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FLM Training: Wardi
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Thanks Wardi, i dread what state I'm going to be in at your age, 6ft4 and 13 stone + at least 3500 miles a year may put some wear on to me!
Yours is certainly the choice that interests me as someone who is going to try and fulfill their full potential, which (at the risk of offending people) is what a marathon should be all about.
Full potential? This is a stepping stone towards 2:50:00....
Scoobs.. I think there may be some RW kit coming to me soon so the shorts will be coloured at their discretion!
I fancied a long run at a decent pace today, legs ok after an easy couple of days. The wind had magically disappeared overnight so all was set fair.
19 miles done in 2:20 (av.7:23 pace). Brought the average down a bit with a strong final effort, the last 2 miles done in 13:05.
Very pleased with this, I applied a bit of extra effort to keep the pace up but felt quite comfortable throughout.
60 miles for this week. Not as high as my usual total but working over Xmas plus relative visits have restricted my available time this week.
Wardi,
Looks like things are going well - impressive pace for the LSR this far out (especially the last two miles!). I managed 64 miles this week but the speed has yet to come.
Two easy runs today, 5 am, 6 pm.
Hey Wardi
Don't suppose that you've clocked any pb's yet this year have you?
Only me then.
My RW schedule calls for 3 x 2 miles fast with 800m recoveries this week. I am tempted to postpone this and do a shorter interval session as 3 x 2m would take a lot out of me in a race week. I want to be fresh for the race on Sunday, hope this makes sense. Old legs take longer to recover!
5.7 miles steady today. Will do a medium long run home from work tomorrow with a few intervals in the middle.
You're right, I'm pleased with that result, mostly because of the way that I clawed back 4 places. The last in a 300m sprint finish. It had to be from that far out as he still had 10m on me, but it went on forever.
I'm finding that the short club races are my replacement for reps and tempo stuff. If there's no race and my diary allows me to run before tea then I can do fast reps. If not, then its plod if I'm lucky. My next race is cross country on Saturday. A nice rolling course with twists and turns but mostly decent grass. Doing it in preference to the Glos 10 mile race Sunday.
What pace are you asked to do the 2miles in and the 800s?
Good luck in your 5m race at the weekend. I've got positive vibes for you. If you've got a similar race the week after, then that will be even better. It's a trend I've spotted.
BTW. It would be interesting to hear about the other side of life too, you know: mood, attitude, fatigue. There is a big mileage workload and it could drag you down mentally.
Next week.. 5 x 1M (or 6 mins fast) with 2 min jog recoveries.
2 weeks.. 8 x 800 (or 3 mins fast) with 1 min jog recoveries.
I would normally expect intervals to be started at say, 400 or 800m repeats and built up gradually to 2 miles to get used to 6 min.miling pace. But hey, I'm the one who needs the advice on how to speed up {O:
I signed up for London Marathon 2008.
The thing is, since I'm doing it I'd really like to make a go of it and do as well as I possibly can. Haven't been running for about 10 years, when I was a mid pack schools cross country runner. (5K = 17:30mins)
I have one months training under my belt... running about 40 miles per week and am ramping it up. Did a 4 mile race this week in 26:30, which is my first race for years
I'm 27, 5'7" , 68kg... Is a 3 hour marathon possible? It would seem to be a massive reach, but has anyone else pulled this off???
Hi Wardi,
My girlfriend and I have been following your progress and gleened lots of motivation from the forum, as we shall be joining you in this years FLM.
I'm hoping to sneek under 3:00 hrs like yourself. However, I seem to be a little behind on the mileage (despite getting horribly lost on New Years day, with my 10 miler turing into a 16.5 mile epic).
Good luck in this weekends 5 miler, I look forward to having a target time for 'The Alsager 5' (Feb 3rd, Cheshire).
Best wishes and happy New Year!
Sorry for belatedly introduction to forum.
I think Wardi has made an encouraging start and it seems to be going well.
I didn't have full control over the schedule but the basic schedule is good enough and happy for Wardi to adapt as per his needs. There was no point in him reducing it just to fit with the early weeks which are probably aimed at someone coming in at a lower level of fitness than Wardi was clearly at.
(Wardi drop me a e-mail or call me if you want to discuss anything on a day to day basis if you aren't sure)
At this stage I don't think you need to overdo the long hard stuff - and I still think getting your half marathon speed down is vital and sometimes to do that you have to train easier in between the faster sessions.
Good luck in the 5 mile.
Back 9 - at this early stage I think you may be getting ahead of yourself thinking of a sub 3 though its not impossible.
Perhaps a 3:30 would be a more attainable goal for your first one and you won't put so much pressure on yourself.
However, You have reasonable pace background and if you get back in 17:30 5K shape and your endurance matches your speed then you will have a fighting chance.
See what shape you are in at the end of January - continue to build the training up and then you can reassess.
Good luck.
I have 30 years plus of marathons behind me and have averaged sub 2:45 for the 60 completed ones and am hoping for a slighty quicker one this year as I enter a new age group. I am happy to offer advice to anyone though appreciate loads of experts are already here!
steve - great to hear from you on here - we're all willing Wardi on, and I hope that your input will see a 2.59.xx or better on april 13th, he works hard enough and deserves to get it.
One hopefully simple question from me - I try to do all my training by HR - but having never run a full mara I don't know what %whr is sustainable for the race - that will tell me what my target time should be. Any view?
Hi Trowbridge Trundler
I do use my HR for training and have lots of marathon information on HRs from my previous half dozen marathons but to be honest the %whr doesn't seem clearcut.
Obviously my heart rate in marathons seems to vary depending on early pace and weather conditions, health and fitness and how many miles and long runs I've done and I think everyone varies slightly so it's no good me saying 88% should be ok.
I think you just to need to moniter your heart rate information on your long runs and marathon paced runs and any half marathon races or longer events you have.
But whatever information you do pick up, I would still say you have to use your judgement on the day and adapt to the circumstances and base it on your training and half marathon races rather than think you have to run a pace because its what you calculated.
sorry I can't be of more help.
12.5 miles run home from work tonight as planned. Decided on a 4 mile tempo session mid-way. A bit of a weary trudge due perhaps to a strong wind and perhaps a touch of xmas excess! Clocked 6:36, 6:35, 6:40, 6:27.
Phil, TT.. thanks for your good wishes and I hope your own training goes well.
Blisters.. I get more miserable if I can't run! I feel ok on a high training workload perhaps due to several years of building it up.
SMC speaks wise words.
Wardi and I entered FLM07 with identical potential. He went off cautiously with a review due to the warm day. I attacked with Plan A and a 3:00 pace.
Result: Wardi 3:06 pb
versus: Blisters 3:12 bomb
Of course, had I not tried...........
Steve - thanks for that - its the voice of experience!
FWIW I have tended to run every race up to HM on the same tactics - out fast and try and hang on (ala Blisters 07!). But I really will try to run a negative split at london, even if I finish thinking that I might have left a couple of minutes out there on the first half.
TT, out fast has always been my strategy. I figure if you get to halfway and you are ahead of target you find that bit extra to keep you hanging in there.
Not sure it is as easy now as I get older. In fact I am becoming a bit cautious. My best FM was a perfect 50% split. Oh happy days
I think you can blast and hang on to a certain extent over half marathon but its a risky tactic at the marathon.
My PB came with a 73:40 halfway and 76:00 second half - not perfect but I hit halfway with a little in hand and was strong all the way.
The few times I tried 70-72, I fell apart.
The key is to hit halfway feeling you can maintain the pace rather than be hanging on. I do think it is very difficult though for the average runner to run a quicker second half as maintaining the pace past 20 miles when you are running low on glycogen etc though plenty have done it but many of those who have I suspect, were aiming slightly below what they were capable of.
However it is far better for inexperienced marathoners or runners with a tendency to slow dramatically over the second half to finish full of running and think they can run faster next time.
Hi Wardi,
I've only just spotted this thread so I wanted to pop in and wish one of my original 3.15-thread heroes all the best for your sub-3 assault. Hopefully I'll be along here a few days before FLM to let you know how I cracked it in Paris.
I do think it is very difficult though for the average runner to run a quicker second half as maintaining the pace past 20 miles when you are running low on glycogen etc though plenty have done it but many of those who have I suspect, were aiming slightly below what they were capable of.
Couldn't agree more Steve. There is no way I could contemplate (or indeed ever could) running faster in the 2nd half of a FM if I had pushed it in the 1st half. I suspect most experienced marathoners expect to slip a little later on and build that into their planning.
I guess that allows for slowing slightly in the second half but not going too quickly in the first 1/2.
I guess that most of the slowing down should only occur after 20 miles.
I'd agree there TR.
I crunched a few numbers out of the FLM results data from the past years.
Of equal interest being that the maximum POSITIVE split yet still achieving sub 3 was something like 1:30:30 first half.
It just shows that you need to be fit.
Yes but it (actually 2:29:42) was way back in the last century when with inflation a 2:29 in old money is only worth around 2:45 now.
re sub 3 - I agree 1:28:30 is probably about right and that was roughly the target when I paced the RW sub 3 hour group at London.
Funnily enough my most satisfactory marathon, though not my fastest, was a negative split. Followed the RW pacers in 2002 for my first crack at sub 3:15. Half way in just under 1:37, I ran the second half in 1:35 for a 3:12. My fastest mile was No:23!
Club night, a pyramid session of sorts egged on by a speedier clubmate. 7 miles, 2 miles w/u then 6:50, 6:40, 6:37, 6:19, then eased down to 6:42. Hopefully this sort of stuff will help improve my cruising speed.
After two consecutive nights of decent effort it will be an easy 5 miles tomorrow, probably rest on Saturday and the 5m race on Sunday.
Cracking PB Steve, even if it was in a previous lifetime {O: