Forums >Racing>2017 Sub 3 Marathons...and beyond!
Joann - Welcome! We're a very welcoming bunch from my experience, very accepting of all paces, genders (we had a female in the old group, Cinnamon, hopefully she'll make her way over here, eventually) and we've even taken in the displaced (Dingo) and the elderly (Mikkey). And bummer on the Boston entry miss!
Deep down, we all simply want to learn to from others to get better and pay-it-forward by helping others. Like most forums, we have the occasional troll, but they don't stay around too long.
Jmac - Looks like we both did NYC in 2015, I finished in 3:10:14.
Welcome to the new folks! FSBD/DesiRunner/Dtothe2nd
IAM/Swim - Hello, your mileage averages are awe inspiring, and that's coming from a 70-75mpw runner.
https://www.strava.com/athletes/2507437
PR's - 5K - 17:57 (2017) | 10K - 38:06 (2016) | 13.1 1:23:55 (2019) | 26.2 2:58:46 (2017)
2020 Goals - Sub-2:55 Marathon Up Next: TBD, Boston on 9/14?
Mikkey i had a manual log too although on my desktop. Somehow a couple months ago i completely lost it. Now ive just got strava but its a shame to have lost that history.
Jmac spot on getting used to discomfort. I really struggle with this and sometimes dont plan the workout till it happens so i dont stress about whats coming. Of course once its over theres a huge sense of relief and achievement if i hit my target or better. I need to toughen up buttercup
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
RIP Milkman
Mikkey i had a manual log too although on my desktop. Somehow a couple months ago i completely lost it. Now ive just got strava but its a shame to have lost that history. Jmac spot on getting used to discomfort. I really struggle with this and sometimes dont plan the workout till it happens so i dont stress about whats coming. Of course once its over theres a huge sense of relief and achievement if i hit my target or better. I need to toughen up buttercup
That's an interesting approach, not planning the workout til it happens. I had a bit of a panic attack after my first 2 mile repeat was more difficult than I expected and had the thoughts creeping in that maybe 4x2 was too much. Luckily the 2nd and 3rd repeat were easier and I knew I could just push through the last one.
I wonder how much of race performance is pain tolerance. I find it especially true in something like the half, where at mile 8 I'm on the edge and not sure if I can finish, but it took me a lot of half marathons before I realized that I could push through that and be okay.
Fly - yes, that was my last full. Let's see where we are with corral placements in a few weeks to determine if we can meet up. I'm probably looking to pace somewhere in the 2:55 to 3:00 range.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Re pain in races, I find the 5k the worst. Pretty much 80% feels really uncomfortable.
Super quick cap of my prep:
- Sep 2016 ran my best half of 1:26:16.
- Ran around 20 miles per week Sep 2016 to Mar 2017. After the previous two years being good mileage of lots of 60-69 mile weeks with a few 70-78.
- Ramped up April to June for a half. Was sick for a couple of weeks, so only ended with about a month of good volume.
- For my June half, just wanted 1:29:59. Ended up 1:30:06, unfortunately the pacer went a little slow, so I spend up with 4k to go, but could not quite go sub 1:30.
- The next 3 or so weeks post the half were 4x mile weeks.
- Post then my weeks have been in the 55-71 mile weeks. My 2015 marathon had a peak week of 78 miles, but I had a few 3x mile weeks due to minor injuries.
- I am definitely faster than 2015, whether I am sub 3 is debatable.
- 2015 training was almost all slow. In part due to having an achilles injury I had to manage.
- This cycle I had much more long tempo work, of roughly MP, a little HMP and hills.
- The good part of this cycle:
- The bad part of this cycle:
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Watson: Thanks for the nice recap. Your long runs have been strong this cycle. Good luck this weekend, I think you can get the sub-3.
Welcome Desirunner, FSBD, Dtothe2nd, and Joann.
IAM and Swim: Great to have you guys here. I'm a long-time reader of the 2:50/2:45 groups and have enjoyed seeing your training and progression, it is very inspiring.
I got some terrible news Tuesday night; my father passed away suddenly from a heart attack. We were very close, this hurts bad. Though we should be back in CT before the marathon, I'm not sure I'll be up to running it. I'll see how I'm doing next week.
2:52:16 (2018)
JT - I"m so sorry for your loss. I lost my father last year and it was a very rough period. Wishing you and the family the best. Don't worry about the marathon: you may decide you have no desire to run for weeks, or you may decide that running is exactly what you need. You won't know until It hits you, just take it one day at a time. There are more important things in life than a race.
Reeves very sorry to hear your news.
JT - sorry for your loss. Echo what JMac said about whether you run or not. Not nearly the same as loosing a parent, but last year we lost a beloved pet, and I personally found running helped the grieving process.
JTReeves - Again, sorry for your loss. I've never had to experience something like that, fortunately, but I can see how hard it could be to possibly focus on running a fast marathon anytime soon.
Upcoming races: Boston
Mother of Cats
Hi - just wanted to drop by (since no 3:10 thread anymore) to offer my condolences as well to JTReeves.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
JT: Sorry for your loss flyrunnr: Don't put me in the same category as swim. My weekly mileage PR is like 115, and he routinely exceeds that. At altitude.
andres: Hundo is a completely arbitrary number. I could run 110 way easier than what's actually going on this cycle. It's easy to get overly invested in round numbers, I've been there frequently in the past. How's the post-Harvey stuff doing in HOU?mikkey: I hope you're right about the weather. I've put a crapton of work into this cycle and it'd be crazy to come out of it with anything less than a big ass PR.
kram: I fucking love those completely insane Daniels TLT workouts. If you can hack running T (or even HMP, which is how I did them) 20 miles into a LR, you will do fine at the marathon. That man is a beautiful sadist.
https://www.strava.com/athletes/5795019
I try to remind myself that if it doesn't involve discomfort, it also doesn't involve progress. That helps most of the time.
Watson - Best of luck! Hoping to have our first Sub 3 in our new home on RA. Looking forward to the result and race report.
For sure, discomfort creates stimulus .
Watson all the best tomorrow.
Thanks for all your support.
Forecast is now moderately wet, not really heavy, but moderate. Very little wind. And temperature 11-13 C or 52-54 F. So two out of three will have to do.
Left knee is so-so. And annoyingly have a moderately sore throat.