Forums >Racing>2013 Sub-3:00 Marathon Goal Thread
It's not too early for folks to be planning their 2013 assaults on the 3-hour "barrier". Just as in years past, here's the thread for it. (There's lots of great stuff in the original sub 3:00 marathon thread (but it is 2,446 posts long!), the 2012 thread, and the 2011 thread.)
We are here to support each other in this shared goal. Some have broken 3:00 multiple times but love the group, so they stay and set new goals to break 3:00. Other people might be 3:10 or above marathoners that are working toward the big 3-0-0. All are welcome, and collectively all support each other the best we can.
Welcome and please tell us a little about yourself. I'm Clive – I ran a less than entirely intelligent 3:18 in NOV2012; training and the Running Gods willing, I plan to threaten 3:00 in Fall 2013. I'm also one of the many people who read and are inspired by past and present versions of this thread.
So post your target race(s) and let us know your age and if you've been sub-3 before (*); chat about training, races, and tweaking; and be sure to follow up with your results, good or bad!
(*) = the format I have here is:
[runner (age/sub-3 before?)] – [race date (race location)] – [Goal = (if other than sub-3)] RESULT = ______
2013 Hopefuls for sub 3:00 marathons (chronological order) (unless noted, goal is simply sub-3:00):
Mr MattM (47/yes) – 03MAR2013 – Little Rock (Little Rock AR) RESULT = _____
cc4life07 (28/no) – 16MAR2013 – RnR DC (Washington DC) RESULT = _____
Roadkill Racing (38/yes) – 16MAR2013 – B&A Trail (Pasadena MD) – Goal = sub-2:38 RESULT = _____
calbearsfan (47/no) – 17MAR2013 – Los Angeles (Los Angeles CA) RESULT = 2:58:58
Bash (30/no) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 3:03:14
BagOfSand (26/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) – Goal = sub-2:40 RESULT = _____
bhearn (47/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 2:58:14
cbrad (41/yes)– 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = ______
daubenspeck (45/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = ______
Dakota RR (42/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) – Goal = 2:55 RESULT = 3:31:37
DoppleBock (44/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 3:12:39
Fuzzy (48/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 2:58:21
GregTR (36/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) – Goal = sub-2:40 RESULT = 2:56:45
joescott (46/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 2:56:39
Nemo ME (37/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) – Goal = 2:54:36 RESULT = 2:51:27
PaulyGram (45/yes) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) – Goal = <2:45 RESULT = DNF (bad salmon)
runnershawn (42/no) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 3:11:34
SForrester (35/no) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 2:58:32
xhristopher (39/no) – 15APR2013 – Boston (Boston MA) RESULT = 3:08:50
GregTR (36/yes) – 21APR2013 – London (London UK) – Goal = sub-2:50 RESULT = 2:58:48
Roth Runner (40/yes) – 21APR2013 – London (London UK) – Goal = 2:40 RESULT = 2:49:03
Oldman (51/no) – 26APR2013 – Country Music (Nashville TN) RESULT = ______
PaulyGram (46/yes) – 27APR2013 – Illinois Marathon (Boston MA) – Goal = BQ RESULT = 2:59:00
piwikiwi (44/no) – 04MAY2013 – Rotorua (Rotorua NZ) RESULT = DNS
jackdyl11 (30/yes) – 05MAY2013 – Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh PA) RESULT = ______
lagwagon (41/no) – 05MAY2013 – New Jersey ( NJ) RESULT = DNS
delucj (29/no) – 12MAY2013 – Cox Sports (Providence RI) RESULT = 3:02:47
spinach (55/yes) – 18MAY2013 – Fargo (Fargo ND) – Goal = 2:59:49 RESULT = 3:09:23
Bash (30/no) – 19MAY2013 – Sugarloaf (Eustis ME) RESULT = 2:58:11
extendedsolo (30/no) – 19MAY2013 – Cellcom Green Bay (Green Bay WI) – Goal = sub-2:58 RESULT = DNF
pabstars (47/__) – 19MAY2013 – Copenhagen (Copenhagen DK) RESULT = ______
Jeff (36/yes) – 26MAY2013 – Bob Potts (York PA) RESULT = 2:56:40
Viich (34/no) – 26MAY2013 – Ottawa (Ottawa CA) RESULT = 3:09:00
mikeymike (43/yes) – 26MAY2013 – KeyBank Vermont City (Burlington VT) RESULT = 2:56:06
jaxn (35/no) – 02JUN2013 – Rock&Roll San Diego (San Diego CA) RESULT = 2:59:39
Swampangel (51/yes) – 22JUN2013 – Grandmas (Duluth MN) RESULT = 2:56:29
DoppleBock (44/yes) – 23JUN2013 – Maritime (Manitowoc WI) RESULT = 3:10:14
flatfooter (39/yes) – 23JUN2013 – Maritime (Manitowoc WI) RESULT = 2:56:38
Gville Kevin (37/no) – 08SEP2013 – Lehigh Valley Via (Allentown PA) RESULT = 2:58:37
CincyRunnr (__/yes) – 21SEP2013 – Air Force (Dayton OH) RESULT = ______
GregTR (36/yes) – 29SEP2013 – Berlin (Berlin DE) – Goal = beat Boston 2013 time RESULT = ______
spinach (56/yes) – 06OCT2013 – Medtronic Twin Cities (Minneapolis MN) – Goal = 2:59:49 RESULT = 3:03:58
B-Plus (35/no) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) RESULT = 2:55:12
calbearsfan (47/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) RESULT = 2:53:58
djschroeder4 (27/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) – Goal = sub-2:45 RESULT = 2:47:27
GregTR (36/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) – Goal = sub-2:50 RESULT = 2:50:53
jackdyl11 (30/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) RESULT = ______
kader (28/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Chicago (Chicago IL) – Goal = 2:52-ish RESULT = ______
Hipfan (__/__) – 13OCT2013 – Green Mountain (South Hero VT) RESULT = DNS
Don S (39/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Whistlestop (Ashland WI) – Goal = sub-2:45 RESULT = DNS
DoppleBock (44/yes) – 13OCT2013 – Whistlestop (Ashland WI) RESULT = ______
xhristopher (39/no) – 20OCT2012 – Baystate (Lowell MA) RESULT = ______
Buzzie (45/no) – 20OCT2012 – Detroit Free Press (Detroit MI) RESULT = ______
ChakaKahn (33/yes) – 20OCT2013 – Mount Desert Island (Bar Harbor ME) RESULT = ______
Jed (39/no) – 20OCT2013 – Detroit Free Press (Detroit MI) – Goal = 2:45 RESULT = ______
MandyS (38/no) – 28OCT2013 – Dublin (Dublin IE) RESULT = ______
delucj – 03NOV2013 – Manchester City (Manchester NH) – Goal = 2:57 RESULT = 3:03:06
GregTR (36/yes) – 03NOV2013 – New York City (New York NY) – Goal = sub-2:50 RESULT = ______
lagwagon (41/no) – 03NOV2013 – New York City (New York NY) RESULT = 3:01:29
stadjak (40/no) – 03NOV2013 – New York City (New York NY) RESULT = 3:04:01
CliveF (49/no) – 16NOV2013 – Anthem Richmond (Richmond VA) RESULT = ______
jaxn (36/YES!) – 08DEC2013 – California International (Sacramento CA) – Goal = 2:50 RESULT = 2:46:09
Roth Runner (40/yes) – 22DEC2013 – Portsmouth Coastal Waterside– Goal = 2:48 RESULT = 2:50:02
In but not race-committed:
csab (37/__)
2013 Graduates (ordered by performance):
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
Dopplebock 4/15 Boston Marathon Boston, MA Sub 3
I sure hope I get it taken care of at Boston as it is the only marathon I am hoping to run in 2013 and I was to hit my 10th consecutive year with a sub 3. If not, I will be running something in fall 2013.
Long dead ... But my stench lingers !
Thanks, Clive. Go ahead and put my name in for Boston. I ran 3:03:32 at Boston in 2011 and would like to improve by at least 3:33 next April. I hope that's not too much to ask for.
Clive, thanks for doing this again.
Please put me down for Boston. I'd like to run it under 2:50.
MTA: Does it help to go ahead and put it in this format for you?
joescott 4/15 Boston Marathon Boston, MA 2:49
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
After years of ruining my speed with ultra-running ... I plan on spending until Boston actually working on getting faster again.
My current thoughts are to spend Jan-Feb with 1 LAT run each week and the other run either 3-4 x (5x400 with 400 recovery) with 800 recovery between each set of 5) or 10x400 with 5-6% inclince (TM) with 400 receoveries.
Both of these are done at a pretty high effort to work on my stride - I am hoping to do the flat workout at 12.0 MPH and the hill one @ 10-10.5 MPH.
Mar - Boston will then see me continue with the LAT workout each week and lengthen the faster workout until it is 5x5 minutes at 30 minute race race.
Plus I will either be doing a hilly trail run or a hilly TM run each week.
After Boston I will go back to ultra-training.
I'm also struggling balancing ultras and marathon PRs. I would like to race Boston, but I have Rocky Raccoon 100 on the calendar in February, which really makes for non-optimal training.
More generally, I'm considering switching from Pfitzinger to a Hansons plan for my next goal marathon. But that makes ultra training even harder -- they significantly shorten the long run, and there are fewer of them. (Also making it more problematic to throw in a handful of training marathons as long runs, as I prefer to do.)
Maybe the only way to do it is to be strictly sequential about focus, as DB is doing.
Anyone else who wants to run ultras, but also marathon PRs?
I'm new to these forums here but I'd like to be part of the 2013 goal thread. I do have a 2:55 PR from the fall of 2011 and now I would like to have a sub-3 Boston. I had every intention to go for it last April until mother nature decided to screw with us. Hopefully we won't have another day like that as I'm returning to try again.
Anyway...Boston 2013.
After going out too fast in Cape Cod* and falling apart for a 3:40:31 and then going out too slow* a week later for 3:17:30 in Manchester I'm going to make a go at the 3 hour mark in Providence, RI on 5/12/13:
*My longest run in the 2 months prior to Cape Cod was 13.23 miles, so it probably wasn't my pacing that let me down so much as my fitness...I'm hoping this thread helps keep me honest so I actually train for Providence...
delucj 5/12 Cox Sports Marathon, Providence RI 2:59
Cheers and best of luck to all!
I promised myself this year I would spend at least 3 months just training and doing no races. Last year I did Houston Marathon in Jan, Crusty 50k Feb, Fox Cities marthon backward in Mar ... I just could not get in a training groove at all in 2012 as there was always another race coming up.
So 3 months of nothing but training ... well almost as I am doing Clinton Lakes 30 miler March 23rd - That is probably a mistake ... But it is a pretty fun group going down to the race.
I'm also struggling balancing ultras and marathon PRs. I would like to race Boston, but I have Rocky Raccoon 100 on the calendar in February, which really makes for non-optimal training. More generally, I'm considering switching from Pfitzinger to a Hansons plan for my next goal marathon. But that makes ultra training even harder -- they significantly shorten the long run, and there are fewer of them. (Also making it more problematic to throw in a handful of training marathons as long runs, as I prefer to do.) Maybe the only way to do it is to be strictly sequential about focus, as DB is doing. Anyone else who wants to run ultras, but also marathon PRs?
I promised myself this year I would spend at least 3 months just training and doing no races.
See, for a marathon maniac, that is almost incomprehensible. But maybe necessary.
Last year was enough proof to me that I need to either take some "Just training time" or learn to jog the races ... but I am not wired that way.
Jan-Marathon
Feb - 50k
Mar - Marathon and 50k
Apr - Marathon
June 1 - 2 - 24 race
July 50k
Sep 1-2 = 24 race
Sep 6 hour race
Oct 50 mile race
Nov Marathon
Dec 24 hour race
I am just not made to race that much. I work much better building up to a race.
Add a few shorter races and I will be @ 575-600 miles of racing for the year ... 10% of my mileage. Way to much for me.
My 2012 was similar:
Jan - marathon
Mar - marathon, 50k
Apr - marathon, marathon
May - 50k
Jun - 50k, marathon, 100M
Jul - marathon, 50k, 50M
Sep - marathon
Oct - 50k
Dec - marathon (and maybe 24-hr)
but most of those were just training runs. Only Big Sur (supposed to be Boston!), Western States, and Tucson this weekend were/are goal races.
I think in principle this kind of schedule is fine. But it's not consistent with Hansons training, and I would like to try something different for my next goal marathon.
Oldman – 4/26/13 – Country Music Marathon – Nashville, TN – 2:59:59
After a lousy 2012, I'm gearing back up to make another shot at a sub 3:00. Most of my attempts wouldn't leave the impression that it's even possible. I've run a 3:05 at the Flying Pig in 2009. Lot's of work to be done.
51 years old. Been running for 22 years. All of my PR's have been set in the last couple of years.
Haven't really decided if I'll try at Carmel, Indiana or Country Music. Just want to have this training cycle to coincide with the guys in my group who are training for Boston.
Thanks, Clive for supporting this thread again this year.
Get off my porch
Interval Junkie --Nobby
Stadjak -- Nov3rd -- NYC Marathon -- NYC -- 2:59:59
Don't have a Spring marathon yet. Might just do halves in the Spring.
Oh, and may I suggest like in the other thread we flag Age (in 2013) and whether the person has ever been sub-3 before? Would be interesting to read after the ear is ended. 40 here. Current PR is 3:08.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Hi, Csaba here (yes, that's my real first name). Age 37 (male), runner since 2009. Right now I'm still focusing on half marathons. I'm signed up for the 500 Festival mini where I will try to go under 1:25 or maybe even better - we'll see how training goes. I have a HM PR of 1:25:18 on a somewhat hilly course, so it should be possible. Then I will build up to longer runs in the summer and try a marathon in the fall. I only ran one marathon (Kiawah Island 2009) basically as a beginner in 3:50-something. Though that corresponds to a sub-3:00 using the Paul Ryan conversion factor.