Forums >Racing>2019 Sub 3 hour marathon thread
Hello everyone, I am a 24 year old male living in central Massachusetts. I ran in HS and in college at a competitive D3 school. After graduated I picked up weight lifting and gained about 30 pounds in 3 months (went from 130 to about 160). This wasn’t all muscle, I was taking in around 3500 calories a day. This sometimes requires late night Dairy Queen blizzards for an extra 1000 calories if I was low for the day (a very dirty bulk). I made a brief come back at the end of 2017 to defend my local turkey day 5k title, but shortly after I was done running again and back weight lifting. In June of 2018 a friend of mine convinced me to get back into running again and see if I could qualify for Boston, so I strung together a few weeks and somehow qualified running 3:00:01. My training has been a little better this time around and I am almost back to my collegiate weight so I am hoping to go under 2:50:00 at Boston.
Other than Boston I do not have any real goals. I want to work on being more consistent with workouts and building mileage mostly. Depending on my living situation changes early this summer, I may start to take training a lot more serious and go for a much much faster marathon than 2:50, but that depends on me living near people and having people to train with. I primarily run by myself with the exception of some weekends. I think it’s more likely I may try to snag a mile PR (4:20) which I ran as a sophomore in college.
I don’t have strava, but my log isn’t private so have fun digging through it if you want.
Fun fact, I was coached by one of Daniels’ athletes in college.
3K: 8:29.12 (2017) 5K: 14:56.59 (2016) 8K: 25:27 (2016) 15K: 53:46 (2022) HM: 75:41 (2022) FM: 2:43:17 (2022)
Have you officially joined this thread? If you want to (I'm assuming this wasn't a troll, if it was, then boo), check out the first post from JT on how to introduce yourself.
Yes, would be great to have you here regularly MMC. Let me know if you want me to put you down for a race or races in the table and if you have a goal time for the race(s).
Edit: you beat me to it! Thanks for posting your bio. You're the youngest and fastest person in this group and it will be great to follow your training, regardless of what distance you focus on.
I'll put you down for Boston and sub 2:50.
2:52:16 (2018)
Only race other than Boston is I may run the frank Nelson Boston tune up 15k on March 30, but that’s tentative. No goal for that other than finding my breaking point
Sounds good MMC, I'll leave the 15k off the grid for now.
Looking at the table I realized it will finally get populated with a result starting this weekend: Jayluf is the first up with a half. Start us off right Jayluf!
RIP Milkman
MMC - great to have you officially join.
JT - speaking of the race list, I officially signed up for CIM as my fall marathon. Please add me for December 8.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
MMC - great to have you officially join. JT - speaking of the race list, I officially signed up for CIM as my fall marathon. Please add me for December 8.
JMac: Will do. Is the goal for that 2:04:59?
2:04? You do know the course is downhill AND I will be using the VF right? Jeez never knew you were the type to not trust in my abilities. 1:59, this is the year of BOTT.
Mother of Cats
My joke is that I ran my 2:57 at CIM while wearing Vaporflies and on Advair, so by Letsrun standards I didn't even break 4 hours.....
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Move over Kipchoge, JMac is going sub 2! Maybe you should switch to Berlin so you can race against him.
Hi MMC, good to have you here. Should be a good addition to the training styles. You're obviously young and have the benefit of remembering being quick not too long ago. Had a quick look at your training log and it looks like you could use some more long runs but I'd guess you'll get a pretty good result at Boston if you pace smart. Have you a chance to race anything longer than 8k? Even a 10k would be a nice benchmark
Upcoming; 14th Sep Scottish veterans XC trials, 289th Sep Great Scottish Run 1/2, 12th October TAMA half marathon, 27th October Leeds Abbey dash 10k
Mmmm Bop
If I had to guess the Boston order, this is what I think it will be (always fun to get a little competition in here!): Weather Finbad JMAC Lela Jayluf Sling
If I had to guess the Boston order, this is what I think it will be (always fun to get a little competition in here!):
Weather
Finbad
JMAC
Lela
Jayluf
Sling
Honestly? I think Lela will give you a little wave as she passes you at mile 25. 😜. If Slammin is running Boston then you can put him at the top.
I still think you’re taking an unnecessary risk with the VFs...I wouldn’t do that sort of workout on any shoes that I’d never run in before. You would be better off doing a midweek mini version (something like 10 w/6 at MP) and see how that feels during AND the day after.
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
I prob won’t do much more in terms of LRs than I’ve done in the past few weeks, unless I increase my mileage. My LR is already 25-30% of my weekly mileage. Will try to mix in some more 2:30 min long runs. One thing you’ll notice about me is I run for duration not distance.
And I have never raced more than an 8k
Re: the VFs, and jumping back to Steve's point:
. I'm not sure the concern about PF or Achilles with them. I tore my PF in 2017 and dealt with Achilles tendonitis in 2016-17 and these were the first shoes that I've worn since that I didn't put my orthotics in. Not a problem at all.
Here's some reading about the injury concerns potentially associated with them: http://www.doctorsofrunning.com/2018/03/nike-vaporfly-4-review-does-it-live-up.html (go down to the italicized section "Thoughts as a DPT"). The biggest point is:
"This is anecdotal, but I have had several running patients of mine present to me with a variety of lower extremity issues after running in these shoes. Cessation of running in these cleared up a great deal of their problems, but a few were able to compensate with extensive work on their ankle mobility into dorsiflexion. Ankle dorsiflexion and MTP extension are both very important for forward progression during the propulsive and end stage stance phases of gait. Take away one (MTP extension) and you need to make sure you have enough of the other. "
As I note before, I've known several people who have had plantar/achilles issues flare after running in them or the Zoom Fly. Of course, I also know a LOT of people who run in one or the other, and it's not like achilles tendonitis or plantar fasciitis are rarely seen in the running population.... So perhaps my anecdotal observations are confirmation bias.
I have not had any such issues while wearing them myself, but a) I do tape my ankles before racing in them (I have lax ligaments, so I do this any time I'm wearing cushioned shoes or running on a softer surface) and b) I have a ridiculous amount of ankle dorsiflexion, due to my previous history of equestrian sports, where "heels down" is a way of life.
I thought about Lela passing me, I only kept this order because she said her goal was 1:20 in the NYC Half. That should give us a good preview of where we stand. If she beats me in the NYC Half, I will reorder my list . Also, if she passed me at Boston, I hope it's because she's about to OTQ! That would be AWESOME. Or the worse alternative, which is that I went out at PR pace like a fool and blew up. That would not be a fun reason for her to pass me
Regarding the VFs, I feel like the whole point is to get them in at lower intensity, but similar distance, to what you want to run them in. I thought 12 @ MP would be a good test, then 13.1@HMP (aka NYC Half), and then Boston. I still will take your advice to heart, you make a good point. I'll figure something out that works.
Stotan Disciple
Honestly? I think Lela will give you a little wave as she passes you at mile 25. 😜. If Slammin is running Boston then you can put him at the top. I still think you’re taking an unnecessary risk with the VFs...I wouldn’t do that sort of workout on any shoes that I’d never run in before. You would be better off doing a midweek mini version (something like 10 w/6 at MP) and see how that feels during AND the day after.
Mikkey - I'm not racing Boston I'm guiding my athlete (AWD) sub >2:40. I wear a guide bib but I'll also have my own bib as a backup to pick up some WMM points. A few weeks ago, I paid $385 entry fee. In retrospect it was stupid but I was thinking my time could get me into London 2020 in the age group competition on Abbots marathon majors. I've decided to add Grandmas. If I win my age group at Grandma I'm guaranteed in for London. The leader of my age group won CIM 2:28 had a 2:35 RnR Arizona. 2nd in AG ran 2:31 and 2:35???. If he does Berlin again then he wins overall as he has 4000 points. Berlin is the last cut off race for the competition. Funny thing is a guy who finished behind me got the same points as me. After Boston they will say how many spots get in.
Darkwave you're sitting pretty too. If you do another race you could beat third place she ran 2:52 in Chicago and the 3:08 in NYC so if you want a guaranteed spot for London 2020 you can clinch. The guy from Norway in 2nd did same thing 2:31 in Berlin and 2:35 in NYC. NYC is humbling Ive never ran well at NYC. The moral don't double fist NYC and Chicago\Berlin. NYC is a jealous witch.
Thinking should be done first, before training begins.