Forums >Racing>2011 Goal of Sub-3:00 Marathon
Wow, there are a bunch of sub-3 goals for Boston this year. We should start a bet on how many of those actually happen. Less than 50% is my guess. Hope it's 100%, but just knowing how tough the course is and the difficulty in pulling a sub-3 there.
A 3 hour marathon is 6:53 pace. I plan to run some long training (13-20 miles) runs at 7 minute pace. I also plan to run some long training runs at 8 minute pace. Not sure if either of those would be considered tempo. My guess 7 would be considered race pace and 8 mins would be a tempo?
You should definitely do some longer runs at race pace (at least 8-12 miles of the 13-20 miles), but an 8 minute mile pace should not feel like a tempo run for any sub 3 marathon hopeful unless it is during a 50 mile+ race.
No, definitely not. When I ran 2:50 in October, I was running tempo runs at 6:00 to 6:15. Race pace for my 2:50 was 6:30.
Are we there yet?
+1.. in order to make 6:30 feel comfortable, more miles @ 5:30-6:15 sounds logical
btw.. nice! joescott.. way to squeek a sub 17 in there ol' man.
The shirtless wonder
As for myself that is a very tentative goal. More likely I'll just be shooting for a PR and go for 3 hours in the fall.
run.therowes.net
Pfitzginer 18/70-85 began yesterday! It will be interesting to see whether I can really hit 85.
I was curious, so I checked the stats from the "2010 Sub 3" thread. About 36% of the people who said their goal was sub 3 at Boston last year achieved it. And only about 33% for all marathons for the year.
One interesting thing would be to know what kind of percentage improvement on PRs this goal represents for people. I guess some people are going to being wildly, even unrealistically, optimistic in setting goals - others will be pretty conservative.
An interesting goal would be: improve marathon PR by, say, 5%; which might be a realistic goal for most, but for the really fast people gets hard.
Improvements also get trickier for older runners too, maybe an age graded percentage improvement instead...
One interesting thing would be to know what kind of percentage improvement on PRs this goal represents for people. I guess some people are going to being wildly, even unrealistically, optimistic in setting goals - others will be pretty conservative. An interesting goal would be: improve marathon PR by, say, 5%; which might be a realistic goal for most, but for the really fast people gets hard. Improvements also get trickier for older runners too, maybe an age graded percentage improvement instead...
Definitely. And I also think that running a sub 3 hour marathon is much more difficult than most people think. Running one at Boston... even much more so.
Why is it sideways?
I haven't run it, but from what I have heard Boston is not an extremely difficult course. Maybe it gives up a couple minutes over a course like Chicago?
I would say 2 to 4 minutes is fair. It isn't that there is any one hill or section that is crazy hard, but it just never stops throwing something at you right from the start really. And the way it sets up, with the start being so fast, a rolling mid section, the Newton Hills and Heartbreak late, and even a couple more tests really late, you just are never afforded much time to "relax." And you simply can't make a mistake with pacing. Just way to many chances for Boston to make you pay.
Feeling the growl again
2-4 minutes difference is fair for faster runners....if you pace it perfectly. The problem is getting it just right on that day. Having run both courses multiple times, if you have a bad spot at Chicago and work through it you can do it with virtually no impact on your time. At Boston, if you hit a bad spot and it happens on one of the more challenging sections of the course, or before Newton in general, it will eat you and spit you out.
Most people will not approach what they could do in Chicago at Boston. While Boston has the potential to be nearly as fast it is just hard to execute. Chicago gives you way more leeway. This does not stop me from preferring Boston.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Run like a kid again!
Thanks for the added motivation. I like it when people say I can't do something. I'm hoping I can group you with Thunder. You will be the Thunder/Spaniel of 2011!
*** Actually I really doubt I will run sub 3 hours. The freaking snow just keeps getting in the way. However, I hope to give it a run at Boston. We shall see. If I don't get the time in the half I need to show it is realistic I am not going to blow up at Boston trying it. Boston should be considered a victory lap. I have to 1/2 marathons planned before Boston to see if it is realistic.
The freaking snow just keeps getting in the way.
Snow does not get in your way, it makes you stronger.
Running on the snow is a lot harder then running on a treadmill or on dry pavement and really does work your leg muscles a lot harder. I actually look forward to running on the treadmill at night if I run in the snow or wind during the morning.
In the last month I've run in snow, ice and hail. Let me tell you the hail was painful. Usually with hail you have some strong winds. Nothing like a bunch of little ice balls hitting you at 30 MPH. I was really suprised when I started getting pelted as I was not expecting.