Sub 2h30 Spring Marathon - The Quest For Amateur Glory Rides Again!

Recap of the week. Again, I’m a 2:31 marathoner who peaked at 60mpw last training cycle when I ran my PR. I’m training with a solid group of guys. Three other guys also have sub 230 aspirations this cycle. Two others we just short of trials.

6 weeks of 80 before down week and 1:08:58 half last week.

90 miles this week.

One workout. 9x1600 @ 459, 459, 459, 459, 500, 458, 458, 458, 453. 800 jog rest.

22 mile long run @ 648 pace.

Only one workout this week due to heavy legs from half. Highest mileage I’ve ever hit with a workout included.

M: 70min easy w/10x30 sec pickups

T: 10min progressing easy to moderate + 4 strides

7 sets of: 2km at 5:36-5:28/mi /1km at 6:25-6:18/mi

8min CD

W: 70min easy

Th: 70min easy to moderate w/10x 1 min pickups

F: 80min easy

Sat: 10min progressing easy to moderate + 4 strides

18mi at 6:15-5:54/mi

8min easy cooldown

Sun: 40min easy

Had a solid week. Both WOs felt good, especially the 18 mi LFR. My favorite type of WO/run. Felt smooth as butter. I do have a issue with an inflamed or tweaked muscle in the inner leg. Abductor area. It has lingered for a week or so, but hasn't effected my running.

Solid work, JVA. Do you train mostly on your own? When is your race?

Most of my workouts are done solo, but I run with others for a lot of my easy runs. There is a group of guys with similar fitness and ability on my local club team, but my coach and their coach have a slightly different training philosophies and our WOs don’t really overlap often.

I am running Grandma’s, so still plenty of time.

Hi guys - jumping in after following the 2:30 thread for a while.

I'm training for London and looking to improve on a 2:30 PB from 2018. Really enjoying reading everyone's weeks and sessions - gives me both confidence that I'm on track and nerves that I'm not there!

Mileage currently 85-95 mpw and I'm hitting splits in line with where I was in 2018 ahead of a 2:30 run. Hoping that the next 7 weeks gives me time to get into 2:29 shape.

In the spirit of sharing and contributing, my week last week looked like:

M: Easy double (6+4)

T: 10 x 2 min reps @ 5:10 pace

W: 12 easy

T: Easy double (7+5)

F: 10 miles @ MP (5:40s)

S: 8 easy

S: 22 easy (second half raised to 6 min/miling).

Total 94 miles

Questions I've got for you experts - it looks like I won't get a half in ahead of London. What's the best way to gauge where you are in your experience? I'll be running a few long runs with 12-14 miles at MP in second half in coming weeks but do you have any confidence booster go to work outs for 3-4 weeks out?

how strict are they on ADP time standards? Im less than a minute off in the full marathon (2:35:XX) on a tough course. any chance they'll let me in if I beg via email?

$tuntman wrote:

how strict are they on ADP time standards? Im less than a minute off in the full marathon (2:35:XX) on a tough course. any chance they'll let me in if I beg via email?

Hopefully you're not looking for this year...

From the Chicago Marathon website: "The American Development Program has reached its capacity of 300 participants and is now closed."

Here's my last week...

Mon - 6.8 mi EZ @ 8:03/mi

Tues - 8.3 mi @ 6:41/mi - 12 x 1 on/off

Wed - 7 mi EZ @ 8:08/mi

Thurs - 13 mi @ 6:56/mi - Bridge Loop

Fri - 10 mi @ 6:09/mi - Aerobic progression

Sat - 7.3 mi EZ @ 7:51/mi

Sun - 20.8 mi @ 6:10/mi - 3 x 4 mi @ MP

First, to update on the back, it felt the best it has in a long time this morning. I'd put it at around 80%, but that's A LOT better than where it was earlier this week.

Tuesday was originally supposed to be 10 x 1K, but I knew when I woke up that my back wouldn't have liked it. So I called an audible and did 12 x 1 on/off at 3K-5K pace (S/o beersandmiles for the idea). I kept all of them between 4:45/mi & 5:00/mi, outside of one rep where another runner on the path thought I was racing him and picked it up to match my tempo. That didn't last long for him.

Friday was a scheduled aerobic run and I decided to turn it into a progression. Started out at 6:54/mi & dropped it to 5:36/mi at the end to get myself ready for Sunday.

Sunday was a meaty one. I had 3 x 4 mi @ MP w/ 1 mi active recovery between the sets. I gave it a whirl and was pleased with how it came out - 5:39, 5:39, 5:35, 5:36 | 5:40, 5:37, 5:40, 5:37 | 5:38, 5:38, 5:37, 5:36. That second set was mentally challenging as a friend was supposed to come out to provide hydration support, but was late and that got into my head. She eventually showed up near the end of my final active recovery going into my final work set, which was a blessing! I owe her big time for helping me out.

Overall, I am pleased with this week, all things considered. If you're counting at home, that's six of my last 7 weeks with 73+ miles (The outlier was my "down" week for the HM).

This week is filled with tempo miles, which is good because I want those to feel easy again, so those MP miles are just a cruise. I have a straight 10K tempo scheduled for Friday, but might use another workout that my teammates did during their CIM build instead - 2 x 1 mi @ MP, 30 sec recovery, 2 x 1 mi @ T, 45 sec recovery, 2 x 1 mi @ 10K, 60 sec recovery.

I feel like you’re logic is sound with the 12-14 miles at MP being a good indicator of what you can in in a full, especially if you do it after a longer warmup. If you can do 5 mile wu, 13 miles @ MP, shorter CD, then I would guess you can run a full at the same pace as you did for the workout.

Solid week, Tyler. I like how you mix it up with speed workouts and marathon specific. What did you run in your half?

I haven't been able to get a tune-up race before any of my marathons (mostly due to injuries). The longer work should give you a gauge of your fitness. Longer cooldowns following those efforts should help see how easily you're able to recover. In my experience I've tended to go out a little bit more conservative for the first couple miles when I don't have a race to gauge my effort by. It's a long race so a couple seconds slower in the early miles can be a blessing.

Here's my past week. Achilles has been still an issue. We dropped down the mileage a bit and scrapped a speed workout in the middle of the week to focus on our long run. Had to take Sunday off due to achilles issues so at this point we're monitoring and pulling back a bunch. I should be good to go by next week.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 8 miles, 6:48 pace

Wednesday: 10 miles: 6:41 pace

Thursday: 10.26 miles: 6:47 pace

Friday: 4.63 miles 7:22 pace (4 miles easy, 4 x 30 strides/30 second jog)

Sat: 18 miles, 6:03 pace, 3 miles easy, 10 @ MP (5:35 average), 5 miles easy

Sun: Off

I didn't feel too comfortable with the workout on Saturday. It was still pretty damn cold (30 degrees) for my liking and I struggled getting my legs to warm up. Achilles wasn't much of an issue during the workout. I felt like I got somewhat in a rhythm and just kept my eye on the 10. These were my splits: 47, 39, 37, 40, 35, 33, 35, 31, 34, 26. I somehow felt good at 16 again and cruised to a couple 6:10s for miles 17 and 18.

Achilles was pretty bruised up the next day so I took it off. Things are starting to improve a ton and I'm going to take this week real easy.

Trying hard to stay focused this week. Last week I was behind the curve due to work stress and likely overcooking the previous two weeks. So, I just did miles with a couple of aerobic runs

92 miles

Mon: 10 @7:17/mi recovery

Tue: 13 @7:08/mi easy

Weds: 13 @6:39/mi

Thur: 13 @6:27mi slight aerobic progression

Fri: 13 @6:35/mi

Sat: 10 @6:58/mi easy

Sun: 20 @6:22 aerobic with a slight progression on the final hills

My HM this weekend was cancelled, so yesterday I did 4 x 2mi on rolling hills averaging 5:37/mi with a 2 min jog between at about 7:00 pace. My HR was close to 155 with only a couple of spikes up to 160 on the hills, which is basically what it was at Boston last year. Now, I'll fully admit that I'm still a very long shot for sub 2:30, but damn, I've never hit a workout like that in my life.

I've got over 1000 miles since Christmas. I guess I'll just keep pointing forward. If Boston gets cancelled, I'll likely get some rest and try to click it up even higher in the fall. Long run this weekend no matter what.

How is everybody holding up in Sub 2h30 Spring Marathon Land?

My race (Eugene) was canceled. I'm taking a down week to reevaluate. I'm thinking of doing a solo half marathon time trial next week just to see where I'm at. I'm also looking at a race in late May, knowing that it is likely to be canceled as well.

What about everyone else?

Are you looking at the Famous Idaho Potato marathon in Boise?

I'm still in HARDCORE denial about the spring marathon season being effectively canceled. I have continued my training plan, but think I am about to pull the plug on it after one more MP effort this weekend. I have a choice between 10 @ MP, 10 @ MP with a fast 5K finish or 15 @ MP. Chances are I'll do 10 @ MP to see exactly where my fitness is and shut it down.

After that I guess I'll transition into the fastest stuff my track club is doing and will *CONSIDER* signing up for Grandma's Marathon, even though it might press a bit too close to my liking for Boston and Chicago in September and October, respectively.

We're still staying on training as though we were going to be running Boston. 50K was the last to go but we still want to practice doing the biggest workout of this cycle.

We're coming off of the achilles issue but we kept the mileage pretty light besides two big efforts.

Thursday I did 4x 2min hill repeats with jog down recovery, 6x 30 second hill repeats up a steeper hill with a jog down, then a 2 mile at HMP. Was going to head to a track but it was locked. Ended up doing them around a city block. 5:16, 5:10.

Sunday I did 20 miles with 10 out in 64:17 and 10 back in 61:01. I definitely didn't fuel enough and it showed. Much tougher than I wanted it to feel.

This week we have an easy workout today. 5x 2 min @ 10k/HMP, then we'll hit it hard for our biggest workout of the cycle.

Hope training is going well for the rest of you!

I ran a solo half time trial yesterday in 1:11:08. I'm guessing I could have run 30-45 seconds faster in an actual race; I struggled to push the last two miles. Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with the result. It makes me even more eager for an opportunity to race a marathon sometime in the next couple of months.

Since my race on April 26 was canceled, I signed up for the Green Bay marathon which is May 17. They are holding out on making a decision about the race, so I'm going to keep training all-in until I hear otherwise. Fingers crossed!

@marathonNoob - Great job on the solo time trial! What kind of course did you run it on? I saw someone on reddit blasted a 1:06:XX or something but had some ridiculous downhill.