Fall Marathon Training- Week ending 8/23

good luck. My dad's running that race and will probably be right with you around 1:50.

I'm running the Columbus marathon in October, which will be my first marathon. Goal ~2:50.

I'm only running ~45-50 miles/week right now. My main priority right now is to stay healthy, shed some weight, and get some strength in the legs. Hopefully build up to 70-80 miles/week within a month.

Thanks Mike in HC and good luck! Remember to pace yourself. Don't buy into the money in the bank idea... it will leave you hurting the last 3 miles. And take care of those injuries. Ice whenever you can.

The one thing I don't do is let my running get in the way with time with my kids. On weekends I go while they nap (bless my wife's heart for being couped up in the house without complaint while I saunter about the town) and during the week I either go early AM, late PM after we put them to bed, or during breaks between meetings at work.

It always amazes me to read people's training on here. I have come to the conclusion that most of the big miles guys on the site either are not married, don't have kids, don't have demanding jobs, or are super-human! Or some combination of all of those.

I've been lucky this summer as work has been slow. Been more like 50-55 hour weeks for the last 3 months, which has been a welcome break.

1stTimeMarathoner wrote:

It always amazes me to read people's training on here. I have come to the conclusion that most of the big miles guys on the site either are not married, don't have kids, don't have demanding jobs, or are super-human! Or some combination of all of those.

Single, no kids and job is demanding but at my schedule. My girlfriend is really cool about my training.

Cutter,

What's your running background? PRs, age, mileage, etc. Just curious how you built up to your current levels and interested to see how your times have reflected any increase in mileage and/or intensity.

I plan on peaking out at about 90 for NYC. I ran through college (avg about 50 miles a week), and ran 15:12 and 8:40. Took 3.5 years off and started running again in 2004. Right when I was getting fit again, I got injured (Aug 2006). Took off until Oct 2008 and have been training since. Got serious around April of this year.

Next winter plan on working on the speed a bit, and the build towards Chicago 2010. Hopefully will get up to close to your current volume and intensity with a similar goal of 2:30 and 2:32. Though we'll see how that all goes. Need to get through NYC first.

1stTimeMarathoner wrote:

It always amazes me to read people's training on here. I have come to the conclusion that most of the big miles guys on the site either are not married, don't have kids, don't have demanding jobs, or are super-human! Or some combination of all of those.

I've been lucky this summer as work has been slow. Been more like 50-55 hour weeks for the last 3 months, which has been a welcome break.

When I was a big firm lawyer in a major US city, I would routinely put in 80 mile/80 hour weeks, at least for 2-3 weeks at a time a couple times a year. The secret? Running to/from work. I'd leave the house by 5:30 AM, get to the office around 7:00 AM, make calls and do emails until 8:30 or so, jump in the shower quick, then work until 8:00 PM or so at night, then head home. Sometimes doubling up and running home (it was only about 4.5 miles by the shortest route), sometimes cabbing it. Then I'd work another hour or two from home. I was getting about 5 hours of sleep a night pretty regularly, but then I was still in my 20s -- and I went through a period in my early 30s where I was pretty severely hurt and burned out (from work and running).

Now I'm a lazy government employee working 8-9 hours a day, which either means I can go home at 4:30 (if I run to work and get in early), or fit a recovery run into the middle of a typical 8:30-5:30 day.

(And yes, the work and hours are offset by the low pay -- but I get to see a lot of my family, train as much as I'd like, AND still get 6-7 hours of sleep a night.)

1stTimeMarathoner wrote:

Cutter,

What's your running background? PRs, age, mileage, etc. Just curious how you built up to your current levels and interested to see how your times have reflected any increase in mileage and/or intensity.

I'm 35 now and really started "building" in 2005 (70s-80s), I ran 2:45 in Chicago that year and should have broken 2:40 but real life got in the way. The next year I ran NYC and was in great shape off 80s-90s, but went out a bit too fast and ran 2:41. I also tapered too long and probably lost some fitness. 2007 was honestly the best shape I've been in until now. I had a great summer of 5Ks consistently in the 15:30s without backing off 90s-100s. I got sick three weeks before Chicago that year, but with the heat that year, it would not have happened anyway.

Last summer, I just couldn't get motivated and decided to take from May to August off and just ride. A group of friends were doing San Antonio and talked me into doing an 11 week crash training. I built quickly to 100 mile weeks and ran 2:36 at 161 pounds (residual muscle weight).

I'll run Chicago at about ten pounds less this year with a 18 month build. I am WAY more fit than when I ran the 2:36.

My background is that my dad was a marathoner (3:40ish) so I started running a bit when I was about 10 but didn't really start until high school. I ended up first team all-state in cross and then picked up cycling my freshman year in college and raced throughout, but ran a bit here and there. I "jogged" for a few years and was never in awful shape low 17 5Ks. Other PRs - 15:26 5K 1:11 and change half. Hope that answers the question without being too wordy.