Forums >Racing>Marathon training plan to bq?
I’m actually tapering now for a BQ attempt next Saturday 11/4 and I followed pfitz 18/55 with an extra easy run a week. I averaged 51mpw for the first 16 weeks of the plan and had two 60 mile weeks. My mileage was similar to yours before and it was a big adjustment to run that many miles, plus all the quality work. I don’t think I could have added an extra 10mpw without risking injury. I’m 31. My last marathon I ran a 4:01 on very similar mileage to yours (averaged 36, peaked at 46), though that was in 2014 before I got pregnant so I had some time off (but I came back faster). Btw, I also had the exact same half PR before I ran 1:39 this year.
Obviously I can’t tell you yet if it worked, but I would consider doing something similar before jumping into a 70mpw plan based on how I felt during training.
PRs: 5k - 21:22, half marathon - 1:39:43, marathon - 3:37:16
Yes, I actually it's best for a newish runner to plan on a couple of 2000+ miles years prior to getting a BQ. Of course, some runners have extraordinary talent and can do it right away, and others will take longer, or never achieve it.
Good advice for a newish runner. The OP is a lifelong runner.
Sunflower - Steamtown in PA might be a race to consider. It is well known as a race to BQ. My personal story aligns somewhat with yours. I was an off and on runner for many years. In 2012 I finally decided to take running a BQ seriously. At first I planned on the Pfitz 55 plan but my buildup going into the plan went so well I switched to a Jack Daniels plan peaking at 75 miles/week. I ran a three minute BQ at Philadelphia in 2012. Since then I've stuck with higher mileage, and I'm now hoping to run 40 minutes under my BQ time at Tucson in December. I certainly don't have extraordinary talent.
I’m actually tapering now for a BQ attempt next Saturday 11/4 and I followed pfitz 18/55 with an extra easy run a week. I averaged 51mpw for the first 16 weeks of the plan and had two 60 mile weeks. My mileage was similar to yours before and it was a big adjustment to run that many miles, plus all the quality work. I don’t think I could have added an extra 10mpw without risking injury. I’m 31. My last marathon I ran a 4:01 on very similar mileage to yours (averaged 36, peaked at 46), though that was in 2014 before I got pregnant so I had some time off (but I came back faster). Btw, I also had the exact same half PR before I ran 1:39 this year. Obviously I can’t tell you yet if it worked, but I would consider doing something similar before jumping into a 70mpw plan based on how I felt during training.
Oh wow super similar stats! You will have to let me know how it goes. Very best of luck!!! And congrats on the 1:39 half!
I wouldn't get too hung up on this 2k miles year before BQ thing. That's an average, which is interesting, but not necessarily instructive for any one person.Your plan seems totally reasonable to me, FWIW. I ran my first with terrible Higdon-esque training in 3:51, then ended up running a BQ (3:09) off of an 18/55 cycle where I was aiming for 3:25. It (happily) turned out that I was faster than I thought I was going to be, so I got to skip a bunch of the in-between steps. I'm not sure how many miles there were in between those two marathons, but it couldn't have been more than 1k.
What I discovered is that you won't know what a reasonable marathon performance is going to be for you unless you 1) do a reasonable marathon training cycle or 2) have past evidence which points to a certain FM potential. Do you have shorter-distance performances from your previous running life from which you can extrapolate?Anyways: figure out how to safely run more miles. That might be 18/55, it might be 18/70, or it might just be running a bunch more. My first 3 marathons went like this:
May 12: 3:51 (comically bad training)May 13: 3:09 (18/55)Sep 13: 3:00 ("just run 70mpw+, 10+ miles every day")That last jump was eye-opening, because it taught me the relationship between mileage and reaching one's potential. I think most of the miles in that cycle were run at 8:20 or slower, FWIW. You won't know about your ability to BQ until you run more, so the thing to optimize for is safely increasing your mileage, in whatever manner works best for you.
https://www.strava.com/athletes/5795019
RIP Milkman
Iam hit the nail on the head. Everybody will have very different paths to a BQ. Some people can run years of 2000 miles and not BQ, while others can do it on much less. I'm going into my race next weekend with only 1200 miles last year and 1800 through race date, but I expect to BQ barring a blow up. However, as Iam stated, the best indicator is shorter races. Similar to the marathon, some people need a lot of mileage to break 1:45 (which you are close to), while others can do it on their first half with less than 30 mpw.
Don't listen to anybody that tells you HAVE to do this or HAVE to do that. The only constant in running is that more mileage and race specific work is highly correlated with faster race times, but there is no magic number you need to hit in order to BQ.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
So I had my race yesterday. I finished in 3:37:16, so I was really close! I travelled by plane the day before and didn't focus on hydration or food enough and the pace felt too hard from the start. So it's hard to say. Obviously more experience in marathoning and another cycle of higher mileage won't hurt, so I'll try again in the spring!
Thanks so much for taking the time to write back!! That's a great time whether you bq or not. Super impressive!! You will for sure get it next time! I keep going back and forth on if I want to do the 55 or 70 plan. I'm starting to worry that I may get injured so may go with 55. Thanks again for responding and congrats!!!!!
Pace Prophet
Congratulations! I think higher mileage for another cycle will help a lot. If you can keep your mileage up through the winter, that will help as well.
Thanks! I still feel like 70mpw is an injury risk for me. It's a big jump! I'm not sure what training plan I'll use next either. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Thanks! That's the plan
Just jumping in here anecdotally I've ran 5 marathons over 6 years, and used pfitz 18/55 for 3 of them. After some ultra work over the spring, I moved up to 18/70, and my body is handling it, which I don't think it would have previously. I'm hoping to BQ for the first time this weekend with the extra mileage, and my shorter races make it a virtual slam dunk if I paced for it (however outside of bragging purposes, you really need to be BQ-4 minutes to like your chances of actually being allowed to run it).
5k- 18:55 (2018) 10K- 39:04 (2017) Marathon- 3:00:10 (2018)
Thanks for the feedback and good luck on your training to bq! I've been thinking about all the great input I received and will most likely do the 18/55 plan.. maybe including an extra day of running to increase the mileage slightly. I really don't want to get injured. I also have been doing stregth training and some cross training that I think has been helping so want to have time/energy to keep going. I'm going to see how my mileage build up goes but will most likely do the 55 plan and maybe only include 1 rest day to increas the mileage. Keep me updated on how the 18/70 plan goes. Good luck!