Forums >Racing>2017 Sub 3 Marathons...and beyond!
Paul: Again a nice race and enjoyed your race report! Another Daniels success story I see! Hoping those Q days pay dividends come next month for me as well.
Andre: Solid week. Kudos for getting the miles in with that strange weather. Looking forward to your 1/2.
JT: Nice looking week (a week ago). Looks like you are ramping up to a marathon, especially with your 20 miler that you nailed today!
Here is my latest week. Not a complete week just yet since I needed to move my second Q (LR) to tomorrow instead of getting it done today. Gives me a bit of recovery after my 2 mile race last night anyways. Still was able to get in over 80 miles even without that second LR today. Highlights were my workout on Wed where I managed low to mid 6:20 pace for my marathon section (8 miles) and then was able to hit 3+ threshold miles shortly afterwards at the end of a 17 mile day. Then ran a local 2 mile (Christmas themed) race last night with quite a bit of young/fast competition. Went out fairly hard and was able to effectively hold the pace and even pick it up in the 2nd mile and finish with a pretty hard finish coming in. Still a weird distance to get right, but very happy with the result especially with the recent mileage. Workout tomorrow will be a big one with 20 miles "planned" but with lots race pace or faster miles (8M, 1T, 4M, 1T, 1M). Looks to be a peak workout with less than 6 weeks to go according to Daniels.
Weekly Summary Monday, Dec 11, 2017 thru Sunday, Dec 17, 2017
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)
I would like to join this thread in an effort to keep myself accountable. I've been following along and have enjoyed reading your race reports and training... I ran a 3:01:08 at Dallas a week ago, but was somewhat disappointed after PR'ing in the half (1:24:22) and 10K (37:51) during Pfitz's 18/70 plan. I have Houston 4 weeks from today, but unsure if I'll be fully recovered in time to give it 100%. If I'm unable to get it at Houston then I'll have to wait until September to figure out my next race. Hoping a BQ -3:52 is finally enough to get to Boston after not making the cut in 2016 with a BQ-1:09.
Paul: Nice race report. Great job pushing things at the end and passing that guy. I agree that starting at 5000 ft elevation must have made things tougher initially.
Weatherboy: Another great week, and that even without the long run! Good idea to postpone the second Q till tomorrow after the 2 miler. That 2 mile was smoking and tells me a sub-17 5k is yours for the taking once you get around to it. Good luck tomorrow; that sounds like an absolute monster workout!
Brad: Welcome! 5 weeks between marathons is tough but a few folks on here have pulled it off.
My last week went well. The snow and ice kept me on the mill for my Wednesday hard workout and some of the easy runs. I managed to get out for today's quality LR; the dirt roads were still bad so I drove to a place where I could run the whole thing on cleared pavement. I feel good about how it went. I took no fuel during it (planned on that) and also no water since someone/something took a water bottle I had planted! But it was so bitter cold it did not really matter. My face was numb and there was a good selection of mini icicles hanging from my hat by the end of the run.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Dec 11, 2017 thru Sunday, Dec 17, 2017
2:52:16 (2018)
My last two weeks. I actually wrote up a note on last week and then never got around to posting! Long runs have started again. Spring marathon season is a go!
Week ending Dec 10thM 01 07 32 8.35 T 00 55 24 7.2 tm w/ 2wu + 2x1.5@5:49pace + 2cd, 0.5% 00 31 25 3.49 W 00 47 57 6.07 Th 01 03 58 7.51 F 01 12 32 9.0 S 02 38 17 18.17 S 00 17 53 3.1 Toledo Run, Santa, Run 5k, 1st AO $30 prize 00 15 00 1.8 wu/cd ==== 64.69
Happy with my week. I've signed up for the Toledo "Glass City" marathon on April 22nd and a warm up half on March 25th. Mileage ramp up began this week sort of. I at least got a proper long run in again and due to snow it ended up being temporally longer than anticipated, but happy with it as no gels were required. Ran a 5k this yesterday and came in 17:53 for 1st OA (covered my entry fee ). Happy enough with it. We went out at 5:30 and I went to sleep following 2 fast enough looking local kids. I hadn't realized how much we slowed until the mile marker and by then the damage was done. I passed them by 1.5 and ran the rest of the way alone. HR was in more of a tempo than 5k pace range. Gonna have to fix my 5k time proper next summer.
Week ending Dec 17thM 00 26 51 3.1 tm left quad very sore T 00 32 38 3.54 sore l. quad/hip W 01 13 00 9.1 tm easy Th 01 20 21 10.1 tm easy F 01 06 56 8.1 tm easy S 02 28 33 19.0 tm lrS 01 15 08 8.73 easy ==== 61.67
OK week for me. It started off bad as my left quad and hip were very sore and simply sore at the beginning of the week. I guess I did something after the 5k, sitting or some such as I didn't notice a great deal during. So, I spent my week babysitting that back to some form of health. I can still feel my quad a little, so the plan is to just focus on mileage as we get the end of the year. Happy with the long run, which due to snow, slop and darkness I had to take to the tm. 18 & 19 with just water so far and I hope to be able to get this out to 23-23miles. Lots of xmas travel planned, so who knows what will happen to my mileage next week. I hope to keep some running going, but food, beer, more beer etc.
5k: 17:32 (11/18) -- 10k: 38:47 (07/17) -- 10m: 60:23 (08/17) -- 1/2: 1:22:32 (11/17) -- full: 2:49:26 (04/17)
2020 Goals: Assault on 2:40! Next up: Toledo (Apr 26)
Brad: Welcome aboard. While disappointed in your race, that time should be good for a BQ, so congrats! Looked like a pretty warm day from what I saw/read. There was an interesting finish to the female full race (any thoughts?). I think the winner should have been DQ'd for accepting help (even if it's the last few hundred yards), really shit form from the relay runner interfering like that. It's one thing for a random runner, but for the leader... sigh! I'd say you have a good shot at a solid performance in Houston, but these back2back 'thons seem to be a bit of a crapshoot. Looking fwd. to your autumn cycle.
JTReeves: Great week. Those 4mi T repeats are like nothing else and making it through to the end of rep 2 really lets you know come mile 23 on race day that "only 20 mins to go, I can suffer through this". Fantastic long run too. Unless that was very hard, you've got to be thinking sub2:50 come March! I hope a bag of coal arrives for that rotten water thief! Surviving with minimal water is the almost only good thing about real winter running.
Weatherboy: A 2 miler... great speed, but I bet the last 800 hurt. Good luck on your long run tomorrow. That TMT workout is always one that got the better of me. It depends how you're feeling, but don't be afraid to go 12M, 1T, 2M either. I always found/find it so rough to recover from the T-mile at M pace. If you can hang onto this workout a big day lies ahead!
Paul: Great report and nice job holding things together when it got rough at the end. How are your quads feeling after that? I winced when I saw the elevation profile! Do you feel it was fitness/fueling or the course that resulted in it getting tough in the last 5miles?
paul: Congrats on the PR at Tuscon, but bigger congrats on getting into WS! You must be pretty psyched about that. Mildly bummed that I won't run into you at AC, but totally understand.
andres: Still on track for the 300? If this place did memes, picture the 300 meme here.mikkey: RR was on strava, duh. It's here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT_z17N8qQpNqLVBtoPzt5Dh0783yDhLvr2O8pWphaOXMZvv4WgLGXMA4wlwU6VXN3wzTTy5h_-m4U6/pubtn_weather: How's the rebuild coming along?flash: I'm still pumped about your race. Lol that you walked at mile 24 during a sub-2:40. What's your next FM? I think it's pretty common to not see the full benefits of mileage until you've got 2-3 high mileage cycles under your belt, so I bet you've still got a good-sized PR in you.
3DB: What do you mean about LRs - are you coming over to the Stryd darkside?
https://www.strava.com/athletes/5795019
I'm mostly back on the wagon after an easy couple of weeks post-Richmond. My next race is a 50 mile trail race in San Diego on Jan 13, but I've been half-heartedly training for a mile PR. I was hoping to knock out a sub-5, but that looks pretty unlikely now that snow and ice have arrived.
Weekly SummaryMonday, Dec 04, 2017 thru Sunday, Dec 10, 2017
I hit 4k miles on Friday, which is a first for me. More than anything else, it says that this is the first year that I didn't have an injury that sidelined me for 1-2 months, so yay for that.
Kram - I was definitely hurting after the race. It took until maybe Wednesday before I could descend stairs with a normal gait. Tried to run Wednesday and managed 2 miles at 9:40 pace. Feeling much better now, got in 11 today on trails with 2200 ft of climbing.
IAM - Thanks, I’m pretty excited about WS. I still plan to do AC100, but will obviously evaluate after WS. If I don’t run I’ll probably volunteer (I live about 45 miles from the finish).
Thanks, Kram. Weather started out nice in Dallas but did warm up by the end. I guess I'm a bit indifferent regarding the overall female. There is no prize money, but I tend to agree that any assistance should result in a DQ when it comes to the podium. From what I understand the OA female tried to tell the girl she didn't want any help for precisely that reason...
Paul - Thanks for the report. I didn't realize that the race started at 5,000ft. So was that much of a drop or is Tuscon quite high?
Weatherboy - Great week, and a fantastic long run today! So what's that tell you about your target? Thinking a bit under 2:50 at this point, no?
Brad - Welcome! 3:01 off of a 1:24 half and 37:51 10k seems quite strong to me. Sounds like you have a good amount of endurance. That usually leads to quicker full marathon times, so you should get sub 3 fairly soon. But yeah, trying again in Houston will be tough. If you don't get it then, try again later in the year after another good cycle.
IAM - Nope. I think I'm officially dropping the 300 goal. I was more or less on target up until yesterday. I woke up and was doing a few things around the house, and then my wife announced that we were going to be somewhere at 11am, meaning I had a tad over an hour to be back and getting in the shower. I decided to get my 9 miles in anyway and started out faster than my normal runs. Just over 3 miles in, I realized that my groin/hip area was all messed up, and then walked for 10 minutes before jogging very slowly home. I've also extended my Taos trip by a day, so I've got 5 days that I'll be lucky to get any mileage in. No point in pushing it just to get hurt. I'll try to do as best I can at this point, but I don't think I'll make it to PR shape by Jan 14. But I'll most likely try for a PR anyway!
My week:
I was happy with my 2x3 mi workout, despite it being a good amount off of where I was 2 years ago (17:40 and 17:57). But the HR data seems to indicate that the effort was in the HMP effort range (as opposed to HMP-10s), so that's a good sign. I'm also happy to be getting in decent long runs at this point. I'll need those when it's 75 and sunny come Boston.
Upcoming races: Boston
Andres: Solid looking week and a good 2 by 3 mi workout there. Enjoy the ski trip!!
As for what my goal time might be come late Jan I would say honestly anything over 2:50 would come as a slight disappointment based on some of my recent workouts. Today was especially encouraging since it was in the mid 60's with close to 100% humidity (and fog) at the start and to be able to hit close to a 6:18 (or faster) pace for 12 miles at "marathon" pace was nice. Note - I did quickly stop 3 times for fluids! Then to be able to solidly hit 5:51 and then a surprise 5:41 on the two threshold segments was an extra added bonus. We shall see, but I figure if I start comfortably in the low to mid 6:2x range and then go from there it might not be a bad idea. Still a couple more sizable workouts left in my Daniels plan, but today was by far the biggest of the cycle (3E, 8M, 1T, 4M, 1T, 1M, 3E). Tomorrow will likely be a nice slow recovery run to be sure!
Andres - The start is about 4800 ft and the finish about 3000 ft.
Paul - enjoyed the report. Congrats again!
Glad to see others getting back to some mileage. The forum has been a bit quiet lately and I'm not much of a help here.
I managed to salvage a decent week despite having my calf tighten up after Tuesday's tempo run. It was probably too much, too soon after a prior tough weekend in which I paced a 1:40 half marathon group Saturday and then ran a friend's marathon pace miles (12 @ 7:03). I was a bit tight after those, but rested Monday. Tuesday had 9 w/4 tempo and I made it through those fine, but on the cool down miles both achilles felt off and my right lower calf tightened up pretty bad and I ended up walking home the last half mile or so.
I took Wednesday off to rest and stretch it. It wasn't 100% on Thursday's easy 5, but not too bad. Friday I took off work and managed a decent 14 miles. Sunday had 16 w/10 @ MP on the schedule. The calf was mostly okay, but I was a bit worried it could flare up again. I also had low motivation to run this. I did 7 miles with some friends for warming up, then shed a layer, hit the bathroom, ate a Gu and went for it.
I picked the same mostly flat road that I had done the first MP miles on and this worked pretty well. Five miles north - U turn - 5 miles south. I felt pretty good for these, but definitely felt the effort around miles 7 - 9. With a little more than half a mile to go I could see the end (or the stoplights near the end) and managed to kick it a bit for a 6:40 final mile. I was happy with that.
Paul - Great report. Sounds like you managed the pace well and got the most out of the day.
weather - Nice week and fantastic Wed workout. Sub 2:50 seems realistic to me.
JT - LR sounds a bit epic. Someone took a water bottle? Good grief.
kram - Congrats on the 5k. At least you woke up in time to teach those kids a lesson.
iam - Congrats on being injury free! Your 80 mile weeks just seem so routine at this point. The build is coming along...slowly. I ran "fast" for a few minutes and realized that I am not fast. Very long way to go. I was a little freaked out about my heel/achilles area yesterday after that quicker run. I always get a lot of twinges down there due to the achilles but I was worried that maybe it was the heel which would not be good. It seems ok today. We'll see how the run goes tonight.
Andres - Nice week. Taos rules! I have great memories of my 2 oldest boys throwing an absolute class V tantrum when the lifts closed down. They wanted to keep skiing so badly.
Mostly easy running continues. I'm having a helluva time getting my calves converted from cycling to running. They are still pretty tight and sore but slowly getting better. Went a little nutz on Sunday and ran a mile pretty hard which confirmed that I am neither fast or fit at the moment. Probably not wisest move but come on...8 weeks in a boot with a bone stimulator...1 week walking around...then 8 weeks building to 30 mpw. If I can't run hard for 6 minutes w/o something disintegrating (like my heel again) then I have a problem. My heel seems fine today but I am a bit nervous about it. I'm probably feeling old achilles issues. I have a bone density scan scheduled for Thursday that I'm up in the air about. I think I will run today...see how it feels and decide on the scan. Not sure I even want to know the results at this point.
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the trip. I haven't skied there since ~1991, so not too sure what to expect. I hear they don't have much snow this year, but it's the first time my boys have really seen snow. They're still young enough (6, 5 and 4) so they should have a blast, regardless of what the conditions are like.