Ben Barrows wrote:
Qualifying for the Olympic Trials Marathon has been a long term goal of mine since I was a freshman in college (26 years old now). It’s taken me a long time to feel like I’m ready to make a transition to the roads, but I finally did and ran 1:06:55 in my first half marathon recently, so now running under 2:19 looks much more attainable. That half marathon was pretty close to a perfect race for me on the day too (great weather, great training, great execution, fast course). I don’t plan to give my first marathon a try until late 2018 or early 2019, and I want to get the job done on my first one. I designed my own training for the half marathon based on my general training knowledge and what I thought would work well for me, and I pretty much just bumped up what has worked well for me in the 10k. I didn’t figure that racing for a little over an hour would be that big of a deal compared to a 10k, and it wasn’t. However, the marathon is a completely different ballgame and I have a lot to learn, so I’m looking for opinions and advice from several sources, Letsrun being one of them.
Here’s some background info about me.
Current Personal Bests
1500m - 4:07.xx (April 2016)
5000m - 14:56.06 (December 2017)
10000m - 30:57.xx (April 2016)
Half Marathon - 1:06:55 (January 2018)
I’ve got very little speed. I ran 58.03 for an open 400m in high school, and I don’t think that has improved much since then, if any at all. As far as my mileage background goes, my biggest week ever was 120 miles in September 2015. I’ve completed a handful of 100+ mile weeks over the past 3-4 years, but it’s always been pretty tough for me to sustain that kind of mileage for more than a couple weeks at a time, and that’s likely because I keep too much quality work in there. This past fall in 2017, I ran three consecutive weeks of 111, 117, and 114 miles. I was pretty beat up after that. For a while now, my sweet spot has been 90-95 miles per week. That was my peak mileage in my specific buildup for my half marathon.
I love long runs. I’ve responded really well to doing 15-18 milers at a moderate pace (~40 seconds slower per mile than LT pace). My two best long runs ever were an 18 miler at a 5:40 average in November 2016 (that one was basically a race) and an 18 miler at a 5:44 average that was a much easier effort than the prior long run. The latter was a run that I did recently in my half marathon training. Most of it was a moderate pace at ~5:50, but I threw in three harder miles at 4, 10, and 16 and ran around 5:16 on those. The longest I’ve ever run was a 20 miler at a 6:04 average, and the longest I’ve ever run time-wise is around 2:06:00. I’ve got zero experience with fueling during runs, because I never even drink water on my long runs, so I’ve definitely got to learn a lot there.
Kind of what I’m thinking for a general long term plan is as follows. I want to have a training cycle that ends with a 10k on the track late this April with a little higher volume than I’d normally do for a 10k, but not too crazy yet. I basically just want some new track personal bests. Then I’d recover, and I’d have a very high volume, marathon-specific training cycle over the summer without doing a marathon at the end. I’ve never run at altitude before, but I’d love to give it a try this summer because I just feel like I’d respond to it well. Then I’d recover again, and hit another marathon cycle that actually ends with my attempt at a trials qualifier towards the end of the year or beginning of the next year.
So basically I’m looking for any and all advice or tips regarding anything about the marathon. That could be training, racing, fueling, good places to attempt it, etc.
What you need is a pro coach of highest rank! And I`m still cheap ( 50) in monthly fee. And my coaching gives 100% guarantee that you will reach your goal. I have coached 59:30 guys at the half, 2:07 at the marathon. I know what stuff to concentrate on for optimal performance.