Why did Ed Whitlock increase his daily 2 hour run to 3 hours?

Because that's what worked for him.

If he was running 8 minute miles at the time, that's over

140 a week in singles.

Nobody else could do that, and even the speed guy, Fee, couldn't beat him indoors at a mile/1500.

It's impossible to increase a 2 hour run to 3 hours.

No matter what you do, 2 hours will always be 2 hours.

Unless maybe the person holding the watch is on a rocket traveling near light speed.

Then the runner could run for two hours according to his time while the man on the rocket sees his watch progress three hours.

I started running marathons again when I was 65 and I started to build up my training distance then and I got up to 3 hours a few months before I was 70. I ran one marathon a year between 65 and 70 all in the 2:50's, with general improvement allowing for age. I attributed that to the gradual increase in mileage.

Ed

Star wrote:

It's impossible to increase a 2 hour run to 3 hours.

No matter what you do, 2 hours will always be 2 hours.

It's all relative.

Ed, was there any "plan" with regard to your time increases? Did you increase from 2 hours to 2 hours 10 mins one week, then 2 hours 20 minutes the following week, etc? I'm curious how long it took you to go from two hours to three hours?

Ed Whitlock wrote:

I started running marathons again when I was 65 and I started to build up my training distance then and I got up to 3 hours a few months before I was 70. I ran one marathon a year between 65 and 70 all in the 2:50's, with general improvement allowing for age. I attributed that to the gradual increase in mileage.

Ed

Dumb question wrote:

I'm curious how long it took you to go from two hours to three hours?

1 hour

Could have taken him 1:59 with a good rounding down to 1 hr.

Dumb question wrote:

Ed, was there any "plan" with regard to your time increases? Did you increase from 2 hours to 2 hours 10 mins one week, then 2 hours 20 minutes the following week, etc?

The minute hand on his watch was broken, and it was too difficult to guess the minutes based on where the hour hand was pointing. So, it was gonna be 2 hours or 3 hours. Once 2 felt easy, he moved to 3, just to be precise.

Pretty simple, eh?

Thank you sir.

Thank you very much.

[quote]Dumb question wrote:

Ed, was there any "plan" with regard to your time increases? Did you increase from 2 hours to 2 hours 10 mins one week, then 2 hours 20 minutes the following week, etc? I'm curious how long it took you to go from two hours to three hours?

It took 5 years from age 65 to 70. There was noral plan or objective to get to 3 hours, it just gradually evolved. I would get to a certain level then something, (injuries, race schedules etc) would interrupt. Followed by starting training again for a shorter time and gradually building up again. So there was no steady progression ups and downs with a gradual increase in the maximum. Shortly after I reached 70 I had a knee injury with no running. It took me 18 months to get back to 3 hours again, and another year to get to the point of running 3 hours a day consistently.

Ed

Ed, your comments are greatly appreciated. I have just turned 65. I was a 220/440 person in college and then trained like a middle distance runner from my mid-30s to mid-40s. By about age 47-48 I had recurring achilles problems with the fast interval training that I enjoyed doing. Since then I have been up and down at about 1-1/2 to 2 hrs per day of moderate pace running when healthy. At this age I find that type of training far easier to sustain and my times are only slightly slower than when I was doing faster intervals and less time running.

Ed, when you're increasing your running to 3 hours a day, do you do any type of speed work, or do any type of speed work in prep for races (marathons), or are the races the speed work? Thanks.

bump

Curious masters runner wrote:

Ed, when you're increasing your running to 3 hours a day, do you do any type of speed work, or do any type of speed work in prep for races (marathons), or are the races the speed work? Thanks.

I do practically no speed workouts unless you include the days just before a race. A few days before a race shorter than a marathon I cut back on the training time, run for an hour and at a faster pace for 20 or 30 minutes of that. So my speed work comes from that and the race itself. I have found I need a number of races to get into shape. I don't think I can run a good marathon without being race tough. Whenever I have been short on racing my marathons have not been so good. I seem to have a fair amount of natural speed and maybe don't need speed sessions as much, I seem to need to work on my endurance more.

Ed

Star wrote:

It's impossible to increase a 2 hour run to 3 hours.

No matter what you do, 2 hours will always be 2 hours.

Unless maybe the person holding the watch is on a rocket traveling near light speed.

Then the runner could run for two hours according to his time while the man on the rocket sees his watch progress three hours.

You've got that backwards Einstein.

Hey did you read my book?

ED, when you do your runs, do you do run your 1st and last miles at a slower pace?

example.. 1st mile as build up/warm up?

or the last mile as a warm down/easling up?

and do you do exercises after the run?

or do you run each pretty much at the same pace?

and....do you stop for water or walk during your runs?

thanks

BigDaddyWooWoo wrote:

ED, when you do your runs, do you do run your 1st and last miles at a slower pace?

example.. 1st mile as build up/warm up?

or the last mile as a warm down/easling up?

and do you do exercises after the run?

or do you run each pretty much at the same pace?

and....do you stop for water or walk during your runs?

thanks

I do not measure my pace during my long runs. I don't want to get into a competition with the clock. That said I do start and finish at a slower pace than average. I don't do exercises. in general I run at a steady pace. I don't drink on my training runs and I don't have walking breaks.

Ed