Sub 3 15 Marathon question.

 I understand many people do not run their first marathon in such a fast time of under 3 hours 15 minutes , but I was just wondering how long does it actually take to get your time down to this. I plan on running the marathon in two years time , would it be realistic to attempt to run a first marathon in such a fast time ( surely two years of training is more then adeqaute?) . Lastly, can anybody point me in the direction of some marathon training programmes for around the 3 hour mark, I would just like to look. Thanks alot...

Comments

  • Some people run their first marathon faster than 3:15, and some people never run that fast even after years of training and many attempts. It depends on lots of factors including aptitude, age, how much training you do, where you're starting from... You could have a look at the schedules in Pfitzinger & Douglas's Advanced Marathoning for an idea of what kind of training people do closer to the marathon.

  • Exactly. You need an idea of where you are - what racetimes have you done.

    How much have you trained. How old are you. Are you big boned.
  • Also are you a man or a woman?

  • I did my first marathon in june this year after almost 2 years training and finished in 3h 27 min .In the first year I averaged about 25 mile /week and in the second year I averaged around 50 a week over the year although this was much higher in the weeks up to the marathon.

    I am 40 now though and started out about 3 stone overweight and hadn't run for a good few years but really had to put the effort in the last year to break 3:30 so id say its possible but not that likely in a first marathon and is age ,weight etc but most importantly the effort you are prepared to put in .

    I will be aiming for sub 3:15 next year and dont expect to get there on less than 60mile/week  but if it was easy everybody would be doing it .image

  • literatin wrote (see)

    Also are you a man or a woman?

    Yes, I was going to sex the mashedpotato but didn't know where to start.

  • mashedPotato.- My first marathon I'd trained reasonably for (about a year) and I ended up with 4:37. 2 years and 4 marathons later I got my time down to 3:11.

    I don't think I'd have got there without the actual races though.- So much is mental and each `failure` gave me new areas to work on.

    I think you'd be better off planning a marathon in 6-12 months and see where you go from there.- You can't beat actual race experience when you're learning to pace a marathon.

  • mashedpotato - as others have said it depends on a lot of things. I went from overweight non-runner to 3:12 in my first marathon in much less time than you are talking about. I was fifty years old at the time and started running at 49.

    Runner's World produce their own marathon training schedules that are freely available and go right down to sub 3hrs - these worked for me but are typically based around 16 weeks and you need a good base before you start on these schedules.

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