Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Sub 3 hour London Marathon 2014 VLM
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
Wenty - no you are not doomed!
I don't run a single mile of my training runs at anything close to marathon race pace.
The first time I did sub3, my long training runs were all at the same pace typically between 7:30 and 7:50 So I would say you have got it spot-on!!!
No long run for me this weekend but 9 at mara pace yesterday on tired legs after 50km bike and swimming on saturday( I'm also tri training for some other stuff) and 10 at mara pace last Friday.
Happy training this week, it looks like everyone is going well, I'm in admiration for a 2:48:XX goal, awesome stuff!
Cheers One gear - thats what i like to hear. in th past i have been hitting 3:10 - 3:15 just with a few 18 milers at 8- 8:30 pace so now i am doing 7:50-7:30 and look to improves on that, then it should be enough to shave 10 minutes off my marathon time and get under 3 hours! (plus more running and more longer runs which i have always been slack on!)
Strava sounds fun and i might try and look it up. I'm just a bit slack uploading data from my garmin!
I load everything onto www.fetcheveryone.com (Craig D). done it for last 4 years, very interesting to go back and look at past training as well as other peoples training.
Also don't forget the P&D has different meso cycles so 18 week for London you are still in the endurance cycle. I don't think you are doomed (if you are I'm totally buggered!) Just about managed 40 miles this week - but I'm offshore so it is all treadmill
40 miles on a dreadmill!!! Rather you than me! Is there nowhere to run?
Strange part with the P&D schedule is it does not really seem to build up. It expects you to be 100% to start with, which makes me wonder what the point of a schedule is!
Um, it does build up (my plan increases from 54 miles per week to 70) and the book explains what mileage you should have been doing before starting the schedules.
Wenty - I am indeed on the south coast. Between Brighton and Eastbourne.
Chichester 10k is coming up fast! Probably a bit too fast for me, as I had 4 weeks out with a chest infection just before Christmas. Had a full week's training last week though, so feeling much better.
I'm following Greg McMillan's You (Only Faster) programme, so I haven't started the Marathon Training yet. It's a 12-week programme, with extras tacked on to the beginning. It's the best programme I've seen, as it seems more forgiving than some. I can't bang out loads of miles due to balancing life/work, etc as well as avoiding injury. If I can hit my 3 key sessions, which are harder sessions than in previous years, and add a few other runs in, I'll feel more confident than ever on 13th April.
Whether it's enough to get me Sub 3, who knows. It's basically impossible to say anyway, as there are so many other factors that influence the run on the day. I just want to feel like I have given it a good shot, avoided injury and given myself the chance to run to my potential on the day.
Rockhopper, you are right there are so many factors, which is what makes the marathon interesting.
Yes Chichester is coming round fast and quite an important one for me really as its the first race in a long time, so it will gauge my fitness levels. Just over 3 weeks eek! then Brighton Half the week after.
I feel the same that if i can get the qaulity runs in (long runs with some faster miles, medium fast runs and intervals) then I will be confident that i can at least give it a shot.
Not feeling to confident at present but it is early days currently and i do seem to increase my fitness quite quickly (or have the previous 2 years).
Andrews, I am only doing the 55 miles per week one and that does not seem to ramp up like schedules have in the past, for example in the first phase it has 16 miles with 10 at MP! in the first few weeks! later on it only gets to 18 miles with 10 at MP. not much of a difference for 10 weeks of training.
Starting 33miles per week, peaking at 55. Yes, there's a 16 w/ 10MP at the end of week 5 and the toughest run is an 18 w/14MP eight weeks later, but the plan is aimed at people that are already at a certain level before they start it.
Andrews - looks like I'm not up to that level yet! But I will still stick with it. If i cant hit some of the demands of the runs like 10 miles at MP then i will just try my best.
Wenty - no there is no other option but treadmill. I adapt plans so I do more long runs/endurance training while I'm home and then offshore do mostly shorter faster runs. I can do about 90-120 minutes max as a MR. I find now I have to be careful too as too many miles on a treadmill and I start to get niggles as there is little variation as opposed to running outdoors - kind of repetitive strain deal I guess.
Jeremy - thats dedication ! Well done as i could never do that.
I guess it makes running outdoors more fun though.
A couple of questions for you more experienced people.
What exactly are strides, (like intervals but slower??)
what sort of pace should tempo runs be?
I'm just a bit unsure what sort of pace i should be running things
Tempo pace for me is around 6:10- 6:15, it's a comfortably uncomfortable pace which I couldn't hold for much longer than an hour
so how long should strides be? - ie 100m 1/2 mile etc
Doesn't it explain strides in the P&D book? (must confess I'm a little unsure about them!)
6:10-6:15 pace - I could probably hold that for 15-30 minutes at the moment!
I dont remember anything about strides in the book - but will have a look, I think it goes on quite a bit about long runs with MP and threshold runs and Intervals but dont remember strides!
Page 143 of the second edition.
Checked out page 143 and sure enough it has all about speed work, But never mentions the word strides once. sounds like fast 100m dashes then to turn the legs over!
I have a 8 miler today from P&D schedule so throwing a few srides in!
Has anyone tried using heart rate zones rather than pace for training? Previously used Garmin schedule based on pace and have been successful but wanted to freshen up and change schedule to stay motivated. Just concerned about getting maximum heart rate and consequently heart rate zones correct. I hear this is a smarter way to train and factors in terrain, conditions, fatigue etc but concerned I may not be training at the right pace/intensity.
Dijo, different paces are too complicated for me let alone HR zones! I am never quite sure if too fast or too slow or intervals are too long or short etc.
Does sound a smarter way to train, but I guess you need to be smarter to train smarter, and I dont think i am that smart yet - but getting there! Plenty of other smart people on here who know there beans, will be interesting to see what they think.
Wenty -
I know what you mean.
Ultimately, you are running against time/distance (Sub3) so your heart rate is pretty irrelevant in the race, isn't it?
If your aim is hitting sub 3 then that is how you have to pace yourself.
I have never used a heart rate monitor and as I didn't do my first marathon until the ripe old age of 50, I think if I did use one the readings would probably scare me off ever running again!
My own recipe to sub 3 marathon running at London is:
Start off at 6:40 to 6:45 pace "banking" all those extra seconds for as long as you can. When the pain gets too much, usually around about 20 miles, start drawing those seconds back out of the "bank" and hopefully you'll cross the line in under 3 hours.
Hmm never have been a good at banking anything!!!
Problem is it is such a fine line and running at 6:40 for 13 miles only banks 2 minutes! (over running at 6:50) and also you will probably run more than 26 miles so may need that to account for that!
This may have been a crazy idea to try and crack 3 hours!
My plan for Manchester is to stick with runnersworld pacer. If i am ahead then slow down as i will pay for it later in the race, if I am behind then try and catch up. If this is not possible then re-asses the goal and aim to get GFA time of sub 3.05. My best marathon times have been off fairly even pacing. normally goes wrong trying to bank 10-15 seconds per mile
Craig - lets hope the pacer does not come in at 3:01!
That would be annoying