2012 Goal of Sub 4:00 Marathon (Read 4210 times)

freddie.sanchez


The Scrub

    Sign me up. I'm running the 2012 Tucson Marathon on December 9th with the goal of going sub 4. This will be my first.

    Turbolegs


      Sign me up. I'm running the 2012 Tucson Marathon on December 9th with the goal of going sub 4. This will be my first.

       

      Apologies for the delayed add deds... somehow missed your post. All the best !!

      I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

      Turbolegs


        Morrows ... have a fantastic run later today ... hope you have a race to remember !!

        I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

          Andrew, Runningfirst, Franzen - how did your respective marathons go??

           

          I had to bail out. A flu put me to bed with fever a couple of days before race day. No way I would have breached four hours anyway, a 4:15-4:30 finish might have happened though. I'll give it a shot again next year.

           

          The flu, and a nasty cough, had me off from running for almost two months. I managed to sneak in 30 km before a half marathon 1,5 weeks ago and finished that one in 2:03 - still so far away from sub 4h marathon fitness.

          Running Blog: On my two feet

          vegefrog


            Just did an "assessment" half marathon in 1:51:42...I have 8 weeks to go before my full. I think I should be able to do it in 4:00, but I have to hit my training plan spot on from now on. Thus far, I haven't been doing very well. Wisdom teeth removal and a bike wreck have caused me to miss a few weeks here and there.

             

            I'm gonna have 4:10 on the brain, because I'm pretty sure that is VERY doable. 4 hours is still my A goal...but it might hurt, and I'm not sure if I'm mentally capable of doing it! EEEK! Pre-race jitters 8 weeks out!

             

            Somebody tell me how they made it through the last 10K....

            Turbolegs


              Just did an "assessment" half marathon in 1:51:42...I have 8 weeks to go before my full. I think I should be able to do it in 4:00, but I have to hit my training plan spot on from now on. Thus far, I haven't been doing very well. Wisdom teeth removal and a bike wreck have caused me to miss a few weeks here and there.

               

              I'm gonna have 4:10 on the brain, because I'm pretty sure that is VERY doable. 4 hours is still my A goal...but it might hurt, and I'm not sure if I'm mentally capable of doing it! EEEK! Pre-race jitters 8 weeks out!

               

              Somebody tell me how they made it through the last 10K....

               

              Slightly delayed reply to your post ... a 1:51 half should give you plenty of confidence that a 4hr marathon is in your very near future. Dont worry about the few runs you have missed here and there - its not going to detract significantly from the training that you did manage to get in.

               

              I dont know what your pacing plan is or how strong a runner you are (for pain) or the course profile but i can tell you what worked for me .. the first thing you should know is that in the marathon that i did go under 4 hours - i wasnt targeting a 4 hr run. In the earlier attempt, i had managed to hold 4hr pace until 25kms and then came apart. So my only interest was to beat that and try maintaining the 4hr pace for longer (until 30km). I dont warm up before the marathon except for some limbering movements and use the first 2-3 kms to get warmed up. My marathon was relatively flat with a few hills thrown in the last 7 kms - i hit midway in 2:01 and was feeling good and got to 30kms in 2:50 and at that point in the race with 12.2kms to go, i just kept it going 1km at a time to try and get as far away from the good side of 4:15 as possible. I only knew at around the 37th or 38th km mark (with about 25 minutes of running to go) that i would break 4 hours.

               

              Even splits is the way to go if your course profile doesnt vary too much between the two halves. I ran slightly negative because my first few kms are always warm up kms.

               

              The other thing that worked for me is that when i run .. and am feeling a lil low, i look around to find sources of inspiration ... and i found plenty in the marathon i ran. A blind guy running so elegantly with his guide friend ... a man with "I beat cancer" emblazoned on his tee ... an atleast 70year old marathoner ... and his son ... the list is endless. Smile

               

              You will rock - have fun!!

              I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                Just completed my second sub-4 marathon of the year on 21st October in Amsterdam in 3:43:32. I was aiming to come in 3:40 - 3:45 and maintained my pace quite steadily throughout apart from last 2km when dropped off a little but I was happy I was home in sub 3:45 by this point. http://evenementen.uitslagen.nl/2012/amsterdammarathon/details.php?t=en&s=5271&o=1

                Turbolegs


                  Just completed my second sub-4 marathon of the year on 21st October in Amsterdam in 3:43:32. I was aiming to come in 3:40 - 3:45 and maintained my pace quite steadily throughout apart from last 2km when dropped off a little but I was happy I was home in sub 3:45 by this point. http://evenementen.uitslagen.nl/2012/amsterdammarathon/details.php?t=en&s=5271&o=1

                   

                  This is inspiring stuff !! well done!

                  I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                  Wing


                  Joggaholic

                    10/20 Frankenthon 3:59:04, made it just barely Smile I am actually more happy about my even pacing (although no negative split) than making sub4. Race report to follow...

                     

                    MTA: Report over here

                    vegefrog


                      Congrats you two!!! Way to go Wing, sub-4 is sub-4!!! Congrats Jason! WTG you guys on the even pacing. That's motivating!

                       

                      Thanks for the tips turbolegs! My course is as flat as can be and both halfs should be equal. It has a lot of twists and turns, as it's on an island and we will be running through lots of neighborhoods to make up the distance.

                       

                      I am pretty good with running/racing when it gets tough, as long as I can focus and usually I can. As long as I can get through the next 8 weeks injury free I think I'm gonna try for even splits and getting under 4.

                      Turbolegs


                        10/20 Frankenthon 3:59:04, made it just barely Smile I am actually more happy about my even pacing (although no negative split) than making sub4. Race report to follow...

                         

                        MTA: Report over here

                         

                        Wing .. awesome to see you break that 4hr mark. And the race report was a joyful read as well !! Have some well deserved rest !

                        I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                        Turbolegs


                          Congrats you two!!! Way to go Wing, sub-4 is sub-4!!! Congrats Jason! WTG you guys on the even pacing. That's motivating!

                           

                          Thanks for the tips turbolegs! My course is as flat as can be and both halfs should be equal. It has a lot of twists and turns, as it's on an island and we will be running through lots of neighborhoods to make up the distance.

                           

                          I am pretty good with running/racing when it gets tough, as long as I can focus and usually I can. As long as I can get through the next 8 weeks injury free I think I'm gonna try for even splits and getting under 4.

                           

                          Vege .. i eagerly await to hear about your race experience. Smile No pressure .. just have loads of fun.

                           

                          Osaka marathon is in 5 weeks time .. and i have run about 35kms cumulatively over the past 5 weeks. I half feel like i am insulting the distance by lining up at the start with such poor training (or lack thereof) but atleast i can establish what my baseline is. Smile I just need to get under 5 hours to qualify for Comrades next year.

                          I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                          vegefrog


                            Less then 4 weeks!!

                             

                            Still feeling pretty good and adding miles...I have a little bit of tightness in my right achilles. Never had this before, but I'm stretching and when I'm running it doesn't hurt at all.

                             

                            I'm trying to keep my EASY runs easy. With the cooler weather, everything feel easy. My MP should be 9:10, but on the tempo runs I've been doing close to 8:45's and on my easy runs I've been doing like 9:25's. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me. At this point, based on how nice these runs are feeling...and how good my 18 miler felt last Sunday...I'm feeling confident Smile

                             

                            Just gotta get through these 2 weeks of HARD then survive 2 weeks of taper. I think I'm going to do a 5K the weekend before the marathon?? Will it be ok to race it do you think? I read that during taper you should keep intensity while lowering mileage...soooooo...it should be ok?


                            Canuck

                              Hey all.  Not sure who's still posting in this thread, but a group of us from RWOL (yes, the invaders!) have started a sub-4 marathon training user group - you'll find it in the new user groups list.  It currently has RWOL in the name to help folks find us, but we're going to remove that as we want everyone to join!  We thought about just starting a 2013 thread here, but we're a pretty chatty bunch, so we thought  a user group that allows for multiple threads on different topics would be a better option. 

                               

                              Hope to see you there!

                              PRs: 47:54 (10K); 1:46:36 (HM); 3:50:52 (FM)

                              Recovering from injured knee (PCL/Lateral Meniscus)

                              Turbolegs


                                Less then 4 weeks!!

                                 

                                Still feeling pretty good and adding miles...I have a little bit of tightness in my right achilles. Never had this before, but I'm stretching and when I'm running it doesn't hurt at all.

                                 

                                I'm trying to keep my EASY runs easy. With the cooler weather, everything feel easy. My MP should be 9:10, but on the tempo runs I've been doing close to 8:45's and on my easy runs I've been doing like 9:25's. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me. At this point, based on how nice these runs are feeling...and how good my 18 miler felt last Sunday...I'm feeling confident Smile

                                 

                                Just gotta get through these 2 weeks of HARD then survive 2 weeks of taper. I think I'm going to do a 5K the weekend before the marathon?? Will it be ok to race it do you think? I read that during taper you should keep intensity while lowering mileage...soooooo...it should be ok?

                                 

                                Vege .. write back !!!!! How is it going?

                                I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.