From 3:01 to 2:50 in six months, possible?

That's fair, and you are definitely doing adequate training to be a 3:10 marathoner who is ripped. But that isn't adequate training to run 2:50 or faster. 3:10 is 7:14 pace. 2:50 is 6:29 pace. 45 seconds per mile is a big difference.

If you don't want to increase your mileage, but are happy being a very fit overall 3:10 marathoner, than you're on the right track. If you want to break 2:50, you simply aren't running enough.

Yes if you had just run 3:01 but you are not in that shape right now which will make if harder

Week 2:Monday: 10K @4.36 per km, 1 hr bodyweight Tuesday: 7.5K @5min per kmwith 5 strides (treadmill), bikram yoga, leg work (15 minutes, donkey kicks + clams + 10*3 squats with 30Kg)Wed: 10K @5min, 30 min HIIT gym class focused on strength, lots of weighted squats and lunges + pistol squats..Thursday/Friday: Shit, I am injured already! Pain on my left inner thighs and a bit of piriformis. I don't think it was the running, but probably the two days of work on legs...so I took a restSaturday: 15K @5min, still pain :-(Sunday: Bodyweight (1hr), Bikram (1.5 hrs)Summary: 42.5Kms, time spent running about 3 hours and 25 minutes, total time spent training around 9 hours and 40 minutes

6_months_2_50 wrote:

OK, I have started my training. First month will be just building up the mileage, doing some hill training, strides, drills,etc....

Here is how last week went:

Week 1:

Monday: 3K @ 5 min/Km pace (was a bit sick), did 10 min of rowing plus the 3K

Tuesday: 7K (4K @5min/K, 2K @4min/K, 1K @5min/K), bikram yoga, 5 min abs

Wednesday: 10.75K @5min pace + 4 strides, 15 min plyo (box jumps, lunges, donkey kicks, clams, ...+ 1 hour bodyweight exericses (pullups, pushups, pistol squats, bodyweight squats, dips, etc...)

Thursday: 7.5K @5K and some hill sprints on the treadmill (15%, at 4:35 per km, 5*20-30sec, with 20 sec rest), 30 min abs, bikram yoga,

Friday: 10K @4:45/K, bodyweight (45 min)

Saturday: 15K @ 5min/K very hilly course

Sunday: bikram yoga

Summary: 53.25Kms, time spent running about 4 hours and 20 minutes, total time spent training around 11 hours and 30 minutes

Week 3:

Not looking good at all. The injury/pain seems to be much more than I expected. So managed to run only 3 times, and covered 35Kms. My plan will be to work

Monday: 10K at around 5min pace, it didnt feel that good, and pain the rest of the day :-(

Wed: did some bodyweight stuff, but couldnt do legs like pistol squats because my left inner thighs were hurting and I didnt want to work only one side

Thursday: bikram yoga

Friday: 10K run, better than on monday, but still not comfortable

SUnday: 15K run, much better than friday, but felt pain afterwards. Stretched with foam roller and tennis ballers, it hurt like hell. Will try to do this stretching daily..... Also, bikram yoga...

Totals: 35Kms run. Time spent running: around 2 hrs and 40 minutes, total time spent exercising: 7 hours and 40 minutes...

On week 5, I wont be able to train that much, so my plan for week 4 is to have 4 or 5 runs, totaling 50 to 60, the speed doesn't matter at all, and following that with good foam rolling and tennis ball release. ..

How did this pan out? Did you reach your goal?

You can run a fast marathon on lower mileage but it means that hard workouts have to be very hard and the injury risk is much higher. I ran 2:42 in my first marathon with about 50 miles/week training but we did repeat miles at or below 5:00 pace and tempo runs at 6:15 to 5:45 pace. It is much safer to bump your mileage to 70 or higher. Might also depend on what cardiovascular engine you have to work with, my max VO2 was 70 - certainly not world class but fairly high