Am I Capable of More? (Read 1159 times)

Recently, this thought has been on my mind quite a bit. Am I capable of running marathons faster? 2007 - Country Music Marathon - Hit the wall at 20 - finished in 4:16:32 Mar 08 - Fall Creek Thaw 15k - Much better shape, finished 18th overall, 5th in age group - 1:07:55 - 7:18 pace Apr 08 - CMM 08 - Was much better trained, never really hit the wall, although 23-26 felt like someone was pinching my hamstrings, nonetheless, PR'd at 3:57:50 Oct 08 - Local 5k - Trained hard, went out strong, finished stronger - 20:18, 9th overall, 1st in age group... I say all that to say this - when I plug in times to the McMillan Calculator, I get that I should be training a bit differently than my present times. (I know that McMillan isn't perfect, but gives you a good idea.) But, no matter what, I see that my marathon times are way off from what it predicts. (I, in no way, fathom running a <3:20:00 marathon, btw). so, with all of that said, am i holding back whenever i trained for my two marathons, running slower than what my body is capable of? i have til christmas to really build up a solid base for cmm 09, and i'd love to pr again, but i don't want to overtrain, hurt myself, and be out of running for a while, but i'd love to optimize my body's potential and hit out a nice marathon. am i just overthinking because of my recent 5k, or am i thinking straight and realizing that i've been a sissy and holding myself back? marathon,="" btw).="" so,="" with="" all="" of="" that="" said,="" am="" i="" holding="" back="" whenever="" i="" trained="" for="" my="" two="" marathons,="" running="" slower="" than="" what="" my="" body="" is="" capable="" of?="" i="" have="" til="" christmas="" to="" really="" build="" up="" a="" solid="" base="" for="" cmm="" 09,="" and="" i'd="" love="" to="" pr="" again,="" but="" i="" don't="" want="" to="" overtrain,="" hurt="" myself,="" and="" be="" out="" of="" running="" for="" a="" while,="" but="" i'd="" love="" to="" optimize="" my="" body's="" potential="" and="" hit="" out="" a="" nice="" marathon.="" am="" i="" just="" overthinking="" because="" of="" my="" recent="" 5k,="" or="" am="" i="" thinking="" straight="" and="" realizing="" that="" i've="" been="" a="" sissy="" and="" holding="" myself=""></3:20:00 marathon, btw). so, with all of that said, am i holding back whenever i trained for my two marathons, running slower than what my body is capable of? i have til christmas to really build up a solid base for cmm 09, and i'd love to pr again, but i don't want to overtrain, hurt myself, and be out of running for a while, but i'd love to optimize my body's potential and hit out a nice marathon. am i just overthinking because of my recent 5k, or am i thinking straight and realizing that i've been a sissy and holding myself back?>

I'm sure you are capable of more, but I doubt if it has much to do with willpower or anything mental. You have nowhere near enough mileage to carry your speed for 26 miles. I know you'll find people scattered throughout these threads who run marathons on similar mileage, but they aren't running them as fast as they could either. Not only does it take more in the weeks leading up to the marathon, but there is a major cumiulative effect of being consistent virtually year around. Here is a link to the "Goal of Sub-3 Hour Marathon" thread. Browse through some of the logs and see how much these people are running. Look at the "Graduates List" on the 2nd post, page 1 of those who recently acheived the goal. Here is a link to the thread. http://www.runningahead.com/forums/topic/2a4447ebd90942b3904a5a9c6913dbdb/0 Btw, not only will more training miles help you run a faster marathon, but they will help at all distances. Congratulations on your new 5k PR!

All excuses aside - my summer training lacked heavily. I moved in May to Indiana, got settled in, tried to stay around 30 miles a week. In July I jumped into Pfitz's 18/55 program, and dropped it about 3 weeks in due to overtraining and lack of time. (I'm a youth minister who was only home for 14 days in August due to camp and a missions trip to Haiti...) I was not even coming close to planning on running a marathon on 25-35 mpw. I'd love to peak at 50-60 mpw, but I know to jump into that type of training plan now would just be foolish. I know I want to build a base between now and Christmas so whenever I do start Pftiz's program, or the equivalent, that it won't seem so hectic as it did over the summer between ramping up miles, moving, and the heat. Good to know that I am selling myself short (yeah, that's a funny statement). So, by ramping up my miles, I know I can obviously improve my time. By adding in some speedwork I know I can improve my time. But my lingering question still remains as to what speed should I be training at and shooting for? I've done a lot of work lately on changing my pace around. Yesterday, I was running 8:15 comfortably. Today, if I pushed 8:15, I know that it wouldn't go as well, so I'd like to hit about 8:45. I know I want to listen to my body, but with looking at a marathon in the spring, to PR, and not just PR, but reach my full potential, I know it takes serious training and being smart. This is where my inexperience hurts me. Maybe Salazaar is looking for a really slow kid to turn into the next Nike star.... Thanks for the encouragement though guys. My next step would be just to find the right program to boost my miles, without injury, and to find the right pace to shoot for in the marathon. Any help would be greatly appreciated there.

... But my lingering question still remains as to what speed should I be training at and shooting for? I've done a lot of work lately on changing my pace around. Yesterday, I was running 8:15 comfortably. Today, if I pushed 8:15, I know that it wouldn't go as well, so I'd like to hit about 8:45. I know I want to listen to my body, but with looking at a marathon in the spring, to PR, and not just PR, but reach my full potential, I know it takes serious training and being smart. This is where my inexperience hurts me...

A very good question and an important one, imo. You'll probably get many different answers, with a strong bias towards running by "feel". Personally I prefer to base training paces on current race times, especially for key workouts. Of course "feel" is factored in but I think it is too easy for many runners to rationalize a pace that is too fast using only feel as a basis. A good place to get an idea is by using one of the training calculators that allow you to input a recent race time and spit out training paces for various workouts based on those times. Here are a couple: http://runworks.com/calculator.html http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/Running%20University/Article%201/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm Good luck

Your mileage will get you thru a marathon, but will not sustain any great run in a marathon... the 30 mpw average (which you are a little below) is a GREAT place to start your mileage build up.....get more long runs in some 20's and 23's....and get your MPW average up into the 50's....... Then see what happens to your times....

Anyhow, long story short, 50+miles a week will work wonders for all

Very impressive sparky. Looking at your training log, its no wonder you did well. Ramping up my mileage is a definite go. Hitting training paces is the easy part. I guess I just want to build the confidence that my marathon pace will be the right one for me and not leave me crawling at mile 20. My previous marathons (08, peaked at 43 mile in the week, and 07 peaked at 37 miles in the week) most all of my training was done at marathon pace, this year I want to train at a certain paces, and then marathon day go out and run it at race pace. I guess it's just playing around with things. How did cross training with biking help out sparky?

I would say you should run at a pace that is 'easy' enough to allow you to put in 50 miles per week, week-in week-out. I would also say forget the training plans and do the above UNTIL you get to 16 or 18 weeks out from your marathon then start the 16 or 18 week plan of your choice. You WILL run far better than you now think is possible.

Starting hitting 50 miles per week consistently

Not only does it take more in the weeks leading up to the marathon, but there is a major cumiulative effect of being consistent virtually year around.

Anyhow, long story short, 50+miles a week will work wonders for all

I shooting for a marathon in the fall of next year, and these statements here all apply to what I am focused .... consistent mileage. I have been running around 40 mpw for a while now and want to work up to 50 by the end of the spring next year. If you look at my log my mileage isn't anything real special, but what I am proud of is that when you view the weekly graph, you'll see very few peaks and valleys, i.e., consistency. And yeah, as the others have said my times have gone down in all distances.