Marathon. Is 2:45 suicidal for me?

Bruin1996 wrote:

Have you done any long runs with mileage at MP?

Im following a jack daniels plan and he doesnt seem to have anything more than like 12 miles @ mp on an 18 mile run. Today was probably the most ive done, yet. It called for 2 easy + 8mp + 2 x 2mile tempos + 2 x 1mile tempos + 1 mile easy with 2 minutes rest between intervals

I was running home from work, so the MP was all screwes up, stopping @ stop lights, dodging cars, dodging pedestrians, up and down hills, etc. I finished the MP at the track.

2 easy @ 7:40

8 mp averaged 6:35 (for the time i was moving faster than 12minute pace. It felt like more of a fartlek due to the afformentioned issues. When i was actually moving, my watch usually said about 6:20)

All the tempo intervals were clicked off like a metronome with perfect splits @ 5:55 per 1600. I ended up doing:

3200

2 min standing rest

2400

Emergency bathroom break, 8 min

1600

2 min standing rest

1600

2 min standing

1600

Mile and a half easy home.

Almost 18 total. I was suprised how easy the intervals were. Im definitely getting faster.

A couple women I know who will be in that 2:45 pace group just ran half marathons in about 78 minutes. So that's a pretty good target to aim for - 6:00/mi for a half marathon.

I admittedly haven't read this entire thread but I saw that you did one or two MP workouts but the pace ranged from 6:30s down to 6:10s. you gotta tighten up those splits unless it was hilly. there's no need to be off by more than a few seconds for each mile. GPS watches have a lap pace function so you can set it for 1.00mi splits and get the pacing perfect. no excuses to be off by even ten seconds.

Jimmy is back!

You are definitely not in 2:45 shape

dirtbag runner wrote:

You are definitely not in 2:45 shape

This i know. I just didnt know if the positive split would with going out at 2:45 pace would end with me walking at mile 24

Seems like a solid long run to me with 6 miles at faster than MP (HMP?) plus 8 miles at MP.. I would say that is at least equivalent in difficulty to my 26.2K@MP. I try to find routes with a continuous path with no stoplights to do my fast long runs at(and preferably with water fountains).

That is the question we all face.. you want to start out fast enough to get your best race time but not too fast and falling apart and ending up with a large positive split. What is the correct pace to run? I am using a even effort conservative start pacing band for my sub-2:45 attempt.. hopefully things will work out and I can finish strong on the final 10K to go a little below 2:45 but we’ll just have to see what happens.

Sundays run went pretty poorly. It called for 3 easy, 12 at marathon pace, and 2 easy. I at chinese food the night before and i was waiting around all morning to take a proper dump but it never came. I finally gave up waiting and went out for my run, knowing id probably have to pull over in the middle

3 easy

6:25

6:21

6:25

6:22

6:25

6:29

Pulled over to dump in the woods.

6:37 it was faster than this, but my watch counted time after i stopped/before i started.

6:26

6:23

6:30

6:22

6:33

2 more easy

It started getting REALLY tough at the end. I had figure that with stopping in the middle, id not get that fatigued, but it started to feel like a time trial towards the end. I dont think it helped that i still felt awful and crampy and had horrible side aches, even after i dumped.

I noticed that my training schedule is a week ahead of when the race actually is, so i was going to try this workout again in a week and just repeat this week.

2:45 is 6:17 pace. Which means, you would need to be running under 6:15's in the early miles to put some time in the bank for the later miles. So, if you can run a comfortable 10-12 miles under 6:10 pace, I'd say you have a shot. Otherwise, I would say you need to do some work or be more realistic.

If you want 2:45 and you think you are a chance on a good day then go after it! I tried on the weekend and conditions changed, I wasn't strong enough and it blew out to 2:50 low. Who cares? If I paced myself to break 2:50 I would have, but I'm happy I rolled the dice. If I ran a safe 2:49:59 and didn't empty the tank I would be sitting here wondering if I should have went for it.

Go through half giving yourself a chance to hit the goal. Be patient. Don't do anything stupid , but also don't limit yourself.

Wednesdays run called for

5 easy + 4 x (2Tempo + 2min rest) + 2 x (1tempo + 1 min rest) + 2 easy

I ended up deciding that that was too much volume and that on my tired legs, i wouldn't be able to do them at true tempo pace.

I ended up with

12:05

12:05

12:10

6:08

5:52

It was getting pretty tough on the last few and i was slowing down without meaning to. So on the last mile, i made sure to push hard, so i wouldnt slow down. I didnt mean to go that much faster. Oops

Milage for the week was supposed to be peak milage.

17 sunday

6 monday pm

6 tuesday am + 6 tuesday pm

16 wednesday

6 thursday

6 friday am + 6 friday pm

6 Saturday

Total 73. (The 6 were more like 5.8 and the 17 and 16 arent exact)

Im pretty wore down, but i dont feel like im a normal amount of fatigued for being in peak marathon training

Jimmy21 wrote:

I noticed that my training schedule is a week ahead of when the race actually is, so i was going to try this workout again in a week and just repeat this week.

Well, as i was planning all week, i redid last Sunday's run and it went MUCH better. I made sure to drink enough water yesterday, ate better and woke up early to get it done with before the sun got intense. I was aiming to keep the mp part between 6:20 and 6:25

3 miles easy

6:23

6:24

6:22

6:22

6:21

6:22

6:20

6:19

6:20

6:18

6:21

6:04

2 easy

17 total. No stops at all. I feel like thats pretty good for being during peak training. Last week was my highest milage ever at 73