3:30 first marathon realistic?

I ran 1:39 in a hlly may half when I was 22. The following year I ran the full in 3:25. My mileage was probably in the 30s. Now I realize that this is a miserable way to run a marathon. Run lots more and see what happens. It's too early to know what marathon pace will be 6 months from now. Everyone progress differently, but in a vacuum, many people run a first marathon under 3:30.

Why are you running a marathon? It doesn't sound like you'd respect the distance. With your weekly mileage and half marathon time, I'd say just over 4:00.

It may seem like that, but I am just getting into running. I would like to go on and run more marathons and gradually increase my mileage in this training cycle. By no means am I going to run the marathon on 25mpw, I peaked at 35 for a half and want to continue pushing that in the next 6 months.

You are a beginner. If you keep training and plugging away at it, you could see your times change drastically every two months. So I have no idea what your marathon time will be in 6 months, but I do think it could be sub 3:30.

I also wouldn't necessarily recommend a marathon just yet. Sure, they're all the rage and carry much more clout than saying, yeah, I ran a 15k race this weekend. People would be like, what? Who cares?

But do what you want to do. And if that is running a marathon, do it. My recommendation would be to slowly build miles over the next 6 months. See if you can get up to at least 40 mpw. More would be better, but the trick is you have to stay healthy while doing it.

fivesecondstofriday wrote:

It may seem like that, but I am just getting into running. I would like to go on and run more marathons and gradually increase my mileage in this training cycle. By no means am I going to run the marathon on 25mpw, I peaked at 35 for a half and want to continue pushing that in the next 6 months.

If you are comfortably at 35 mpw right now that will help you a lot. Stay there for a few weeks and then slowly start adding more.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I'll keep it going and re-evaluate a goal pace before I start a training programme for the marathon. I like to throw myself in at the deep end and is a personal goal rather than telling everyone 'I ran a marathon', but we'll see how it goes 6 months down the line!

I appreciate the help.

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to imply you were one of those people in it to tell everyone about your marathon. It's just funny how many out there are like that.

Anyways, I ran my first one this spring, and my workout paces were significantly faster in late March/April than they were in January. So my other recommendation would be to not set out chasing XX time. Run by feel and let the times come to you. Sounds cheesy, but it works well.

It is definitely a good goal to shoot for--3:30 for first 'thon, then more speed and a few shorter races, another 'thon, and then maybe your 3rd or 4th 'thon can be a BQ attempt, esp. if you are progressing like this:

3:30 first

3:22 second

3:12 third (assuming you're doing training year round, doing 10k and 13.1 as well)

3:05 or bust fourth

I ran a 1:45 half w/no experience and 25 mpw , then 1:39 a year later up to 36 mpw, and now trying for a 3:30 this fall, but will get to 50-55 mpw on that (busy life). I could try to get 60-70 but also want to see if I can handle 50 first. BQ hopefully in 2-4 years, and at age 35 (35-39 bracket), I'll be in the 3:10 bracket and not 3:05. Realistically a 3:10 BQ though is 3:04-3:06, though.

itdepends wrote:

You are a beginner. If you keep training and plugging away at it, you could see your times change drastically every two months. So I have no idea what your marathon time will be in 6 months, but I do think it could be sub 3:30.

OP -- I agree with this. You're likely to see big jumps in improvement. If you can maintain 40-45 mpw, with a few long runs of 18-20 miles, 3:30 seems very reasonable, even conservative, depending on your natural talent.

At age 22, I had a goal of 3:30 for my first marathon. I was exactly on pace at halfway, but was so bored with 8-minute miles, I ran the second half in 1:30. The first marathon can be hard to judge.

At age 57, I ran 3:25 on less than 20 miles per week -- 15 mpw for 7 months, and 19 mpw for 4 months. So, big mileage may not be necessary for 3:30, again depending on basic talent. (I did schedule a few long runs, which I believe to be key, no matter your overall mileage).

sure, aim for 3:30

but you will want to readjust closer to the day. You may readjust up or down, depends on how the training goes.

Your training should be based off your current fitness, not your goal pace however. So pick training paces based of the recent half and adjust down as your fitness increases

20 minute 5k after just a couple months of low mileage suggests decent basic speed. If you train properly for 6 months there’s no reason you shouldn’t be capable of running a good deal faster than 3:30.

If you're running only 15-20 mpw, you're not serious about running. You need to triple that, at least.

If you get serious about running, sure. But you'd better get cracking. 6 months isn't very far off.

well..... wrote:

If you're running only 15-20 mpw, you're not serious about running. You need to triple that, at least.

OP ran 25 mpw for his half marathon, peaked at 35 and plans to increase that. He ran a 20-minute 5K after a couple months at 15 mpw. Sounds like he has enough natural ability, and is plenty serious enough.

The more I think about it, the more I believe 3:30 is a conservative goal for him. It isn't THAT challenging; I took 14 years off from running/racing, and still ran 3:25 on 19 mpw (and, yes, I considered that serious training).