ex-college runner training for a marathon

One year to a sub 3 for a guy like you?

Here is your plan:

First 6 months build to 50-60 miles per week at a conversational pace. Build your frequency to 6-7 days per week.

First Month - 20-30 (3-4 times per week)

Next Month - 25-35 (4 times per week)

Next 2 Months - 30-40 (4-5 times per week)

Next Month - 40-50 (5-6 times per week)

Next Month - 50-60 (6 -7 times per week)

Then build in two longer runs per week to 13-17 miles and the other 17-20 miles. Take the shorter run and run a progression run starting at 7 minute pace and ending around 6 minute pace.

That's all a guy like you would have to do for that goal of breaking 3 hours. Even with this very conservative plan you will probably have a hard time going that slow.

I mean, good grief. I was a 28:00 8k runner that went 2:48 after 6 months of training after taking 8 years off.

Run

You have the talent to run well under 3. Just pick a program and do it.

Yeah, 3 hours shouldn’t be a very difficult goal for you. If you pick a well established plan and just follow it, you could get under 3 without working very hard.

Find a 10k soon and race it. Or a half once you’ve been able to build enough. Something to predict your current marathon potential. You might be surprised what it indicates.

Is this a joke? I took 10+ years away from any exercise. Ballooned to 250 pounds and was formerly a high jumper rather than a 24:30 8k runner and would like to run faster than 3 hours (and maybe significantly so) off of 6-8 months of training. You are setting the bar way too low. Given your background I would be appalled if you couldn’t break 3 hours after a month or two of consistent running.

fatrunner22 wrote:

I ran cross country at a mid major D1 in college, and was about a 24:30 8k guy. I ran 75-80 mpw, and quit mid way through my junior year, which was in early 2018. I have not run a step since then, and I want to get back into it and run a marathon in under 3 hours in a year.

If you could train an ex-runner from essentially nothing into a sub 3 hour marathoner, how would you do it?

I had the exact same situation, except that I was smoking 3/4 of a pack per day (quit after 22 years).

I ran 24:43 and 24:45 (5 Miles X-C) 30:45 and 30:56 (10K X-C) in D1 college so our abilities are almost exact.

I took a year off and then ramped up to a marathon build up just like you want to do.

To run sub-3:00, all you need to do is run 30 MPW at whatever pace you want for round 5 months.

In contrast, I went for it all, ran around 90MPW and in less than 8 months, I was breaking 25:00 on the roads for 5Miles (while still smoking).

I ran 1:09 at the Philly Half on an awful day, and went out in NY Marathon in 1:08 and did not even feel it. My mistake was 1) doing a 2 mile warm up, 2) not taking fluids or food of any kind.

I blew up at 20Miles (1:45) and ran 2:27 high--could have run 2:20 or better.

The next year, on 40MPW, I ran a perfectly even 2:23, (again, in NY) into a 15MPH Headwind.

You have much more ability then you think!

Good Luck to You!

If you want to discuss off site, ask Brothers Johnson for my e mail address.

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Sub 3? Hell sub 2:30 or sub 2:20 bro!

How much weight have you gained? That's probably the only major issue for you. Come back too quickly after gaining a bunch of weight and you risk injury.

Were you D1 bro?

Yeah you get into reasonable shape again you'll be good. I never broke 26:00 for 8k at a small D3 school and after almost a year off got back into shape while volunteering with a high school xc team and ended up running sub 2:35 with just adding a few miles to my long runs on top of the high school kid training.

Anyone with sub-25 8K XC showings not too far removed from college can likely get into the 2:20's after a few months of effort. You could probably go mid-2:30's on 5 mile days. Just saying.

hi,

i ran my best marathon (2:32:12) at 37 years old . i was not a runner until my early 30s so i did not have the speed to run faster (i tried). my training partner was a Div 1 XC runner and a 24:30 5-miler who had never done distance training but was in good shape when we started. he had 52 second 400m speed (i was much much slower) so the workouts were complimentary for both of us and without him i never would have run that time. on the other hand, he ran 2:32:18 for his first marathon, enough said. so get back in shape, find a good training group, and set your goal time down a lot. i have known many marathoners who have been in the range of 2:35 to 2:45 and none of them had your 5-mile speed.

Step 1 - Run

Step 2 - Lose weight

Just do a solid 2 months of good base training following the hobby jogger rule of 10% increase a week (you could probably start at 20 or 30 no problem). Than start incorporating workouts and hardish long runs. You could sub 3 in 4-5 months very easily.

I'm way slower than you and winged my marathon training just following the basic rules described above; ran sub 3 in 6 months. That being said i have the body type of a Kenyan, so if you'e really "fatrunner22" maybe get that straightened out first.

fatrunner22 wrote:

I ran cross country at a mid major D1 in college, and was about a 24:30 8k guy. I ran 75-80 mpw, and quit mid way through my junior year, which was in early 2018. I have not run a step since then, and I want to get back into it and run a marathon in under 3 hours in a year.

If you could train an ex-runner from essentially nothing into a sub 3 hour marathoner, how would you do it?

Dude with your talent level run 30-40 miles a week for a couple months throw in a few decent workouts and you'll be fine unless you've gained 30 lbs. 3hr pace is slower than what you did your long runs at. It will be a joke to you. I have D1 teammates in their 30s that took significant time off came back and trained in the 40-50mpw range for 4 or 5 months and ran in the low 2:40's.

If you're 24:30 was a legit 8K this is no problem for you.

Also my post-collegiate experience. I was a low 24 8K sub 30 10K guy. I missed about 10 months of training coming out of college due to injury. Light running during Senior Track Season, no competitions. Then 6 months of 0 running. When I was able to run again I was about 15lbs over race weight. In 6 months of training, I was back at racing fitness and ran a half in 65 low. First few months of running was a battle to get back into shape but then it was like back to regular feel.

It sounds like you're at a similar talent level. It can come back pretty quickly in your early 20's. Start with 30 mile weeks if gained weight watch your diet and build from there. Once again sub 3 is not going to be much of a challenge for you. If you're just doing it for fun that's great. But if you want to go much faster you can.

This is the timid mentality with most western runners.

With your past experience you should be aiming for 2:20-30 sub atleast . One

year is a lot of time

I had a former teammate who barely ran at all for 5 years after college. He started running 30-40 miles a week this year and then decided about 2 months ago that he wanted to run a marathon. He ran about 70-80 miles a week and just ran 2:30. I have another friend who ran 2:31 in his first marathon off only 50 miles per week and a long run of 10 miles. Neither of them ran as fast as you did for 8k. As long as you’re relatively close to your old racing weight, I’d say you could train for 3 months and run 3 hours without breaking a sweat.