Ran 17 mile long run at 6:00/mile pace. What can I run in the marathon.

Norwho wrote:

This sunday I ran 17 miles at 6 min pace average, including a slow first kilometer, and some kilometres with uphill. Definitely not a hard effort, and did not strain at all towards the end. Could have easily run another 6 miles at that pace.

What can I run for the marathon? 2:35?

2:45:22.

i think 2:35 would be pushing it. i ran a 2:32:12 under perfect conditions. my best 1/2 at that time was 72. training at 80-90 mpw. if i were you i would go out at 2:39 and see how you feel. 55 mpw is not enough unless mileage unless you are unique.

good luck,

Iowa Bob wrote:

I ran a 15 miler at 5:55/mi with some friends and felt great a month before Boston.

I bombed and ran upper 3:18.

That's cause you and I are W O R K O U T H E R O S

The fact that you ran 3:18 is caused by poor training. You thought you were training for a marathon, but really you were training for a half marathon or 10k. Probably at least. To endure those last 6 miles you need to put in some specific training. It is not enough to do 18-25 mile long runs at an easy/moderate pace, high mileage and 6-10 mile tempos here and there. This might seem like marathon training, but it does not set you up for real times. You need specific endurance and need to extend that distance at goal pace as your training block progresses. That, combined with some faster than race pace work, and some slower than race pace work, to build aerobic support for the specific needs of the event.

^ Totally Canova, right? But he is right though, about specific endurance.

djcdjfjd wrote:

This run was at the end of a 75 mile week! No taper before the run. I would say I breathed relatively hard the whole way, but I had no problems WHATSOEVER maintaining the pace I was at, and when I finished, I could easily go straight into a jog. Of course, one workout doesn't show the whole picture. But I think this workout can be a good indicator.

Based on this information, you should be able to break 3 hours but there's no guarantee of this.

Retired marathoner wrote:

djcdjfjd wrote:

This run was at the end of a 75 mile week! No taper before the run. I would say I breathed relatively hard the whole way, but I had no problems WHATSOEVER maintaining the pace I was at, and when I finished, I could easily go straight into a jog. Of course, one workout doesn't show the whole picture. But I think this workout can be a good indicator.

Based on this information, you should be able to break 3 hours but there's no guarantee of this.

Oh come on! I've run a 2:54 and I can't hold 6 min flat pace for anything beyond a 5k. I understand that this poster might crash and burn... and he might not run 2:30... but I think breaking 3 is pretty assured. Let's not get ridiculous here.

Is 17 miles your longest run? I was a lousy mid-d runner in college, but probably once a month would do a 15 miler at a little over 6 min pace. So I was doing runs like that for a few years. After college I decided to run a marathon. I tried to do my first 18 mile training run at that pace and blew up the last mile. By blew up, I mean probably 15 min/mile pace. I guess I was well trained for 15 miles max.

You could probably finish a marathon.

You’ll probably bonk at 19 miles in and jog it in for a 4:00:00+ finish

. I did a 14 mile marathon pace workout at 5:23 pace with 4miles at 6:30 before and after. I ran a2:24:33. I ran miles 14,15,16 way to fast at 5:05 pace. I was probably in sub 2:20 shape. I am guessing 2:35 to 2:40

djcdjfjd wrote:

This run was at the end of a 75 mile week! No taper before the run. I would say I breathed relatively hard the whole way, but I had no problems WHATSOEVER maintaining the pace I was at, and when I finished, I could easily go straight into a jog. Of course, one workout doesn't show the whole picture. But I think this workout can be a good indicator.

Assuming you continue with the 75 mile weeks, and you can run 20 mile LDS without much trouble, then 2:35 is not out of the question. If your weekly mileage is not consistent, and you never get to the point where a 20 miler is no big deal, then 2:45 would be more likely.

belial wrote:

Let me add, though, that you ran pretty well. I have trouble maintaining that pace for more than a few miles...but I'm an old, muscle-bound stud.

Pics?

Norwho wrote:

This sunday I ran 17 miles at 6 min pace average, including a slow first kilometer, and some kilometres with uphill. Definitely not a hard effort, and did not strain at all towards the end. Could have easily run another 6 miles at that pace.

What can I run for the marathon? 2:35?

I would run between 2:20 and 2:25 with that. But I am a much better at racing than I am at workouts.

GettingReal wrote:

think breaking 3 is pretty assured. Let's not get ridiculous here.

Sure things are most likely wrong, so let's not get ridiculous here.

One week of mileage means nothing, and one training run means nothing. Really need to know how many weeks of mileage you have strung together. I ran a 20 mile training run about 4 or 5 weeks before my first marathon at 6 min pace. After that training run I thought I could easily run that pace or slightly slower for 26.2. I went out at that pace with lots of confidence held it for 18. Started slowing pretty quickly after that, by 20 the wheels fell off. I did a bit of run walk for the final 2 miles. I ended up running 2:47 after being on 2:37 pace through 18. I had only trained for about 2-3 months for this race and ran about 40 miles a week. Sadly this is still my marathon best but hoping to break that next year as I have been running consistent 45-50 mile week for some time now. You can run marathons on low mileage but unlikely you will be able to run much under 2:30 without a good amount of talent. I will say you better hope for great weather if you haven't been doing marathon focused training. What was the temperature for your 17 mile run?

Going to try not to be arrogant here, but people are way off. I have been running consistently for a long time, and this summer I ran a 31:15 10k from the front. I ran a random 17 mile run at 6:00 pace, and did not struggle at all, and I could have gone far beyond that if I wanted to. This was on a course with hills on it.. I did not take in any fluids og carbs during my run. Obviously I can finish that pace for a flat marathon, let alone with tapering, peaking, my race flats, hydration and a field.

Personally, I think I can break 2:30 with some more months of training stacked up.

Norwho wrote:

Going to try not to be arrogant here, but people are way off. I have been running consistently for a long time, and this summer I ran a 31:15 10k from the front. I ran a random 17 mile run at 6:00 pace, and did not struggle at all, and I could have gone far beyond that if I wanted to. This was on a course with hills on it.. I did not take in any fluids og carbs during my run. Obviously I can finish that pace for a flat marathon, let alone with tapering, peaking, my race flats, hydration and a field. Personally, I think I can break 2:30 with some more months of training stacked up.

I was talking with a group of faster runners the morning of a marathon, many of them faster than me at 10k. One of them in particular was significantly faster than me at 10k (much faster than you) and hadn't run a marathon before but was extremely confident about breaking 2:30. Surprisingly as I was just getting into my race half way through, there he was standing by the side of the road, cheering me on.

What you can do for 10k or 17 miles makes very little difference at all.

Just reading by what you are saying probably 2:32-2:40 is accurate. Here's the thing. I ran Boston and was on pace for a low 2:30 with similar training as you are describing; I hit the wall at mile 22 and ended up 2:52. For 20 miles it felt like the best run/race I was ever running then BAM....it was like someone put 30 pound weights on my quads. The best training/indicator is what you do throughout a whole week. You don't need a 17-22 mile long run when the rest of your training you are only running 7-9 miles. If you run 17-22 miles you need to be running 10-14 miles per day (Hansons Marathon Method). Consistency in your training is the key, not 3-4 massive long runs that will just exhaust you for 3-5 days.

Since I am blessed with a wife and a son I have no time to train like that anymore, hopefully I can when all my kids get older and I work less.

Good luck in your marathon and I hope you break 2:30.

Darn.

Here is a video of the 17 mile long run.

Your answer looks like really bad news for me having any chance of running a 2:30 marathon.

Oh well.

Norwho wrote:

This sunday I ran 17 miles at 6 min pace average, including a slow first kilometer, and some kilometres with uphill. Definitely not a hard effort, and did not strain at all towards the end. Could have easily run another 6 miles at that pace.

What can I run for the marathon? 2:35?

Did you do any fueling? Water, gatorade, gels? Have you been training with them at all?