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Sub 2:12 marathon - Can I do it?
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<<Road Runner promptly slips back out of bitchy mode ;o) >>
When being interviewed recently, the defining quality that I gave was persistence - I *never* give up. When walls stand in my way, I burst through them like a round out of a GPMG. If the wall stops me the first time, I'll go at it again and agian until I weaken the wall so much that it collapses before my eyes.
If I have a dream, I will follow it through to the end, if things don't work out, then I'll have something to fall back on. Never was the type to follow convention anyway!
Thanks Andy! The admiration is mutual towards yourself for doing 100miles in 24hrs!
How long are we talking, 5, 6, 7 years? Completely base training, or races now and again throughout that time? Climaxing with speedwork - how long beforehand would I begin sharpening? Can anyone send me free food? (for those 150mile weeks!)
Fairclough was very much an 'old school' type of runner. From an early age he ran everywhere. He ran to school. He ran to the shops. He ran to his girlfriends house. Years of physical activity built up a huge endurance base. In his late teens he began training properly and soon was running 100+mpw. Eventually he introduced speedwork - 40x400m with a 100m jog between reps on the cinder track at Croydon was a favourite of his. He raced frequently over a range of distances - though he wasn't particularly quick at shorter events - his best time for 1500m was a relatively modest 3:56. He never broke 29mins for 10k - fast for the majority of us, but there are plenty of guy under 29mins that have never got near a 2:12 marathon. The longer the race the better he did. In fact he still holds the British record for odd distance of 30miles of 2:46:06. He married fairly young, had kids and a full time job.
Was he born with talent? Who knows? How do we measure these things properly? Certainly he worked hard and he had committment and patience. And he achieved a great deal. I asked him once if he felt bitter about his biggest success coming so early in his career. He said that his only disappointment came when he just missed out on selection for the 76 Olympics but overall he wouldn't change anything. He had been all over world on the back of that one medal and while he never won any money he did pick up a few prizes and the odd bit of free kit. Timewise he felt he had pretty much fulfilled his potential.
So, perhaps the question shouldn't be "Can I run 2:12?" but "How can I be the best I can be?"
What are you prepared to do, and what are you prepared to do without to fulfill your potential as a runner?
i think ideally you would run a 2:10 marathon almost entirely slow twitch
also base gains stick around whereas anaerobic gains are easy come, easy go (OK its not easy, but quick come, quick go)
i really think at the level you are aiming at, you should get a pro coach
in the meantime, i'd continue on the base stuff indefinitely
and don't drinl beer, and sleep for 10+ hours a night
American Army motto: "Be the best that you can be"
British Army motto: "Be the Best!"
(come on, come on - surely you want to put me in my place now??)
To me, the most interesting thing here is people's attitude to excellence and its attainability. Genetics, of course, plays its part, but so often it can be an excuse to remain in mediocraty.
2:12 seems astounding to us, because it is so far away, but it IS a full 7 min away from the world record... When 100s of brits were breaking 2:20 in the '80s would have looked as unattainable?
Certainly, I for one think that you are far more likely to hit your potential by taking a long term view in the early days rather than progressing year by year as best you can.
So can Flecky do it? Probably not, but maybe. That's for him to try and us all as a community to discover. He can talk the talk now, but when he is injured and can't train for weeks, when he is exhausted from his 10th consecutive 140+mile week, when itrains non-stop for his long run for the third week running, when he has high hopes for a race and it all goes pear-shaped on the day - this is when we will see, and when HE will also see, whether he can walk the walk too. And, of course, some good "luck"/"circumstances" and genetics wouldn't hurt either...
But if he commits himself to this he will find out if he can - I hope he does and if not, at least gets close - 2:20, for example, is FAR more attainable than most of us realise.
Those of us who don't commit will never know and I bet that many of you reading this could if did...
The pursuit of excellence should always be respected, whether it is a successful one or not.
And, finally, "on roasties", I am REALLY trying to like you despite the "hiccups" on the last thread, but you DO make it hard sometimes - stick to the issue and don't be unpleasant. You may not share the man's faith, but at least his screen name shows the maturity to recognise that so much in life is totally out of our control - something he will do will to keep in mind while on his quest...
Runhowyoufeel - ?? My point was you need both talent and hard work.
andy collier - what 24hr challenge?
the challenge was when you dared daz and pantman to a race in november when you asseted that veggies weren't wimps - but then you vanished
well fortunately i can get a track booked easily enough for the next month or so, so we can see the results easily enigh
they were basically implyig that you were some weedy, celery munching waster, so hopefully you can sprint those creatine-and-red-meat-heads into trit place
Yes, I might come on here in 7 or 8 years time when things have gone to the dogs, I've totally blown up and hurt myself getting close, but not close enough to the target, and as I can see it presently, there is a 70-80% chance of that happening. But the point is, I will know, I will not be living with the feeling of uncertainty - "Could I have done it?". I will know. Lifes too short to just plod along the old ever trodden routine. Follow your dreams. See you in 8 years.......
I still can't figure out whether you're taking the mickey or not. Anyway, let's assume you are serious... You quite rightly realise you're gonna have to make a very serious commitment to this. You say you never give up, yet you also say you've just dropped out of uni for this... That's giving up isn't it?
In order to run 2H12, as a lot of people have pointed out, you're going to go through some (very real) bad patches. Anything and everything will seem more appealing than running then, even going back to uni.
2H12 is not unachievable, but it certainly looks very fast to me. It certainly would help to know what your times are now, and what training you're doing... You say you've run a sub-5 min mile, but that's not saying much... As a teenager (16 year old), back when my build was similar to yours, I did run faster than that quite easily on just one training session a week. And I know now I certainly wouldn't be able to run 2H12. So, yes, what are you worth at the moment? How much weekly mileage can you take? How far exactly is there to go?
The other thing is, why this random target of a 2H12 marathon? I mean, it's a worthy long term goal, but if you are to achieve this, you should certainly be looking at other events first (a 5000m/10000m runner stands a much better chance of running 2H12 in the long run than someone who has come into the sport as a fun runner). I am not saying 2H12 can't be done (for instance Steve Brace came from fun running, after a first marathon in 3+H), but it certainly looks a hell lot more realistic if you've run, say, a sub-14 5000m on the track.
You don't have to worry too much about running 2H12 at the moment. You seem fairly young; if you only manage a sub-30 10K, or a sub-2H20 marathon for the time being, coaches will be queuing at your door to offer you their help, given the state of British distance running. And you'll certainly get lottery funding. Now, if you estimate there's a 20/30% chance you can run 2H12, there's a good 70% chance you can run a sub-30 10K. Do that first, and you'll be well on your way!
You'll be working a 40 hour week (more I would have thought if you are running your own business).
You may get married and want to have kids in this time.
But I admire your outlook.
The one thing I don't want to do is to look back in later life and wonder how well I could have done had I been more committed (obviously at a much lower level then you're aiming for).
Good luck.
as far as I was aware the challenge was some 20mile race in Kent next summer? I will definitely do this as it sounds like it will be fun and I can visit family down there at the same.
However, as it happens I have better things to do than bail all the way down south to run round a track with a fat middle aged bloke on the atkins diet and a wannabe triathlete gimp! (JOKE). I will race them any time if they want to come up here though!