Forums >Running 101>BQ & mileage
not bad for mile 25
I am fascinated by the people who go from running 0 miles per week to 20, then go into a marathon training program. From those I've seen, the marathon training guides and pace charts do not take into consideration the length of time the person has been running. Some say that as long as you can run 20 miles per week, you're set to start the program, and people have the expectation that they're on the same playing field as their neighbor running his first marathon, but who has been running for 10 years.
Yeah, maybe they should say first, run regularly for at least three years, then start our ten-week program.
No, I didn't do it this way. It showed, too.
I think I'm just stressing out too much on what it means to "run regularly". But Ive never considered myself a runner, let alone to "run regularly". I have played sports growing up, through college and after. Once I started running I was doing 35 - 40 mile weeks pretty quickly and it wasnt a chore.
Second, I really dont understand the Boston thing. Sure every sport has its event, but why Boston? Isnt NYC harder to qualify for? That and I cant stand the Red Sox.
And we run because we like itThrough the broad bright land
Damn. I missed this memo. If I got it I'd better recognize that I still need to wait another year before starting a program.
The shirtless wonder
Does every sport have an event like Boston? If you play football on the weekends you aren't going to go to the super bowl!
I think the allure of Boston is that it's difficult but achievable for almost everyone if you put in a couple of years of work. Yes, NYC has tougher qualification standards but the majority of NYC is in there due to lottery. The majority of Boston runners are there because they qualified.
And don't worry about the Red Sox -- it's just laundry. The players change but the uniforms remain somewhat the same. The players from the Red Sox will probably be on $YOUR_FAVORITE_TEAM in no time.
run.therowes.net
I think I'm just stressing out too much on what it means to "run regularly". But Ive never considered myself a runner, let alone to "run regularly". I have played sports growing up, through college and after. Once I started running I was doing 35 - 40 mile weeks pretty quickly and it wasnt a chore. Second, I really dont understand the Boston thing. Sure every sport has its event, but why Boston? Isnt NYC harder to qualify for? That and I cant stand the Red Sox.
For me, it was the whole process of having a dream and manifesting it that was the amazing experience. Bringing my marathon pace from 4:00+ down to sub 3:30 was a very satisfying experience. When I came around the corner and saw the clock over the finish line at Philly reading exactly what I was trying to run (and what I had visualized), it was a peak experience. Running Boston was fun, but getting there was more so. Eve though I am an amateur athlete, I believe the experience and feeling of achieving that first BQ was equal to that a pro athlete has when they hit new levels in their sport.
The same can apply for someone having a goal of breaking 4 hours in the marathon, or 20:00 in the 5k. It's the reaching and pulling yourself up that matters.
"People who hate the Red Sox really just hate themselves." --from a book of aphorisms written by Ted Williams' head during the latest thaw from its cryogenic stasis.
--JImmy
lifelong Red Sox fan
long live Williams' head, Yaz, Longborg, Petrocelli, Boomer, Fisk, Lynne, Evans, Tiant, Burleson, Remy, Boggs, Clemens, Rice, Big Papi, the whole 2004 team, and Dave Roberts' and his incredible steal of 2nd in the 9th inning of Game 4 against the Evil Empire in 2004 ALCS (the epitome of a watershed moment).
The trouble with BQ is that now so many people get the standard it fills up really quickly - which is why they're talking about making it a bit harder.
Wonder when that is happening. I thought they said mid January.
Obviously there's no training plan (or diet plan for that matter) that works for everyone. You could introduce my husband to any sport, on any day of the week, and he irritatingly immediately excels at it. Running is the only thing I have on him. There are plenty of people on here that suddenly take up running and are doing 6:30 minute miles, but I do think it's safe to say that to Boston qualify it takes years and multiple marathons, for the average person. If you can do it as your first marathon, or with a short period of running under your belt, more power to you. We'll enjoy reading your story, and living vicariously through you, until we one day qualify ourselves.
I remember when my goal was being able to do a 5k race without feeling the urge to puke at the end. Then you progress to 10k, then half, then full (or full before the half as I did). It's all about setting yourself goals and working towards them, not about how fast the next person is, or how fast they progress.
Goodness, I still have the urge to puke at the end of at least half the 5ks I run, and this is the main reason I avoid 10ks (same feeling, twice as long).
A Saucy Wench
+1
I just puke faster.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
I was just goofing with that comment but I'll circle back to what I said earlier. Your PR is faster than my first marathon, which I was happy with at the time considering the lower volume of running I was doing at the time. It's just that going from a 30 mpw runner to a 50+ mpw runner has improved my running much, much more than I could have understood as a 30 mpw runner. If I were still running consistent 30 mpw you would lump me in with the average runners you describe above. As it is, I'm pretty close to average with the 50+ mpw folks around here. My point is that I think if the average 30 mpw runner were willing to run 50+ consistently for a period of time it's reasonable to expect significant improvement. That's all.
I remember when my goal was being able to do a 5k race without feeling the urge to puke at the end.
I find that the mile gives me the biggest puking urges.
Since some are putting lifetime, it would have been after about 21.5K lifetime miles, most of those at a spattering of what I then thought was easy but now know was too fast based on my race times (according to Daniels), with short interval work thrown in off and on but mainly off because it had a tendency to injure me before it made me faster, when it seemed no other matter of stupidity would injure me.
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