2:59 Marathon?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Yesterday I did a 20 mile race in 2:34:02. I felt good and had plenty of running in me afterwards but I want to do 2:59 for London. Does anyone have advice on what I should be doing over the next 5-6 weeks? Long intervals? tempos? The long run I know about obviously. Is 2:59 just a dream? Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Its damm hard to get under 3 - I have tried it a few times.

You need to be able to run 20 in around 2:15 fairly comftably really. I was able to run a twenty miler in 2:13. Still fell short of the 3 hour mark by 6 mins.

If you do discover the secret of a 2:59 please let me know.

I going to have another go at a sub 3 hour marathon at the duchy next week....Hopefully all the ultra distance training I have been doing will stop me slowing to a crawl in the last 4 miles.

[Deleted User]

The marathon usually just starts after 20 miles, that's why it is so much fun and such a big challenge

There is not much time left anymore until FLM, you have to consider 2 weeks taper, means you have 3-4 weeks of training left.

Don't want to be the harbing of bad news. I wouldn't go crazy now, stick to your initial plan. A sub 3hrs is possible, but my feeling FLM is too soon. You can still do it in autumn. If you would do 20m in around 2:10-15 then I would be very confident that you can make it.

[Deleted User]

Mark,

I'm with URR on this one: 2:34 for 20 miles converts to about 3:25 for the full marathon, so you are a fair way off a sub 3 hour marathon. Even if you were treating the 20 as a training run - let's assume you could have run 10 minutes quicker - you will still be doing fairly well to go under 3:15. So I think 3:15 is a more realistic target, and I doubt there is anything you could do now to go under 3 hours in London.

Be realistic: if you go for a time which is beyond your current capabilities you run the risk of experiencing a very slow, painful last few miles. A clubmate of mine was targetting sub 3 in Berlin last year, he went through the half in 1:30 and finished close to 4 hours!

[Deleted User]

I know the feeling. I went through half way in 1:29 in the singapore marathon and finished in 3:36. Maybe ur right about 3:15!

[Deleted User]

ditto to donutto - unless you are capable of a negative split after having run 1:29 at halfway - making the leap from 20m to 26.2m is pretty huge, my last two marathons were 1:28 & 1:29 @ HALFWAY and I endended up with a 3:14 and 3:15 respectively. That said, there's no reason why you can't target that sub 3 for a later race in the year...good luck for FLM

[Deleted User]

BTW Did 2003 FLM, halfway in 1:23 and finished 3:08. I think I passed 20m in 2:08 but was forced to plodding for the last 10k. A few talented people (not me!!!) break 3hrs in their first attempt, for me (hard working) it took me two attempts (3:10,3:08,2:54) and one year of hard training.

Check the Sub 3hrs thread in FLM forum for more stories.

[Deleted User]

By the way Mark - don't skimp on the long runs! The key to running well during the last few miles in a marathon is having done enough long runs in training. Ideally, try to get in a few runs of 22-24 miles.

[Deleted User]

I ran 1:59:40 for 20 miles in the build up to FLM a few years ago - ran that in 2:42:37 - that last 10K is a killer!

[Deleted User]

Same here - 2:04 for 20 miles, through FLM 2003 20 miles in 2:05, last 10k 44 mins!! It's still a blur.

Good luck Mark

[Deleted User]

Lots of good advice Mark, I would take it and save 2:59 for later in the year.With your 20m time at the moment it would be extremely difficult.
My key to faster times was to spend a whole season training for faster 10 k times. It does work, but you need to do some harder running.Whatever you decide, best of luck at the FLM.