High mileage, mostly fast. My bread and butter workout was something like this:
3k @ 4:45
light jog for 5 minutes
5k @ 4:30
light jog for 5 minutes
8k @ 4:30
light jog for 5 minutes
10k @ 4:15
10 mile cool down @ 5:30
High mileage, mostly fast. My bread and butter workout was something like this:
3k @ 4:45
light jog for 5 minutes
5k @ 4:30
light jog for 5 minutes
8k @ 4:30
light jog for 5 minutes
10k @ 4:15
10 mile cool down @ 5:30
Really???wtf wrote:
See I just don't agree. I ran a 15:48 5K in college and that says I should be able to run something like. 2:32 marathon. I know sub 15 guys who never have broken 2:35. Running a sub 2:50 marathon was much more difficult for me than a sub 16 5K.
racing is generally easier if you train for it and plan out your strategy. sounds to me like you just messed up your marathon.
I could go out and run a 2:35 tomorrow morning and it would be "easy". I could also go out and try to run 2:26 tomorrow morning, but blow up and run 2:47. which would hurt more? probably the 2:47, but that doesn't mean that it's harder to run 2:47 than it is to run 2:35.
RunnerSam wrote:
... This thread kinda makes me a little sad I had to run so much more to achieve similar results
Well, perhaps sadder is that low-mileage guys like me fall far short of their marathon potential. My 5K time prior to running 2:47 would predict 2:41. And my 5K time prior to running 2:40 would predict 2:34.
I think 70 mpw instead of 50 mpw would have gotten me there. That's only 20 more minutes per day!
Like your schedule. But I ran a road races of 5k-20k several times several weeks before marathon. Your schedule looks good.
Thanks for all the responses!
Well this last week a scheduled down/recovery week. I hit 47 miles in 6 days. I was feeling really warn down and tired after last week and especially after that long run. It was supposed to be an easy week but I bagged one workout and ran even slower and easier than was scheduled. Here's how it all looked.
Mon- rest
Tues- Easy 6 @ 8:30 pace, had 6 x 1 mile repeats scheduled but bagged it
Wed- Easy 8 @ 8:32 pace
Thur- 7 total miles. Hill repeats, 6x400m hill with decent grade and hard effort.
Friday- Easy 6.5 @ 8:24 pace
Sat- Easy 5.5 @ 7:52 pace
Sun- 14 miles at 7:01 avg with 4 in the middle @ sub 6:30 pace.
This coming week is my biggest week (70 miles with some serous quality thrown in), I'm hoping to get through it and have some confidence left over when I'm done.
****Update****
This week was solid. Got in 69.5 miles. looked like this.
Mon- Rest
Tuesday -9.5 total. 4 x 1.5mile repeats. with 600m (3min) jog recovery . Pace on all of them was 5:55- 6:00.
Wed- 12 miles easy 8:19 pace
Thursday- 9 miles total. 7 mile tempo/cutdown 6:30, 6:18, 6:11, 6:11, 6:05, 6:00, 6:00.
Friday- 10.5 mile easy, 7:55 pace
Sat- 7.5 easy, 8:05 pace
Sunday - 21 total, 7 warm up, 12 @ 6:33 avg, 2 easy. total avg pace was 6:57. per mile. Did it on rolling course entire way. felt really strong, the last few miles I started feeling it a little but this was my best feeling long run in over a month.
Two more hard weeks then taper!
This is good stuff. You should definitely have sub 2:50 in the works.
Here's another update
64 miles for the week.
Mon- rest
Tuesday- 9.5 miles total. 3 x 2 miles @ 6:10-6:15 pace, with 3 min rest.
Wed- 11 miles easy, 8:23 pace
Thurs- 10 miles total, 1 up/down with 8 mile cutdown/tempo 6:32, 6:21, 6:18, 6:15, 6:09, 6:12, 6:07, 6:02
Friday-11 miles easy, 8:25 pace
Saturday- 6 miles easy 8:13 pace
Sunday- 16 total (7:23 avg), 8 easy, 5 hard@6:21 avg, 3 easy
This coming week is the last big week finished off with 22 miles with 10 @ mp. then its taper time.
50 =/- mpw.
No workouts- just running- tempo recovery.
5 long runs (after a summer of 10-12 mile long runs)- 15, 15, 17,18,17.
During the long runs I held 6:00 pace for as long as I could.
In the marathon I was at 20 miles in 2:00:00- then I SUFFERED and ran 2:49:35
That was Wineglass i NY State in 1990.
Is it advisable to do all of your long runs that hard? I was under the impression it was ideal to alternate between progression long runs and easy ones (i.e. 20 miles with progression, next week 15-16 easy, next week 22 miles progression). All of your long runs over the last few weeks have been fast. Are you still feeling tired going into the next week? How are your legs holding up?
I don't know if its advisable. I'm following my own program and I don't know much about programming. I've been tired some weeks more than others. I do feel like I'm riding a fine line sometimes and maybe pushing too hard. I've also been good about taking it down a notch or two when I'm starting to feel really beat up. I think right now I'm fatigued but not overtrained. I think I'll get through this last hard week just fine then really enjoy the taper.
2 years of running, average 30 miles a week. Did all my running at 7 min miling or faster. Only did 20 miles once in the buildup. Built up to running 14 miles at 6:30 pace in training. 5ft 11 and 12 stone at the time. 10k time was 6 minute miling I seem to recall. 5k time was low 17s.
OP again. in case anyone is interested
Last hard week went ok. Here's how it looked.
62 miles.
Mon-rest
Tue- 7 total, 3 x 1.5 mile @ 6:05 pace. 2 min rest
Wed- 10 miles easy 8:14 pace
Thurs- 6 miles total. 5 x 400m hill w 12% grade
Fri- 5 miles easy, 8 mile arduous hike (not the best idea)
Sat- 4 miles easy 8:07 pace
Sun- 22 miles on Boston Comparable course. Avg pace 6:55, 9 warm up, 11 @ 6:31 avg. 2 easy.
Felt like crap going into the long run, didnt expect to run as well as i did. I ended up going into the well a little bit at the end but feel much better today than expected.
3 weeks to taper. I'll do similar intensity with less volume until race day. This week ill hit 50 miles, then 40 the week after then 23 leading up to Boston. I probably wont update to much between now and the race unless something significant happens and I'll def report back after the race. Good luck to everyone else running Boston.
lofty goal wrote:
For anyone who's run 2:47-2:50 what did your training look like??
I'm shooting for sub 2:50 and have been doing my own thing as far as training goes. I'm averaging 55-65 mpw and should peak out at around 70. I'm 8 weeks out and last week was pretty typical and went something like this?
Mon- rest
Tue- 1.5 mile WU, 6x800m @ 5:45 pace w 2 min jog recovery. 1.5 mile CD
Wed- 11 miles easy (8:08 pace)
Thurs- 1 mile WU, 6 miles fast (6:06 avg) 1 mile CD
Fri- 11 miles moderate (7:36 pace)
Sat- 5 miles easy (7:51 pace)
Sun- 20 mile Long run,...6 easy (7:40 ish) then 6@ MP + 20-30 sec (6:50), then 6 @ 6:30ish, then 2 mile CD
Does this look like I'm on the right track? Fire away!
I ran pretty much 70 kpw, focusing on longer tempos and easy/very slow long runs of 25-30 km. Doubles as many days as you can.
2:50 isn't that hard to crack. Just run a decent amount and focus on getting a long run in once every 7-10 days, even if it is slow. Trails are good so that you can focus on having quick feet and getting elevation in.
You look to be spot on for it. Good luck
Thank You for keeping up with this post, have been following week by week. Looks like you have sub 2:50 in you. Best of luck and report back after!
- RS
Around 40mpw in singles with 2 longer runs a week and 2 tempos and 2-3 easy runs.
In reality I was running a bit more than 40 (maybe 45?) but I was injured for a few days and had a ski trip where I didn’t run much, so average overall was 40.
Well I came up short. Ran 2:55. Pretty disappointed. I felt like on a perfect day it would have happened but that wasn't the case this year. I hate to make excuses but here are the things that I think contributed to me being unsuccessful.
My training had me feeling very very worn down going into the taper. So I ended up cutting my mileage and quality more then I should have during the taper. On race day the legs still felt like crap.
Even with not feeling 100% I think I could have come close. But I started towards the back of wave 1. It was very congested the first 6-8 miles and even despite trying to Bob and weave I still ran 7:00 pace for the first couple miles. Finally I was able to hit 6:30's but it took lots of work. Came through the half in 1:26.
Training all winter in a very cold dry climate took its toll in the second half. The humidity and relatively warmer temps had me pretty boogered up. I was still averaging 6:33 pace at 21 miles in but then started cramping. I fought it off as best I could but I'm not sure if I ran any of the last 6 miles in under 7 minutes. It was very painful.
Might try again for 2:50 later this year. Not sure though. I might come chime back in down the road.
That sucks bro,
I am attempting a sub 2:50 in a couple weeks. I've peaked at 70mpw which is a lot for me. I think it comes down to weather at this point.
I meant more that sucks for you bro rather than you suck.
Get back after it soon.
Sucks bro wrote:
I meant more that sucks for you bro rather than you suck.
Get back after it soon.
Haha thanks I understood! I think next time I'll try to be in 2:45 shape so if things don't go perfect then I might still be able to salvage a 2:50.