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Is a Sub 4 Marathon Achievable for me??
Endcliffe trail race (10k): 58 mins
Grim Military off road cross country (8.6 miles): 1 hour 18
Sheffield Half Marathon: 2 hours 9 minutes
I’ve been running for a year now and since signing up for the Marathon I am willing to put the effort in to train hard and diet properly but even with this determination, am I being too optimistic?? Could I achieve this??
Any advice would be great!!
Thanks 
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Comments
If you train as you have so far - then I'd say no.
If you up your game then it's perfectly possible.
Your estimated time now would be 4hrs 40 or so - so there's a lot of work to do - but if you want it badly enough and train well....
Have you any weight to lose ? That helps a lot.
i weigh 147lbs and im 5 ft 10 so i wouldnt have thought there was much weight to lose?!? if needed to though i could try and strip down the last bit of excess body fat?!?!
Are there any training tips you could give me to improve my times?? im currently doing a lot of interval training and including, sprint sessions, hill training, road running and off road running..... i know my diet could do with a little improvement so im trying to stick to a proper diet now but as this is my first marathon im not sure other ways to improve as a runner....
Thanks.
I don't think intervals are the way forward.
You need miles in the legs before doing those and you've only had a years running.
You need to be comfortable with running 20 miles plus - so I'd focus on stamina rather than speed. Maybe bring an interval session in later on the program.
What is your mileage like now ? How far are your intervals ?
What's the longest weekly run you do ?
Claire it's doable but would take some hard work to get it to a sub 4. But anyone will have to put in a lot of hard work for that. I would take a look around at training plans and see what one fits in best with the time you can take for it.
One thing that might be useful through is I'm assuming with those races your a local lass. These girls might be helpful for you and even if not they are a good laugh. Might be worth getting in touch with them. Some are racing snakes and some not most are wine monsters mind.
im following a programme at the minute and my long run so far has been 12 miles but aswell as that i do 2 5 mile runs and 1 3 mile run each week, however, this is a brand new prgramme so iv only done 1 long run so far.
If i continued with this programme and concentrated on like you said stamina and running longer distances, do you think i could reach my target of 4 hours for the marathon?? I would be hugely dissapointed if i didnt reach my goal but i also want to be realistic....
Thankyou.... looking at the webpage now. I do really want to hit the 4 hour mark so have already mentally prepared myself for the level of training that is required and im ready to give it my all so fingers crossed i can get there!
Claire,
Why not skip over the the marathon page and post of one of the sub 4 threads and get advice there? Over the next month there will be lots of people in a similar position to yourself posting and looking for training guidance and encouragement. There's likely to be a sub 4 Asics thread and a sub 4 Forum thread starting within the next few weeks too.
I think from your current races and the runs you are doing its impossible to predict your marathon time at the moment. Look at a sub 4 schedule and see what training is involved and build towards starting that over the next month. Don't start thinking about your marathon time until nearer the time.
PS which marathon?