Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
GFA? is it possible for the average person?
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
As was said further up on this thread, is it in the genes? Have you a built in ability to be a good runner but train to be a better runner? Some people can do really well on short distances some on long. it is whatever works for you.
I'm going for a GFA place this weekend. Young(ish) lad 50+ miles fairly fit background etc. Trained with my mate for the most part similar background - he is likely to be 10+ mins outside. I however respond much better when given a target, in fact I struggle to do anything unless there is an end goal, its the way my mind / personality work. Its just me, doesn't make me any better or worse than anyone, just more target driven.
If I didn't have the sub 3 target I may well have dropped out, vice versa if he had a target it may have got to him and demotivated him.
End result is that in theory I should be more likely to get it this weekend, we'll see if that happens or not. Again thats not to say he won't get it the next year or the year after, but at the moment he's not that arsed
Interesting thread.
I reckon an adaption of Candy's "3 year plan" can work quite well. Instead of a year of classic base training, just do 3 months. Then start a 16 week marathon training programme, but adjust it so that at least 6 of the LSRs go over 20 miles.
DundeeRunner
If you followed the daily training thread you would have seen many runners go through the very development cycle you mentioned. Come & join us!
alhill - precisely!
no-one has mentioned biomechanics yet ..although Irina Mkitenko ahd a terrible gait cycle so it doesnt completely rule out being a Very Fast Runner!
just to play devils advocate ..if Anyone Can Achieve GFA then can Anyone Make The Olympics? (cf Alex Vero) given "the right" mix ?
err, nope. there's quite a difference between 3:00 and 2:15!
i'm not sure what "anyone" could do. certainly 2:50 was considered pretty average 25 years ago, when the culture was to train harder and longer. maybe 2:40ish for a male, 2:55 ish female. but there's still a massive difference between that and 2:15!
What percentage of people could get a GFA after training 10 hours a week for 6 months?
low i'd have thought after 6 months. say, 10% but after 10 hours a week for two years - high. say, 90%
if you can do the 10 hours, the rest is easy, provided you aren't some chavvo that finds delaying gratification impossible
Well that just gives me more justification to keep training - even if I do get ill a lot.
Only on 8 hours a week but is's consistent and have been doing it for roughly 6 months now and intend this to be my new 'base' level - i.e. only more not less from here on in.
i think consistency is the key - and a gradual build up, especially if you do speedwork. ie go faster in small increments.
if you get ill a lot from training it might be from stress to your immune system - try taking glutamine regularly, can get it discounted from www.myprotein.co.uk or .com
also leave at least 6 hours between workouts, if you do more than one a day - otherwise cortisol levels can skyrocket, which suppresses your immune system
good luck!
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/nutrition/what-is-cortisol-000667.php
this says BCAAs with Glutamine. you can get BCAAs from the same website. unfortunately BCAAs taste horrible.
it also says to keep your carb levels up, but fortunately you can buy powerade from anywhere
So to summarise - too much exercise without adequate rest and/or supplemenation leads to a deteriorating performance, muscle catabolism and FAT storage - that bit certainly got my attention. I don't think I am quite at that point yet ( no sign of the diminished appetite unfortunatlely). But I do recognise the start of this problem.
I must say - thank you ever so much for steering me in this direction. I will catch and sort this out now before it gets any worse. I had been told to take glutamine inthe past but never WHY which is the all important part as far as I am concerned. Especially as it was a body builder type who couldn't stand cardio - which made me doubt everything she said. (I mean come on - who doesnt love to run)
Hi all, genetics and "talent" certainly are key factors. I and my husband always train together, we have been doing the exact same amount of runnig for some years, which is two 10Ks and a long run on the weekends each week. We both run the FLM 2008 and we trained together. During the 16 weeks marathon training we did about 5 runs separately, 5 long runs on our maximum speed for the distance.
I am a very slim 34 year old female, my time was (PB) 3.41.48, and my husband is a muscular athletic built 46 year old male, his time was (PB) 4.08. Clearly some of us need more training to achive the same results.
You only get out what you put in.
Gaynor & others, you have worked hard, and enjoying the benefits. Lots of valid points all around. Some have mentioned the elitist snobbery, think this goes both ways, have runners in my local club who thrive on the 'little training I did' & be little people attempts and hard work.
Took me 4th attempt to get GFA, 3.25(Sept 04), 3.12(Sept 06) 3.02(Oct 06) 2.54( May 07)
A coach advised for long endurance events, your body develops over time, years, wish I had not waited 2 yrs after my 1st, as all that base fitness lost & had to start again.
FLM 08, 2.49. Next marathon target is sub 2.40 for next year. Plan to get my shorter race PB down, took 1min off my 5km time from last year,and got a 4min PB in my only half this year. GFA is a good target, the Championship elite entry is beyond most, not GFA.
I have run 3 GFA times at London. I was aged 49-51years old when I did them. I am now 53 and for some reason cannot run single 10K runs in the time I did 10k splits at GFA pace. I cannot see any way in which I could run a GFA time now. Don't know whether it is physical,mental or both I just know it's not going to happen.
My answer has to be no.
I've run a GFA time ten times in the last 4 years
I know too many at my club who finish close to me when I do 10k races and x/c, yet are 2-3 miles behind me when I finish in the marathon. As I generally run a 10k in under 40 mins, I would tend to classify all of them as being far and away better than the average runner, let alone the average person.
BR
Quite so, but perhaps the key point is that Dull & his club mates are running sub-40 10Ks; this already makes the quicker than the average person.