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GFA? is it possible for the average person?
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CO
Quite so!
Yersinia
Try plotting the % who get GFA times by 5 year age group - gives you a very different looking chart!
If I had a spreadsheet with all the data I could do that - this was just a graphical representation of the table in RW.
And it's 2007 data, when I think times were relatively slow due to the unexpected temperature. If I was going to do a more in-depth analysis, I'd prefer to do it on a more "typical" year.
I have to say my orange simian friend that I *guffawed* (TM Dr Nic) at that one........
Briefly with 2008 data (Men - women is a bit more complex because of the elite race)
Age Total finishers GFA times %age
U20 237 1 0%
20-24 1283 36 3%
25-29 3226 139 4%
30-34 3967 230 6%
35-39 4366 279 6%
40-44 3961 526 13%
45-49 2922 349 12%
50-54 1814 153 8%
55-59 921 47 5%
60-64 560 57 10%
65-69 216 42 19%
70+ 139 70 50%
Overall 23612 1929 8%
"can't polish a turd"?
You can if it's old enough.
good spot yersinia, but unfortunately they are jurassic turds. FB only harks back to the late cretaceous period, so not ready for polishing quite just yet.
Some thoughts:
1. Self-belief and hunger (i.e. how much you want something) play an important part in whether you achieve your goals.
2. But some things are not achievable. My cousin believed that he could beat cancer and was determined to do so. He did everything he could to achieve his goal but failed.
3. When aiming for a goal, it makes sense to ask yourself: is this something I need or is this something I want? If you don’t need it, then don’t go for it because the goal is unlikely to give you what you're looking for.
Please carry on.An interesting question would be has anyone run consistently high mileage (say 70+ miles a week for 2 years) and NOT achieved GFA standard?
Is it possible for the average person? There's only one way to find out! "RUUUUUUUUUUN!!! (said in Harry Hill "FIIIIIIIIIGHT!!"-style)
I'm willing to donate myself as test guinea pig to this thread - to see if I can get into GFA in 2010 (because I'd struggle to come up with the time his year!)
I'm a girl (so that's an advantage timewise...)... but I have practically no self belief
I've never done a marathon. I'm slow... my fastest 10K time is 1hr 4. According to the race time predictor it would take me nearly 5 hours to finish a full mara.
OK then Claudibird!
Interesting thread this (as usual!).
I have to say, am a bit baffled by the comment some quicker runners behave in an elitist way towards slower runners (further back) as I've never once seen this myself, unless you count running fast as "behaving in an elitist way". In fact, it's hard to think of a sport or indeed any walk of life at all which is more egalitarian.
I achieved GFA but i am a woman and i am over 50 so needed sub 4 hours got 3.39 so for a woman much easier for a man is much more difficult.
Claudibird if you want something really really bad you will get it. Believing is the first part of succeeding.
So Believe Believe
I think it was Henry Ford who said
If you believe you can, or you believe you can't. Then you are right
I'm feeling a bit demotivated by this thread......... I set my self a target of 4:30 and trained following a schedule and still misssed it by over a minute and finished the last 9 miles in agony with knees and calves in pain
So your all saying that if I concentrate better and sort out my dodgy knees (ne one or specific exercises..) and had put in more effort that i thought I had doen I should easily have knocked off an hour or more of the time when I couldn't even match it..........
Not realy................... well yes, kind of, .....................no. .........................in a way
With 2 years uninterupted injury free focussed training, specific to a GFA time, then yes. But that ain't gonna happen for most, reality kicks in and we limp over the line in the best time modern life allows us.
Don't be disheartened. Congrats on your time, see those 9 minutes as "unfinished bussiness" Seren.
Dewi Sant said, do all of the little things in life, and make a mountain.
I don't think that anyone is suggesting that getting a GFA time is easy. Just that it is possible if you are prepared to commit the time and effort.
I haven't run a GFA time yet - but then I haven't put in the effort!
Seren - don't be demotivated although I do know what you mean. I find some of these threads - the ones that do the 'you are only slow because you don't train hard enough' quite demotivating at times too.
However - we are ALL different. I have been running for quite a few years - have gradually increased my mileage - increased it too quickly and had injuries - tried to do too much speedwork - got injuries - calmed down and increased more gradually and I guess the fact that I am now on my fourth cold in 4 months pretty much says it all. We can't all knock out mile after mile wihtout consequences.
I said it earlier - It takes me 7-8 hours a week to do the miles that I do - because I am not fast.
Faster runners will knock out many many more miles in that time - I would happily do 70 miles a week if I could fit it into 8 hours. (and I didn;t have a constant cold from overtraiing like now!!)
I know plenty of ladies who do 30 miles a week and are much much faster than me. I also know a lady who has been running of 6 months on a fairly modest mileage and just beat my fastest half marathon time by 3 mins. At times like that I do think ' Just what do I have to do ' .
I also feel quite embarrased when i tell folks just how much training I do - because they always expect better performances in races than I ever acheive.
Someone earlier on posted that she followed a 3.45 schedule to the letter and got the result. Well so have I - and didn't even get close.
However I firmly believe I will get there someday and hopefully I won;t end up divorced in the process. It may just take me longer to get up to speed than other more talented runners. Because believe me - it isn't from lack of bleeding trying.
Well, i did put the effort in plus i have great running mates who helped by running the long ones with me., that made such a difference, also the encouragement they gave me. Because never in my wildest dreams did i think i could achieve a sub 3:40 at 51. Must be the fact I am Welsh and determined and i make my self believe i can succeed at anything. But to be serious and honest you can train really hard follow the schedule etc you can feel great but on the day who knows...... anything can happen. As long as we all finish in one piece everyone of us heroes.
never beat yourself up about times (WE ALL DO)
Claudibird you get out there and keep on running.
Gym Addict....Too much training is not a good thing, you need to sit back and look at what you do and cut back. I have a running mate who runs 3 times a weeks short and sharp and he is running absolute marvellous times.
Slow Down.... See the difference
Ok but look at your schedule are you running junk mileage? if so then you need to change . Are you a member of a running club, do you do hills, speedwork etc. This is all part of running. How many miles do you run a week, how many times?
I ran 4 times a week and swan once a week to train for london. Nothing Monday, tempo run tuesday club wednesday, Hill session Thursday nothing Friday and my long run saturday and then swam sunday..
take a close look at what you are doing Maybe a change is required.
It's not easy but it is achievable for the average woman / man which was the original question.
if you look at the sub 3:45 training schedule then it assumes a starting mileage of 25 miles per week and the ability to be able to run 1 hour 15 without stopping. The training schedule is for 18 weeks so I think it would be achievable for a complete non runner within a year not two.
In the peak mileage weeks, the training would take about 7 hours a week in total but most of the schedule asks for a lot less than that. I'm sure a lot of people have that amount of time spare if they think about it?
GH - Well done on your excellent time.
Surely if it's the AVERAGE person who can go sub-3 then you have a 50% chance?
Not sure why people get demoralised.
Non of us should feel demoralised. We are all out there running. There are those that can't get off their backsides, so bask in your absolute glory at being able to run 26.2 miles and finish, whatever the time. You are a Marathoner END OF.....
Let's be happy we finished on one piece.
All heroes in my book