Forums >Racing>Goal of Sub-3 Hour Marathon
Awesome effort in the weather johnmass, that was very very impressive. Excellent run too spinach, your will go sub 3 on a more favourable day, sensible running.
Good luck to buck today today, I guess he's off anytime now.
Thanks all for the encouragement. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate for me yesterday. John I still don't know how you did it.
I am running both San Francisco and Paavo Nurmi this summer but those are both fairly hilly courses. I may give three a shot in one or the other if the weather cooperates and I am feeling good that day, but I think my next best shot at three will come at the Whistlestop Marathon on October 10.
Just want to echo Roth Runner and spinach's comments, that was a very impressive run John. I have no idea how you did it.
Ran the Manitoba Marathon yesterday in similar conditions (70 at the start; 83 at the finish with humidity between 50 and 75%) and there is no way I could've even had a sinf at 3:05 let alone sub-3:00. Fantastic job!
I was just hoping for a 3:10 BQ time yesterday but limped in with a 3:17 after shutting it down at mile 22 so that I could finish upright! Managed a 22nd place finish which I'm happy with, but the conditions and times were brutal.
I'll be giving BQ (and perhaps 3:00) another shot this fall in cooler temps. I have a race lined up that is 12 weeks away...anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to train for that one given the short amount of time?
Graduation was tough.2:59:13Bank thermometer shows 90F right now.Saw Spinach at mile 14. He was talking 3:07 at the time.John
Wow. That is truly amazing. Congratulations!!! Looking forward to the report.
Jim,
As you know - just broke the sub-40 10km over the weekend. Time to move onwards and upwards. Never run a marathon before and mt hald time aren't that spectacular, so I suspect I will be on this thread for a long time but can you pls add my name to the hopefuls for a sub-3h marathon. First marathon attempt will be Melbourne marathon October 11 2009 - no clue as exactly where I'm at. McMillan suggest 3:05 but my only recent HM time is 1:35:58. Congratulations to all you guys who have made it and I hope to join you one day.
Dwane
Thanks to everyone here on the sub-3 thread who posted comments and supported me. I really do appreciate it. I wrote up a race report and posted to my blog.
John's blog
Thanks again,
John
Johnmaas - I believe the biggest enemy on a hot day like this is dehydration - I think you ran about the perfect race for the day - Started out a bit conservative and picked it up ever so slightly as the race continued - Basically you kept your body together and in a state that allowed you to fight right to the end.
Congrats on a great race - I was there in 2006 and 2007 and did not run near as good a race as you put together in the conditions. Sadly Grandmas is becoming a hot weather marathon that I will likely avoid.
Recover well!
Long dead ... But my stench lingers !
Thanks to everyone here on the sub-3 thread who posted comments and supported me. I really do appreciate it. I wrote up a race report and posted to my blog. John's blog If you have any specific comments or questions, I'll be checking back here often. Thanks again, John
Great stuff. Your report, for me, speaks to the value of lifetime miles and racing experience, not to mention plain old determination. Congrats.
Runners run
John,
Your story was a pleasure to read and very inspirational. I remember you from back in the old Cool Running days. What an impressive race on so many levels...the weather conditions you had to overcome, the final 10k, the cramps, doing it all at age 48 after several years of chipping away. And getting back to that final 10k, I don't think amazing is too strong a word. It's hard for me to imagine doing it on a cool day, as I've always slowed down during those last few miles; they really hurt! But in hot, humid weather...truly amazing.
Jim, As you know - just broke the sub-40 10km over the weekend. Time to move onwards and upwards. Never run a marathon before and mt hald time aren't that spectacular, so I suspect I will be on this thread for a long time but can you pls add my name to the hopefuls for a sub-3h marathon. First marathon attempt will be Melbourne marathon October 11 2009 - no clue as exactly where I'm at. McMillan suggest 3:05 but my only recent HM time is 1:35:58. Congratulations to all you guys who have made it and I hope to join you one day. Dwane
Good luck, Dwane. You're down for Oct 11. I'm sure you'd knock a big chunk off that HM now considering your breakthrough at 10k. It might be a little soon for a sub-3 attempt at marathon, though, because of mileage base--it will probably take longer to build it up to what you need. However, there is no doubt that you have the ability to eventually break 3 hours.
Right on Hereford...
Nice one, Bob. It's awesome that you can bust out a sub-3:10 marathon on any given weekend!
Training Update:
After the discussion a couple of weeks ago on this thread, I asked my dad for a copy of Pfitz for my birthday. I'm reading it now, and decided to sort of jump into the 55-70 18-week plan a couple weeks late.
One of the things I'm changing is that I'm substituting a recovery run on Mondays instead of the prescribed "rest or cross-training." This should put me at an average of at least 70 per week for July/August/September, I think.
Friday's run was 9 miles with 4 at 15k to HM pace. At 84 degrees that day (and without running any tempos for a month), that workout was a big FAIL for me. I held pace for only 4k and then bailed at the 5k point.
Yesterday I did 16 with 8 at marathon pace, and it turned out to be a huge confidence builder for me. I was pretty intimidated by the big MP runs on the schedule, and wasn't sure I could do them. But, I ran the first 8 at 7:49 pace and still felt pretty fresh. Felt good for the next 8 miles at 6:49 average pace. Last mile in 6:23.
Getting really psyched for Chicago now...
That's very impressive and bodes well for Chicago.
Checking in...
I'm jumping in a 5 mile race on Saturday and not sure what pace to go for. It's a flat course, albeit with lots of turns, and well attended race so competition will be there to pull along. A few stats:
- Last time ran 5 miles was PR 30:36 on 8/30/08
- Last race was 5k in 18:12 about 5 weeks ago
Did a couple track workouts in the last couple weeks:
- 12x 400, averaging about 83 per (with equal recoveries)
- On Tuesday we did 1600/800/1600 & 4x200 and ran (6:19/3:01/5:55/36/34/34/33)
Based on the recent 5k and workouts, I'm thinking shooting for 6:00 pace? Sub-30 minutes would be sweet. We'll see if the 5k was a fluke.
Looks like you didn't need any advice on how to run this race, Roots.
Congrats on the sub-30 finish!