KillJoyFuckStick
YOLO
Why go out with a whimper when you can be in a blaze of glory.
You people have issues
YOLO Why go out with a whimper when you can be in a blaze of glory.
Nah, you need to save that for the flash of insight you get at Mile 21 when you realize that, just perhaps, running 15 seconds per mile faster than goal pace for the first 18 miles may not have been the best idea you ever had.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Thanks, everyone. I'm feeling much better about this now. (The saying "no" part.)
I wouldn't sign up for it with the plan to drop out at 18 or 20 - I've already planned to do the half in that race.
The only reason I considered her advice at all is that she's already completed 3 marathons. So who am I to argue? But now I can rely on the experience of the collective hundreds of marathons you all have run.
That is brilliant. No really.
While I agree that running a marathon just a few weeks before running a goal marathon isn't very smart training, I have to admit that I always run an 18 or even a 20 miler all at goal marathon pace about 5 weeks before the race. Pfitz only requires 14 miles out of an 18 miler, but I feel more confident if I can run the whole thing at MP. Maybe what I'm doing is damageable physically, but mentally, it helps a ton.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Are we there, yet?
That's no worse, and may be less stressful, than what I used to do, which was race anywhere from 12M/20K to 30K about 2-5 weeks before a goal marathon.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
The longest marathon pace run I have ever done is 12 miles. I have a 19 second negative split, an 80 second positive split, and an 8 second negative split. Really long marathon pace runs aren't necessary. Moreover, recreational runners deceive themselves in thinking they can recover faster from hard workouts than do world class athletes. Yes, Canova will have some of his Kenyans do marathon pace runs of up to 18 miles. However, and this is the important part, they may go as long as 10 days after that workout before they do another hard workout. Recreational runners will do a 15 mile marathon pace run and then do a hard workout 3 days later and swear to the running gods they are fully recovered.
Just my opinion but many recreational runners are, to their detriment, terrified of allowing their bodies to fully recover. Unfortunately, failing to allow for full recovery puts you at increased risk for injury and it ensures nothing but a slower race because you fail to reap all of the benefits of the workout.
Some of us do not have your mental and physical discipline, LTH. Don't look down on us because of it, please.
George, it sounds like in your running life, you have done many unconventional things in your training and racing, but still managed to do great. You give me hope that one day I too can become a smart runner while remaining an unconventional one.
Oddly enough some of the then unconventional things I did eventually became conventional. When I first started running, my coach was a phys. ed. grad student working with a prof who was doing cutting edge research on endurance training. So I had access to the latest research and training theories, some of which eventually became standard RW fare 20 years later.
I know you don't visit RW much so here's a link to a thread I just started about Jim2's article on training in the 1970s. Jim's article gives a peek into training practices back then.
Oddly enough some of the then unconventional things I did eventually became conventional. When I first started running, my coach was a phys. ed. grad student working with a prof who was doing cutting edge research on endurance training. So I had access to the latest research and training theories, some of which eventually became standard RW fare 20 years later. I know you don't visit RW much so here's a link to a thread I just started about Jim2's article on training in the 1970s. Jim's article gives a peek into training practices back then.
Thanks, George. I will read the thread with great interest!
No more marathons
If you are running between 80 and 100 miles per week, this might be doable. But if you are a more middle of the road runner (like most on here) then this would be contraindicated.
As others have said, anything much beyond 2.5 hours, or 20 miles does not provide any measurable physical benefit. As to a mental boost, that can go both ways. Yes, you would then know that you can do the distance, but you might begin to question why you would want to do it again. Several decades (yes, decades) ago while training for my second marathon, the group I was with experimented with over distance runs, in the 28 to 30 mile range. I don't believe any of us had any significant improvement in our times as a result of this.
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
I agree that there were many things that I know now that I wish I knew then. Training schedules, nutrition, and race day hydration among them. One item that, because of my now somewhat advanced age that will never change is that my Half and Full PRs are exactly one week apart - yep, I raced a half marathon as my last long run the week before my first marathon.