Luck with Daniels' advanced marathoning program?

I used a program somewhere in between the advanced and elite programs to run 2:41, only focusing my training on that marathon for about 10 weeks. I found that the projected time based on VDOT was fairly close, although it doesn't account for the difficulty of the course nor for the evolving fitness of the athlete, which in my case was considerable.

I left out the most important part of the program: the M-Pace runs during the long run. I regretted that from mile 18-23. (By mile 24 my list of regrets had grown considerably.) I noticed that the R-Pace running really, really helped with my efficiency, as I am horribly inefficient in the legs. I also noticed that my T-Pace runs left me energized rather than tired, important because I was running 90-100 mpw for those 10 weeks.

Also, do Daniels' projections for marathon pace based on 5k pace and aerobic threshold pace work out pretty well? ie, can I train with the idea that I should be able to run the marathon time that Daniels associates with my VDOT level?

No. The Daniels charts will make marathon predictions that are too optimistic for the vast majority of runners (especially open class men)

To put it another way, an 18:40 5k is NOT as good as a sub 3 marathon.

daniels charts are very, very overly optimistic.

this man actually has never run a fast marathon.

think about that.

why trust him to plan yours?