My 1:51 half-marathon post-stroke (Pre-stroke a year before that was 1:46) gave me a 3:55 first marathon 5 weeks later, with an average in training of 48 mpw. McMillan predicted a 3:53:36... A difference of less than 1:30.
My 1:43 half-marathon gave me a 3:40 marathon, with an average of 55 mpw. McMillan predicted a 3:36:46. A difference of about 3 minutes.
My 3:27 marathon allowed me to run a 1:35:57 half-marathon, two weeks later, with an average of 64 mpw. McMillan predicts a 3:22 marathon based on the half, but I had run a previous marathon 10 weeks before Boston and I was still feeling the effects of it.
In between these 3 marathons, I ran 8 more, all within 3 years. I never ran a marathon with properly recovered legs, except for my first one, when I had to take a break from racing due to my stroke. I'm not sure all these stats mean anything at all and I won't spend a second of my time pondering over it, unlike the rest of you crazy people.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
It's ironic that many runners avoid shorter distances and seek refuge in the longer distances because they perceive they lack speed / "suck at 5ks" when infact their 5k times are far superior to their half marathon or marathon times. Far more distance runners [these days] suffer from lack of endurance than lack of speed. Mine too and my last two marathons I think I averaged 80 mpw for my schedule. Admittedly, neither as it turned out were ideal preps [for different reasons] despite the volume.
It's ironic that many runners avoid shorter distances and seek refuge in the longer distances because they perceive they lack speed / "suck at 5ks" when infact their 5k times are far superior to their half marathon or marathon times. Far more distance runners [these days] suffer from lack of endurance than lack of speed.
Mine too and my last two marathons I think I averaged 80 mpw for my schedule. Admittedly, neither as it turned out were ideal preps [for different reasons] despite the volume.
Although I agree with your statement in general, in my case, my inability to run good 5 and 10ks is related to something medical, so I have to go with what I can possibly best accomplish based on my condition. Just like some people repeatedly get injured when they reach 50 mpw (MJ5 comes to my mind), so they best stick to shorter distances and train at no more than 50 miles per week. Not everyone can run amazing times at every distance and at any age...
StoneFence - I'm late to the discussion, but you might want to consider that as you increase your base mileage over the next several months, you will probably find that your pace will go up. You're talking about a fall marathon; try a spring half with increased training, and run some shorter races over the summer while increasing your base, and you might not have a problem with 5:30. FWIW, my only HM was last April, and over the next several months my speed went up enough that my current projected marathon pace is about what my half pace was last year.
You may want to wait until you're 50 to race, or you may decide that you want to run a marathon before you're 50. The choice is yours.
For me, I want to run a marathon because I enjoy challenging myself, and I consider marathons a big challenge but one that I think I can accomplish. After reading race reports of other people's first marathons, I'm worried about the final outcome, but I am looking forward to finding out how my first will be.
Former Bad Ass
I am the same. I don't think I can even tough my HM, 10K, and 5K PRs. I would pass out physically if I tried that now. Sigh. Sucks when our bodies cannot produce what we were capable of before.
Damaris
Runs4Sanity
I decided to try a marathon because I realized the half marathon distance and it's training was becoming too easy...... and I like it hard..... REAL HARD
*Do It For Yourself, Do It Because They Said It Was Impossible, Do It Because They Said You Were Incapable*
PRs
5k - 24:15 (7:49 min/mile pace)
10k - 51:47 (8:16 min/mile pace)
15k -1:18:09 (8:24 min/mile pace)
13.1 - 1:53:12 (8:39 min/mile pace)
26:2 - 4:14:55 (9:44 min/mile)
Are we there, yet?
Then you're moving in the wrong direction. Try training for the mile.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
lol, okay.... I mean hard AND long
You mean those 60-70 mile weeks weren't long enough?
race obsessed
Badass thread - I love reads like this:
As a note I've been training pretty damned intensely for going on 2 years and have seen a ton of changes.
I have only 2 marathons to use as reference:
The first being non-professionally trained and doing all the wrong things including shitty morning ingesting choices - 5:09
The second being a great lesson. Tons of good info that I am still trying to grasp. Ultimately I underperformed, but was still a decent race. 3:06:52
My HM is roughly 1:25 ish (split in MCM was around there (garmin says 1:24.xx))
So based on the 2x+10 I should have hit 3:00:00. (Btw still underperforming quite a bit)
However the take away I have started to learn from performances, coach discussion testing etc. is that I am highly likely a miler. Ie
as the distance increases the standard 'formula' falls apart
1:30/3:19 - 2x +19
1:31/3:09 - 2x + 7
1:29/3:06 - 2x + 8
1:25/2:55 - 2x + 5
You Rang?
Good Night Everybody!
Rick
PR: 5k 25:01 (10/15) 10k: 57:44 (7/14) HM: 1:57 (5/15) FM: 4:55 (1/15)
when the heck did I do that??? If you've been stalking my log, you're doing a hell of a lot better job than I am on it so show me damn it............ because I am too lazy to go back and look
I was looking back at my log when I was training seriously for the mile. Seriously. Longs runs of 15 miles, interval workouts of 14 x 400m at mile race pace, 60-70 miles per week, etc.
Hmmm... still, I don't want to train for a race that will last for a few minutes. If I am going to get my ass kicked while training, I want the race to last much longer than that. I did look back at my log and notice there was a week of 63 miles.... interesting.
What is interesting is that I ran sub-3:00 for the marathon off that training as well.