What was your average weekly mileage for a sub 3 marathon?

avg 85 for 4 months peaked at 103 to get to 2:42

Averaged 33 miles per week for 6 months prior. Wasn't really training for a marathon and decided at the last minute to do it. A few 10-12 mile runs in the months leading up to it and then one 18 miler the week before the marathon, which was not wise.

50-55 was my average. I trained for a 10k, then did a few 20 milers, then did the marathon. My biggest week was probably 72 miles. I was 38 years old at the time.

was doing 40-50 mpw with one day of longer intervals, 6 x mile, 3 x 10 min, etc. Then easy long run up to 23 miles. Only hit 20, 22, and 23 once a piece, earlier long runs were 12-18. Ran 2:59. The week before I ran a 36:52 10K then ran 2:59:06

Over 100 with 140 as the biggest week.

Peaked at around 75mpw for a 2:54. I haven no idea what my 6 month average would have been, maybe around 45 - 50.

T-6 months: 50 (training for a mile)

T-5 months: 45 (training for a mile)

T-4 months: 40-45 (pr'd w/4:47 1600m)

T-3 months: ~60 for a few weeks, then ~30 miles

Then 30-35 miles per week up to the race. I ran a 2:53 with very horrible pacing (1:18 at the half).

I didn't keep that close of records for mileage. I usually planned runs based on time & effort. During this time a good long run was common each week. Even during my mile training I'd do a 90+ min run, often with a workout towards the middle/end (e.g. 5 x (1 min @ 10k, 5min @ tempo)).

At 6 and 4 wks out, I did a bit longer of a long-run and a few marathon specific workouts. My longest run was 2:20 with 4 x 20 min marathon pace/effort.

Between 2008 and 2011 I did 3 marathons a year trying to break 3 hours! I steadily reduced my time from 3:30 to 3:06 by doing around 40 miles a week with weekly Sunday long runs of 20 miles 10 to 3 weeks before the race.

Then in Spring of 2012 I upped my mileage to 50 miles and got to 3:02. In frustration I entered an Autumn marathon, upped my mileage to 60 miles a week and achieved 2:56 in Amsterdam.

For 2013 I upped my mileage to 75 miles a week and managed 2:51 for the London Marathon. For this I did around 4 or 5 23 mile runs as well as some 12 mile runs mid-week, a track session on Tuesday, a threshold run on Saturday and recovery runs.

Averaged about 45-50 miles for the six months prior. Topped out at 70 miles. I would break down if I tried to run more. Ran 2:45. The last 4-5 miles were brutal as I lost over 1 1/2 minutes per mile. Was 23 at the time.

Sub 3 Wonderer wrote:

Interested to know what your weekly average roughly was for the 6 months prior to going sub 3, and what your peak mileage weeks were?

Age 18, 2 mile PR of 10:00, 10K in 37-low 5 months prior(probably in better shape before race, maybe 35-high?). 3 months before averaged 49/week, lots of runs at 6:45-6:50. Longest was 16 miles then panicked a little and ran a 25-miler at 7:10 (hilly) only 9 days prior to the race. ran 2:53 stopping to work out a calf cramp the last few miles. Ran 2:49 6 weeks later.

Ahhh, youth.

Averaged 40-50m with a 20mi or 2hr 30min+ long run once a week. This was good for a 2:57 and a 2:56. Leading up to this I had been running 20-25mi weeks for the better part of a year. I'm not sure it would be as simple to just go from couch to 45mi weeks in a few months and have the same response. Maybe if you had a solid running background with a fair amount of previous miles in your legs.

Bumped to 65-70mi average for a training cycle and ran 2:50.xx. Also picked up a slew of creaks and injuries. Ran these times in my mid-30s with no competitive running in college if that helps.

~50mpw, longest run of 22 miles

ran 2:44-mid

Ran 3:00:30 off of relatively low mileage in 2011. Was quite disappointed.

Ran just over 3000 miles during the following 12 months (avg around 60 mpw with high of 90 and low of 0 when I strained my back and couldn't run for a week)

Ran 2:48 to get a 12-minute PR in 2012.

Sub 3 Wonderer wrote:

Interested to know what your weekly average roughly was for the 6 months prior to going sub 3, and what your peak mileage weeks were?

.

Avg 47 mpw for about a year prior, with high of 60. Reached 2:44.

100km (62 miles?) for 8 weeks, no specific workouts but I ran a 35km training run every Sunday for the entire 8 weeks, as well as a 25km run on the Fridays.

The final 40km were made up of a 8km easy jog on Mondays and 2x 16km runs during the week.

Pretty terrible training in hindsight, but I was new to running and didn't know any better.

2:58:57

you're going to get a lot of variability on this one

Ran 2:44 in my early 40s off of about 50 mpw for 6 month average, the last 10 or 12 to taper was just under 60. Ran faster at a younger age with more miles.

Mid 40's with a 48.5 max to get 2:59:52 as a 32 y.o.

80-90 this spring to get 2:51 as a 43 y.o.

Just pulled out my old training logs to check. Keep in mind I have no talent, I was "the slow kid" on all my teams growing up. 10k pr of 37:15 was achieved during the time period noted below. Other pr's (5k, 15k, half marathon) were achieved a few years after the period below. Only broke 3 hours twice out of 20 marathons.

Nov 1988 ran 2:58:02. Training for June-Nov of that year was as follows:

--June: 110 miles in 12 runs. Long run 10 (days longer than 10 total mileage for example 13 on June 25, 10 mile race plus 1.5 mile wu and cd). 8 "workouts" (speedwork or races). 280 miles cycling including 4 crits.

--July: 92 miles in 11 runs. Long run = 10. 7 "workouts". 345 miles cycling including 3 races.

--Aug: 101 miles in 13 runs. Long run = 11. 5 "workouts" including 1 triathlon. 240 miles cycling including 2 races.

--Sept: 127 miles in 14 runs. Long run = 11. 3 "workouts" including 1 triathlon. 145 miles cycling including 3 races.

--Oct: 212 miles in 21 runs. Long run = 13. 7 "workouts". 50 miles cycling including 1 race. Peak mileage week was 64.

--Nov: 166 miles in 19 runs. Long run = 15 (twice). 4 "workouts".

May 1989 ran 2:54:02. Training Dec 1988-May 1989 was as follows:

--Dec: 22 documented miles in 3 runs. Mostly training/racing XC skiing.

--Jan: no documented miles (ran some, didn't log it). Training/racing XC skiing.

--Feb: 16 documented miles in 3 runs. Mostly training/racing XC skiing

--March: 85 miles in 11 runs. Long run = 10.

--April: 168 miles in 17 runs. Long run = 14, plus ran Boston in 3:25. 110 miles cycling.

--May: 194 miles in 19 runs. Long run = 15. 5 "workouts". 105 miles cycling. Peak mileage week was 57.

Hindsight says way too few miles overall and not long enough long runs. Lots of hard running. Had a 10 mile loop I used to run regularly only 3-4 minutes off my 10 mile pr. (Checked that loop a few years ago on Map My Run, it's a legit 10.) We raced a ton, in 1988 my log says 39 races (running, cycling, XC skiing, triathlons), in 1989 25 races.

Post 1989 I got a lot more consistent with mileage especially 1992-1995, but didn't race as much didn't do as many hard running workouts, best marathon after 1990 was 3:04. I got more into tri's 1990-1995 so put a lot of time into trying to be a better swimmer.

Average for the three months leading up was about 70km/week. Biggest week was 100kms. Longest run was 33kms run at 5min pace. Ran five or six days each week with a race every Saturday. I was 40Years old. Had been running for about 4 years consistently. Half time was 85 mins, 10k was 37 mins. Hope that helps someone.