Forums >General Running>The long run on the trained body
ultramarathon/triathlete
My twins were born last December and my mileage for the end of Dec, Jan and Feb dropped off significantly. Once routine set, in I managed to figure out new ways to squeeze in the miles throughout the day, and I'm back to a good number now but the distance per occasion has drastically changed.
Last year I ran several marathons and regularly ran 15-20 miles a pop through the week. I like those runs the most. Mileage was around 70-80/week. THIS year I'm running to and from work (5.5 each way) most days and logging 8-9 on the treadmill at lunch a few times a week and have a few evening runs which tend to be 5-8 miles, but I haven't figured out the time to run longer than 45 min to an hour. I run more often (lots of 2x days 5-8 miles a pop) but almost no double digit runs.
Since Boston last April I think I had 1 run around 11 or 12 miles leading up to November when I paced the NYCM 4:30 group. No real "long runs" though. Still, the race went well and I felt great.
Was this just because it was a slower marathon pace than I'm used to (usually around low 3 hours)? Or can one really get by on experience and lots of short runs?
I reg'd for a trail marathon in Jan so I guess I'll find out but I'm curious if anyone have experience with this kind of schedule?
HTFU? Why not!
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Don't know if this will help or not, but back in 1979 I ran my one and only marathon on lots and lots of relatively fast 8-mile training runs. My time you ask? I missed breaking 2:50 by something like 20 seconds.
Of course back then I was a young indestructable runner who could take on the world with a week of training.
Long story short, given your substantial base, I suspect you'll be able to get down near the three hour mark, errr, depending on the difficulty level of the trail; after all, there are trails, and then there are T-R-A-I-L-Z (the former being fast, the later being, uhhh, not so fast).
Fat old man PRs:
All the imperfect training you've done is infinitely better than all the perfect training you thought about doing.
Know thyself.
Why is it sideways?
Is it possible to fill a 10 gallon bucket with a teaspoon?
Of course!
Yeah, good point. I ran that Jan trail marathon (28.4 miles, counting getting lost and back tracking) 2 years ago in somewhere around 4:20 hours (good enough for 2nd place). I guess I really need to find a road marathon to see if my speed's still there, but I am anxious to see if I can do better at on the January trail marathon this time around (and to not get lost this time would also be nice).
I just wonder if NYCM felt "easy" just because it was slower than usual, or was it because it was slower than usual and I was well trained despite the lack of long runs.
Is it possible to fill a 10 gallon bucket with a teaspoon? Of course!
That's probably the best way to make sure you don't over-flow the bucket.
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This belongs over on the running ad survey thread, doesn't it?
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Not a marathoner, but I have a decent base, and went through a six month stretch where I had only one double digit run, and very few runs over an hour. Most of my runs were between 25-45 minutes long. Then, on October 1st, I felt like going long, and popped out a 14-miler with no undue stress. I was able to run as usual the next day.
I have been including a nominal weekly long run in my schedule recently (~11 miles), but I still mainly run short doubles to pack in my easy miles. I don't have any endurance problems handling anything up to and including the half-marathon distance.