Dublin Marathon -- did any RunningAhead users make it to Ireland? (Read 926 times)

Not a horrible finish...and it was a finish! Was it uphill? Then 4:53 is darn admirable! If it was all down hill well then...probably room for improvement. Looking at your log, probably more long runs at about a 10.5 min/mile pace one or 2 months before would not have hurt. Looks like you have a great goal for the next one.

congratulations! i'd agree that a lot more miles is probably the answer. although given your PRs at other distances i'd say 4hrs was probably a bit hopeful anyway. but extra miles will see all those PRs come tumbling down.

I also looked at your log. All your pr's are from 2007, so this was a great running year for you! You will improve over all of those distances in the years to come if you increase your mileage in a sensible way. bas

geez, it's a no brainer. more mileage for sure. I can't believe you ran a full marathon on that training mileage.

If you have a plan designed for low total mileage, you can be well prepared for a marathon. At least I hope that's the case, cuz Juan Carlos is forty miles up on my YTD total. Your long runs serve as your primary weapon, and you can gradually increase to marathon distance or beyond. In the case of the Galloway walk/run program that I'm using, he recommends increasing your final long run to 30 miles if you have a really competitive (like BQ) goal in mind. My final long run was supposed to be 26.2 but a wrong turn led to almost 28 and I was none the worse for wear and tear. Hungry as hell and fatigued, but not exhausted. I would recommend selecting a plan that is appropriate for your current fitness level and goals, and then sticking to it religiously. Any of the established plans have been refined continuously based on the results from innumerable runners, and should yield improved results over "freelancing".

I agree with Daddyo--more mileage is the obvious answer.

My bad. I wasn't really responding to the OP, sorta. I should have removed the first part of the quote as follows:

I can't believe you ran a full marathon on that training mileage.

These were my thoughts on improving finish time, almost any of the established plans (with the exception of mine) would incorporate significantly higher mileage.

I would recommend selecting a plan that is appropriate for your current fitness level and goals, and then sticking to it religiously. Any of the established plans have been refined continuously based on the results from innumerable runners, and should yield improved results over "freelancing".

Sorry for the confuzzlement, I'm off to grab some more coffee.

Hi Mike, Isn't this statement a little strong? The Furman plans advocate only 3 "quality" runs a week and 2-3 days of cross training. Are you saying if a runner follows such a plan they won't get faster over the long term?

I just looked at your Furman plan. It has you running 5 days a week, and peaking in your mileage at somewhere around 40-50 mpw, depending on how fast you run and how long your warm-ups are. And this is a half-marathon plan! Of course, everyone should be sensible mixing in volume and take the build-up slowly, but your plan seems to me to be consistent with the view that training for a longer event requires consistently building mileage over a long period.

I just looked at your Furman plan. It has you running 5 days a week, and peaking in your mileage at somewhere around 40-50 mpw, depending on how fast you run and how long your warm-ups are. And this is a half-marathon plan! Of course, everyone should be sensible mixing in volume and take the build-up slowly, but your plan seems to me to be consistent with the view that training for a longer event requires consistently building mileage over a long period.

Hi Jeff, There is a legend far to the right which shows the color coding and paces. The 45-60 minutes on Mon and Wed are cross-training days (in blue). I think the plan peaks 4 weeks from target race with less than 30 miles (even when you add-in warm-up/cool-down). 4/21/08 4/27/08 45-60 min 3x2000(400RI) 45-60 min 2mt/1e/2mt 15 HMP+20 My weekly mileage under this plan will be less than I have been running this past year, and yet, I think I will end up being faster.