Forums >Racing>2017 Sub 3 Marathons...and beyond!
Ok. I'm trying this one more time. After creating this thread/discussions over in the Sub 3 User Group, it seems like most people wanted to migrate over to the "Racing" section to try to open things up to as many people as possible. I'm all for that.
This is a continuation, or rebirth, of a thread that was previously on the Runner's World community...and this intro is primarily copied and pasted from that dead thread. If someone can help embed the google spreadsheet doc in this forum, please let me know (it shows up as I'm creating the post, but doesn't seem to stick around). Otherwise I'll find another workaround. And it will probably make the most sense to re-post our intros in this thread, even though we just did that.
I've also added "and beyond!" in case the 2:45 crowd wants to jump in here instead of adding a separate thread.
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Welcome to the 2017 sub3 training thread!
Somewhat by default (everyone else seems to have moved on to faster times, or is too lazy), I'm left to start this thread. I'll do my best to keep this place lively, but I also look to others to participate regularly. There are no real rules here, but rather a few suggestions.
First, please let me know your scheduled marathons, PR, and your goals so I can update the sheet below. Second, as best you can, please post your weeklies and participate in the discussions with others so we can all learn from what seems to work or does not work. Generally speaking, the more you participate, the more you get out of these threads. If you don't stick around, or don't keep up, you may not get much feedback when you try to run something by the group. Even when you are not in the middle of a specific marathon cycle, try to post your weeklies. It seems as if often times dramatic improvement comes from the running we get done between cycles, so that information is helpful too. Finally, if possible, please provide a brief running bio, along with a short reflection on last year and goals for this coming year.
If anyone else has some suggestions, please feel free to chime in. It's not yet clear what's happening on the faster threads, but if this needs to be a sub3 and somewhat faster thread, I'm sure we can accommodate.
Here's a nifty tool to easily copy your weekly Strava activity so that you can post it here: http://rwol-weekly.appspot.<wbr>com/weekly/ (courtesy of @reglor). And here's another tool: https://www.defy.org/hacks/stravahack/ (courtesy of ridemehigh).
The sheet below doesn't appear to work, so here's a link.
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n3QVx-WvtLNqiVkwxjrcxdRbPuYn6nPEdNFPCWvjAU0/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false" width="1000" height="500"></iframe>
Upcoming races: Boston
I'll kick it off. Just copying and pasting my intro from the RWOL thread from this year, with a little added at the end:
I'm 38 and live in Houston. I have three young boys (6, 5 and 3). I've always been a runner, first running an annual 5k beginning at age 6 or so. But my focus growing up was always soccer. After college I decided to run a marathon with my dad. He'd been running them for about 8 years at that point, and never really seemed to train all that much. I thought it couldn't be all that hard. It was. I basically walked it in after 17 or so.
Even with that experience, I kept running marathons, yet never trained all that well for them. I'd focus a lot on the weekend longrun, and rarely run all that much during the week. So my 8 week average leading up to a marathon was probably around 20-25. That got me from the ~4:30 mark, down to about 3:45. Then in 2014, soon after my third son was born, I decided to take things seriously. I trained hard for Houston 2015, using the Hansons advanced plan. Even before starting the plan, I got used to running 6-7 days a week, averaging in the 40s. The week the plan started I ran a 41:03 10k (most likely a big pr), then 37:14 nine weeks later. I had originally thought to target a 3:05 goal, but got greedy and went for sub3 in Houston that year. Had a hard time in the second half and ended with a 3:09.
One of my big goals was to try and get to Boston, and I knew that 3:09 wasn't going to work, so I trained hard all summer and ran a 8 loop qualifier the weekend before Boston registration opened. Decided to again go for sub3, and got super close (3:00:06). So missed it, but easily got in to Boston.
2016 I ran the half in Houston to start the year off. The training leading up to that half was brief but it went really well. Then the weather was just absolutely perfect on race day. That lead to a 1:19:20. With that I was hoping to train hard and go with an aggressive (for me) marathon goal in Boston. Training didn't go exactly as planned and in March I tore/pulled something (hamstring). I got a ton of treatment on it just to be able to continue to train/race. I think I was probably in 2:55/56 shape for Boston, but with the less than ideal weather, just snuck under 3 (2:59:58).
Looking back on my 2016, I don't feel like I properly capitalized on the great start and my half result. I think I probably went a little too aggressive with my late February training, which led to the injury. Then the injury led to less overall mileage on the year (2,300 compared to 2,600 in 2015). Right now, I think I need mileage more than anything else, so to get fewer miles in this past year wasn't ideal. I hope to get back to around 2,600 miles this year.
I also want to re-focus on the weights this year. Before I would go through periods (up to maybe 10 weeks) where I'd go once a week, and do some very heavy lifting. That seemed to work, but I want to try something a little different. I think I want to aim for 3x week this year, and drop the intensity somewhat.
My near-term goal is to do something decent in the Houston half in 11 days, then see if I can't get sub 3's in both Boston and Barcelona. It'll be tricky since Barcelona is a trip with the whole family, arriving the Thursday before the Sunday race. The only full weekend we'll be there is that weekend, so I'm sure I'll end up being out late and drinking/eating well that Friday, with a full day of wandering around Saturday. Boston will be hard just trying to keep the intensity up following Barcelona (about 5 weeks apart). But I'll fly up Sunday morning without the family so at least I should have a much easier pre-race day/weekend.
Update:
I ran the Houston half in a somewhat weak just-under 1:22. The weather wasn't great, but I also wasn't in great shape. Had the weather been better, I might have gotten closer to 1:20, but I'm almost certain I wouldn't have mad it under.
Following that, I ran Barcelona in just under 2:58. The course and race went really well, pacing it almost perfectly even. From there I got back to Houston and ramped up for Boston. That didn't go so well. Yes, it was hot, I was feeling a little off at the start, but I also lost a good amount more fitness than I expected. Without realizing I lost more fitness than I thought, I started to fast and had a terrible rest of the day.
Since then I've had a relatively low summer from a mileage perspective, and have tried to fix this bothersome hamstring injury I've been fighting for 19 months. I feel like I'm on the right track, and I've recently started to ramp things up again. I'll have a half in London in 10 days, then some shorter races for the rest of the year. After that, I'll do Houston half again in January and then Boston in April.
I look forward to hearing from the rest of you on this new forum!
Here's my week:
Run Totals: Distance: 51.4mi, Time: 06:54:07, Elevation gain: 655ft
Felt good all week, even though the easy pace is still quite slow for the most part. Not too worried about it since the weather is still awful here. Or it was up until Friday morning. We were having mornings around 80F and full humidity. My two workouts were low on the work volume, but I was quite pleased with them. The 300s were probably a bit faster than I needed to do, but I was stuck between two groups, and the slower group would have been way slower than the faster group was fast. It felt good regardless. I'm looking forward to my half this weekend, even though I know I'm far from being able to keep a good amount of intensity for 13 miles. I'll run it hard, but I'm not expecting a lot. My goal is still to get myself ready to race some shorter stuff several weekends in November, then race the half in Houston in January.
RIP Milkman
About me: 30 y/o male. I ran cross country and some track in high school, but I was never great. My 5K PR at the time was 18:40, but I mainly ran in the 19's during high school. Didn't run at all during college nor during my early 20's due to some work committments.
I picked up running again about 3 years ago. I focused almost solely on halfs. My first half was a disaster at 1:44 with a lot of walking. I remember finishing and needing to be escorted by a volunteer because I thought I was going to faint. Somehow, I kept wanting to run halfs.
Eventually, I decided to give my first full marathon a try in 2015 in NYC. I was buildling up mileage nicely to around 45 mpw with 12 weeks to go (which was my highest mileage in any week to date) when I was hit with pneumonia. That knocked me out for 2 weeks, plus another week of slow running. I was able to recover somewhat with a few 55 mile weeks before taper. I set out to run a 3:10 and ended at 3:12. I was pretty happy given I only averaged 35 mpw for those 12 weeks prior to the race due to the illness and began thinking about running another marathon to make up for the lost running and potential.
I didn't run anything last year, but I was able to bring my 1:44 half down to 1:23 in October in absolutely awful conditions (25 mph winds and rain) by keeping my mileage in the 30-45 mpw range. With that 1:23, I'm now setting my eyes on breaking 3 this year. Update: Ran a 1:20 half this spring in May off of 45 mpw
Goal Race: NYC 11/5 (current PR of 3:12). I'll say that my goal is to break 3 at this point since it's a tough course. Feel like I'm right around 2:55 shape but not sure I am on that course.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Andres - Good week. I hear you on the heat and humidity, it finally broke for us Thursday night and all my paces have improved substantially. How's the weather looking for your half? In NY, it looks like all the humidity is returning for the weekend unfortunately. Are you targeting a time?
Me - Good week overall as the temperatures and humidity plummeted on Thursday. We went from 91/33 temps and 65/18 dew point down to 62/17 temps and 41/5 dew points in a span of 24 hours. My run on Sunday felt phenomenal compared to how hard every run has been this summer. I was able to get my tempo runs down to around 6:00/3:45 which I haven't seen in about 4 months. I even had trouble keeping my easy runs slow enough. Temps will be climbing back up this week though so it was nice while it lasted. I have 2 more full weeks of training before tapering. Given how good my runs felt in the lower humidity, my confidence is pretty high, but I have to reign myself in and not start thinking about sub 2:55.
I wanted to add that somebody discovered an archived version of the RWOL forums if anybody wants to reference the material there:
http://web.archive.org/web/20170928045649/http://community.runnersworld.com/
Hey everyone. Glad to have this up and running - thanks Andres!
Brief bio to anyone new. I'm 35 y/o male living in DC. Ran in high school and one year of college and then went largely inactive for 13 years or so. Picked up running again in late 2014, ran my first marathon in 2016, and was fortunate enough to BQ on my second attempt this past Spring (3:02:06). Chasing the sub3 goal at Richmond in 40 days. Feeling optimistic and am thankful for all those friends I've met and connected with both from RWOL and the local scene. This outlet is a great motivational tool and provides an important feedback loop.
That all said, this was week 12 / 18. Had a good week overall. Fall conditions arrived and not a moment too soon. My week had a solid interval session, two MLRs and a great 20 miler yesterday with 12 at MP. Averaged 6:47 for those without any water or nutrition. Had 84 miles scheduled with 2 double days, but after having a really low mileage week two weeks ago because of work/life commitments (and a missed LR), I decided to play it safe and keep with singles. I have the Army 10 miler this Sunday followed by the Detroit half the following weekend, so it will be interesting to see how back-to-back race weekends go. I seem to over-perform on tired legs, so I'm optimistic. I think sub 62 is a good goal for the Army 10, though conditions are looking iffy.
Weekly Summary Monday, Sep 25, 2017 thru Sunday, Oct 01, 2017
Hey all, just copying my intro again...
Mark, 36 from Auckland, New Zealand (1x wife and 1x 6 month-old daughter).
Having played field hockey for a number of years, and done a lot of general fitness stuff (weights etc.), I decided to give running a crack in mid-2015. Off a pretty badly structured training programme I ran 1:27 in the Auckland Half Marathon in October 2015 and decided I should probably take running a bit more seriously. Unfortunately after a good few months training I broke my big toe by dropping a weight on it at the gym (about as dumb as injuries get) and couldn't get back to training until early April 2016.
Over the past year I've had a pretty good stint, got some really consistent training in, and did a number of half marathons. I got really steady improvement, going from 1:27, to 1:22, to 1:21 (flat course, but terrible conditions), to 1:20 (hilly course, perfect conditions), to 1:18:20 in the Auckland Half Marathon 2016 which is still my PR. The Auckland course has some long flat sections but a few decent hills too, so you need to run a smart race on it. Had some solid performances since then including a sub-35 10km'er on a relatively hilly 10km course, and my last scheduled race for the time being is the Orewa HM next Sunday where I might go close to PR subject to conditions.
Anyway following that, I've decided to do a marathon - Auckland - in October this year, and in the absence of a bit more clarity around target, sub-3 is the goal for now. I don't think the FM will be my best distance, but figured now was a good time to give it a crack and see how it goes. I may go a little quicker as my speed is reasonable but endurance has not really been my biggest strength so that will be the big area for improvement.
UPDATE: I've averaged 80-90km's week for the bulk of my training since May, with a few weeks over 90. Ran a couple of recent HMs - North Shore (1:20:57 - bit disappointing but tough conditions and I was still getting over a cold), and Devonport (1:21:13 - very hilly, didn't max effort, felt great, very pleasing race). Goal is still sub-3 for the FM on 29 Oct but depending how things go something closer to 2:50 could possibly be on the cards.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
My week just finished...
M: weights
T: 6.7km with a few sprints to get the legs going
W: 12.4km easy
Th: 5.6km incl 2km TT (3:15/3:15 for total 6:30, incl. new 1 mile PR @5:14)
F: 12.5km easy
S: 7.7km easy
S: 35.2km long run, incl. 18km at MP (~4:03/km / 6:30/mi)
Sunday's long run was very pleasing. The weather was pretty horrible, with rain throughout (it got torrential at one point) and strong winds. I cruised the first 12km or so, included some good hills as the marathon has a hilly start. Then picked it up through the middle and felt really comfortable at circa 4:05/km, even when I had to deal with strong crosswinds and occasional headwinds. The legs were getting pretty tired with wet heavy shoes by around 30km so I shut it down and cruised the last 5km or so.
I'll kick it off. Just copying and pasting my intro from the RWOL thread from this year, with a little added at the end: I'm 378 and live in Houston. I have three young boys (5, 46 and 3).
I'm 378 and live in Houston. I have three young boys (5, 46 and 3).
How's the competition in the 375-379 AG?
Non existent?
Thanks for pointing that out. I guess copy and paste didn't copy and paste the cross outs.
Jay - Sunday's run has to be a big confidence booster. Looks like you're on the right track for sub 3.
JMac - 60, with two days off is really getting the mileage up there! As for my half, I'm really not sure what to expect. I'll go out hard, but I don't want to end up like last year. Last year I should have recognized I didn't quite have the endurance, yet I kept things in a range that I should have only tried if I was well trained. I crawled home on the back half. No part of it was fun. I think if I can get it under 1:23 I'll be happy.
Mark - Great long run. How many other over 30k runs have you had?
I'll copy this from the other thread:
1mile: 4:46 (12/20) | 5K: 15:57 (3/21) | 10K: 33:40 (4/20) | 15K 51:43 (4/21) | HM: 1:15:03 (12/20) | FM: 2:40:30 (1/20)
BTW, here is my latest week ( 1 of my 18 week FM block). Highlight was probably the 15 mile LR with ~10 miles at better than MP in very warm conditions.
Hey sub3!
... just stopping by to see if squirrel (or squirrell ) was posting yet.