My husband ran a 3:31 first full marathon on ~35 MPW average, and the McMillan estimate would have been 3:30.

Maybe next year if I can convince the hubby.

 

Your husband is a freak lol, no, men in good/great shape have a more legit chance at breaking sub 4 than short and stubby me.

But let us forget about a sub 4, just forget it was ever mentioned lol.

Damn it D, when are you ever going to run the Monumental or any race in indiana?

Who needs Damaris? I will be there.  

FreeSoul, I think you should just push it....push it good....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCadcBR95oU

\

Whatever you decide, good luck, and enjoy!

I figured not everyone needs to average 70 mpw, but I wasn't going to argue with anyone.  I know more mileage helps, but I also know speed workouts play a big part as well, and of course some people are just fast even with distances like 26.2 

I didn't focus on any speed workouts during my training, mainly because this is my first and I just want to finish, but I did work on getting comfortable with paces like 9:30-10:00 for distances over 16 miles and all my runs, including my long runs show progression from mile 1 to the last.

I'm not saying that I will see progression like that during the marathon, but I am hoping that my training will help me finish strong.

 

AND ANOTHER QUESTION:

Have you guys perfected the drinking some water while still running? Or even gels/gu, because I have not quite perfected that without choking on the water so I have had to come to a walk while consuming the gu and water or gatorade. I would like to not have to come to a walk, but I don't want to be choking my guts out damn it.

I don't know how relevant this is to your current situation but just to clarify for onlookers.

As you can see from my 1st post, my early marathon adventures were very atypical of any marathon training schedule. Sure, I did a handful of 20 milers and some long[er] tempo runs but the truth is that two of my most successsful marathons were not built on traditional marathon programs [even my master PB came off 5k training followed by six [6] weeks of marathon workouts]. Instead it was based off 5k - 10k training. And rather than blend in / tune my speed during the marathon schedule I either did that in the months leading up to it or basically trained like a 10k runner and then added some long runs.

This is the path that many elites have used to achieve race day success, though I bet they were MUCH more comprehensive in the actual marathon schedule but the basic principal are similar. Get as fast as you can at shorter distances; 3k - half marathon and then bump up your miles and add > extend your speed endurance [race pace] workouts progressively thru your marathon schedule. You don't want to work on your speed during your marathon schedule.

When I ran my debut marathon I was coming off racing 10ks with a PB of 40:44 [6:33 pace]. And when I was able to slow down by 80 sec./mile in the marathon do you know how easy that pace [8:13] felt? It was a like jogging. And this was off ZERO training [unless you count one 17 miler]. For the next three years I gradually added more marathon workouts but my schedule looked more like a 10k runner plus a few long runs. I was working on my speed in the spring - summer and then ramped up my miles, added a few long runs and was able to blitz the 1st 20 miles of the marathon. My lack of overall miles / endurance eventually caught up with me each year as I crashed the last 10k. But if I'd averaged 50 mpw instead of peaking with one [1] 50 mile week I know I could have run 5-10 minutes faster.

Moral of the story; work on your speed 1st, then carry that speed to longer distances as you add more miles. Most people do just the opposite.

  

Moral of the story; work on your speed 1st, then carry that speed to longer distances as you add more miles. Most people do just the opposite.

Too late! I ran 3 HM's & 3 marathons before I ever even tried a 5k or 10k. It's just how my running hobby happened to evolve, probably the same with a lot of others.

Interesting article from Jeff, one of the great RA bloggers, explaining why I did it wrong.

Been working on speed a lot more in my current cycle, so hopefully that will help.

Who wants to run 5Ks and 10Ks, pfffttt.   Count me out of HMs too.  Thank you!

Running wimps like me...