. You cannot do it with your plan. Maybe you could do it if you were 25 but now you are 45 and you will be carrying at least 20 more lbs. Nope.

Post Saved!!

I have no idea how much weight I'll lose. I am just gonna run and see what happens. I held 6:30 pace for a long time at the Army 10 miler when I was 170lb with lackluster training....but yea that was 7 years ago. I am sure I'll lose weight, but it will probably be closer to 20lbs than 40lb. We will see. There's a long way to go.

Ultimately I see me getting up to 70mi a week avg with a 18-22mi long run every other week...but that could take a year. Again...one step in front of the other. I have basically doubled my running frequency over the last 2 weeks :)

I mean if Nick Bare can break 3:00.....:P

Alan

Nick Bare is 32, you are 44.

Get your training up and run a Half Marathon and base your Marathon goal from there. Everything else is just daydreaming.

Don't you routinely accuse him of using PEDs? Not saying I disagree with you, just saying. Are you planning on joining the Burrito of the Month club?

ok

Time to put all of that physiology knowledge to work. Best of luck to you Alan!

I think you can do it. Especially because you're not lashing yourself to a definite timeline from the outset. Have fun and take time to run some fast mile-HM races too along the way.

From the 2nd strongest guy on this forum to the 1st strongest guy on this forum:

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

I think you can do it. I started running in the spring of 2020 at age 40 after 22 years away from running. I weighed about 160 against a running weight of 120 in high school. I ran for about 18 months, building up to about 55 miles per week and ran a 2:52 in October of 2021 after getting down to the low 140s from my running regimen and backing off the beer. I know every situation is different, but it can be done. Good luck!