Did you solve the piriformis injury? I may be dealing with it and cant shake it off.
Did you solve the piriformis injury? I may be dealing with it and cant shake it off.
Fair point! But I've acknowledged my underachieving in the marathon and mentioned a few times how difficult the marathon distance has been for me. It took a hell of a lot of effort to get the result I wanted, even if it was sub-par compared to other PRs.
I mean... the marathon is a fickle thing. The concept of it drives me insane. You need to put so much time, effort, and concentration into finally executing in this (for me) 2-3 hour window. And in that window, any number of trivial things can derail it completely. The morning of my PR marathon, I woke up at 5am to sideways rain and 45mph winds. I thought about pushing it back and trying to find another race. But I thought, "Nah, I put myself in a position that a can still come close to sub-2:30." I'm just glad it worked out.
Finally, I'm not looking for anyone to be impressed. I was just posting this as a resource, on a topic that a lot of LRC-ers might have an interest in. I saw you regularly posting in the "Training Log for a 2:30ish Boston Marathon 2018" thread, specifically this:
That post of yours is one I see often (and sought out!), and I thought this might be a contribution towards that. Good luck in Boston, hope end that day ends with your PR starting with 2:2X.
MonkeyOffBack wrote:
Still catching up on replies!
Jeremy R / Weird / Others – RE: Running background before 2012.
High school PR’s of 1:58, 4:29, 10:30
Ran for a club XC team in college, didn’t take running very seriously. 5k’s typically run in the 16:40 range and the fastest 8k was about 27:50.
1 year out from college, I put in a few months of “good training” and ran 9:59 2-mile at an open meet at the Armory and, weeks later, 26:59 for 5-miles.
The next few years consisted of basically running ~45 miles per week at 7 min/mile (almost no workouts) and running a 5k race every few months. I ran 16:01 in this period, but the vast majority of results were in the 16:40-16:20 range.
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The portion where you consistently ran in the mid 16:00s without doing much in terms of workouts indicates some decent talent. I've been kicking my butt recently with a couple weekly workouts, a weekly long run, and nothing less than 6 miles/day, and I just got down to this time range. But I am not in my early-mid 20s, so it's a different ball game at this age.
RunCzar wrote:
Did you solve the piriformis injury? I may be dealing with it and cant shake it off.
No, unfortunately I did not. I ended up doing enough core exercises to get the pain to a level I could run through. Sitting on a tennis ball and rolling around after most runs actually really helped in the short-term.
I will +1 all those who suggested that if I had your PR's, I would be disappointed with the marathon time. In ideal conditions, you would be close to or under 2:25 with 80-90/wk. I have known many at that level.
WorthIt? wrote:
Very nice thread (and polite so far...).
Congrats for your achievement, you seem to have a natural talent and your hard work payed off.
Reading all your story makes me also wonder if you think that all your efforts were worth it and you're ready to make even more in the future (a kid changes radically your life, i can testify).
5 years of heavy mileage, little to none social life, placing runs maniacally in the extra free time, just a beer before bed for consolation... maybe it's time to live and run more easily? I ask the same to myself, sometimes we make training plans so hard and rigid that it becomes a second job...
Thanks for the kind words! It was worth it, totally. But I do often think about running in the future. I feel like I don't have too much time left to hit PRs, which makes taking long, extended breaks that much harder mentally. Hope you and your family are happy/healthy.
One more thing about where to go from here: dominate the 35-39 age group on the local road scene!
OP are you one and done? Like you I worked for years to reach my goal, sub 3 at a much older age, and when I finally did it I wanted to do it again! And again. 8 in a row until the Boston 2012 heat made it impossible. It was a lot of fun going back to that well as long as I could. You’re not feeling it?
the other thing I find interesting is that with six weeks to go he ran 1:12 for a half, then on the day he ran splits of 1:14/1:15 which looks very strong to me, do sub-elites normally go that close to their pb for a half in the marathon?
I don't know about other sub-elites but here is my situation: 1:10:16 half PR set two months before 2:27:05 (1:13:04/1:14:01) marathon PR.
oakland runner wrote:
the other thing I find interesting is that with six weeks to go he ran 1:12 for a half, then on the day he ran splits of 1:14/1:15 which looks very strong to me, do sub-elites normally go that close to their pb for a half in the marathon?
I don't know about other sub-elites but here is my situation: 1:10:16 half PR set two months before 2:27:05 (1:13:04/1:14:01) marathon PR.
I'm female and my times were all slower, but I ran my HM PR of 1:18:59 five weeks before my marathon PR of 2:42:50. I didn't have splits for the marathon but I believe they were quite uniform. I didn't die at the end.
awesome thread, thanks for the insight.
This post is awesome. I don't have kids and probably wont, but this sounds super fun.
As for the OP, maybe stroller marathon world record? I think it's around 2:30. So just keep improving over the next 2-3 years, but add your kid to the training. What could go wrong?
Seriously, though, this is an awesome thread. I love reading about people who spend years going after a goal and hit it. Doesn't matter if it's Olympic Trials, 2:30, or even well over 3 hours in the marathon. If the person trained hard, adapted, and learned things they can share, then I always learn things, too. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the kid / stroller post. Our first is due in a couple weeks and I'm trying to figure out what to do...
Fortunately my competitive days are over and 25-30mpw is fine. So I imagine it'll be okay to sneak out of the house for 30min a few days a week.
amkelley wrote:
oakland runner wrote:
the other thing I find interesting is that with six weeks to go he ran 1:12 for a half, then on the day he ran splits of 1:14/1:15 which looks very strong to me, do sub-elites normally go that close to their pb for a half in the marathon?
I don't know about other sub-elites but here is my situation: 1:10:16 half PR set two months before 2:27:05 (1:13:04/1:14:01) marathon PR.
I'm female and my times were all slower, but I ran my HM PR of 1:18:59 five weeks before my marathon PR of 2:42:50. I didn't have splits for the marathon but I believe they were quite uniform. I didn't die at the end.
This gives me hope for my goal marathon times and makes me think that I could be underestimating my ability. Only one way to find out...
That's incredible. I can't imagine hitting a goal that took so much time and dedication to finally achieve, and then having the drive to keep at it for so long after. I would really like to keep running marathons and training hard for them, maybe just 1 race per year (fall).
A lot of the feedback here has made me think that, with more miles and more time, the mid-2:20's would be within reach. I've been thinking about running Chicago this fall, I guess we'll see how much running I can fit in between now and then.
Yeah, this post is just awesome. I've been thinking about stroller running and, honestly, I'm pretty psyched at the idea of spending time with my kid while getting in a good workout. I appreciate the inspiring words!
Go for the mid 2:20s — and then 2:1x!
this is what Letsrun is all about, why it is better than any other running website.
thanks for sharing!
I have run 2:32 and my HM and 10k times are about a minute slower than yours...that seems like the key for me.
and more miles of course
Thanks and congrats on the achievement - boom
MonkeyOffBack wrote:
gregmacd - Nice analysis! Though I think I'm hitting my ceiling as far as a marathon PR goes. In another life, one without work responsibilities, pending family, and risk of injury, I might have a stone’s throw chance at 2:19 with 3-4 years of uninterrupted training and resources. But, for me, OTQ might as well be beating Kipchoge. I’m in awe of those that reach that level of accomplishment.
You may eventually hit a ceiling or you'll beat Kipchoge by increasing you're mileage to 160 mpw ;). On the otherhand, your progression doesn't show that you'r slowing down yet.
With the pending family, there's always a baby jogger, which Michael Wardian trained with. I have also run up to 20 miles in a double baby jogger on Sunday mornings so that my wife could sleep in.
Well, whatever you do, it's an extraordinary accomplishment of making it into the rare air of sub 2:30!
MonkeyOffBack wrote:
I would run a road race every few months, typically in the 16:30/34:00 range
I almost stopped there. It's not like you were starting from a 40 minute 10k run crew realm. Glad I didn't though, good read. You were always "fast" for low mileage. It just took a boost to your mileage, and the consistency with it, to improve your marathon fitness 10% from where it was.
I like that you mentioned that you drank a beer a night. My sentiments exactly, drinking or eating a small reward pays off a lot more than the 30 seconds you'd shave off if you were depriving yourself for 4 months.
With it being ~1.5 years after the initial post, I thought it would be useful to provide an update. I feel compelled to do so given how accurate many of the responses were.Quick summary: I suffered a PS-related injury a few weeks after posting. While that development was a bummer, it was sort of good timing... my wife gave birth to our daughter that winter and I was able to spend the first few months dedicated to them both without thinking about running. I spent the injury time learning how to be a dad, in addition to doing daily hip strengthening exercises and putting in 30-60mins on a stationary bike. Started running again in late Summer 2018.September - December 2018: - Slowly progressed from 30 miles per week up to 75 by the end of December. - Race results slowly improved with increase in mileage (28:12 [8k], 32:44, 32:20, 25:42 [8k].January - April 2019: - Increased mileage to 95-100mpw. - Roughly followed the same training as noted earlier, with more emphasis on long run workouts. - Ran PRs at the following distances: Half Marathon (1:08:08), 15k (47:53), Marathon (2:25:50)Things Worth Noting: - Stroller running is awesome 1-2 times a week. I would do easy days with the stroller and also the occasional workout (like 7 miles of hills around 6:00 pace). Even cold winter mornings were doable: I'd wrap my daughter up in a snow suit and blanket and she'd pass right out 2 miles into a 10 mile run. - Having a child actually made running easier. It provided a strictness to my schedule that was inflexible. Meaning it became easier to wake up at 4:30am and run 10 miles, because if I didn't then I wouldn't fit it in otherwise. If running was going to remain a part of my life, it had to fit around the more important stuff.
gregmacd:
Excellent! Looks like you run 1 min faster everytime you increase your mileage 2.5 mpw. For instance:
* when you increased 5 mpw (62.5 to 67.5) you ran 2 mins faster (5/2= 2.5)
* when you increased 10 mpw (67.5 to 77.5) you ran 4 mins faster (10/4= 2.5)
* when you increased 10 mpw (77.5 to 87.5) you ran 4 mins faster (10/4= 2.5)
So, if you want to OTQ with a 2:19 (which is running 10 mins faster, you'd have to run another 25 mpw (25/10 = 2.5), which means you'd have to average 112.5 mpw. It looks like you have the talent to OTQ!
It's funny how accurate this turned out to be. I dropped almost exactly 3 minutes by increasing my mileage about 7.5mpw.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to the responses from before. I was totally complacent with my marathon PR, until many of you noted that the work I was doing was not in-line with the result. Definitive constructive feedback and I really appreciate it. Cheers and good luck.