Myth of the 20-mile long run

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larkim Nov 2017 1:30pm, 15 Nov 2017 3,305 posts	0 larkim Found the reference I was looking for - Allie Kieffer (F) ran 2:29:39 on either 25 mile per week (plus crossfit) or (as the updated article seems to suggest) 25 miles TOTAL in the last 6 months!! letsrun.com I hate to post links to LetsRun but that's where the story is. I don't think even Dvorak's assumption about being able to do 2 or 3 runs of quality per week totalling less than 25 miles would equate to an expectation of a sub 2:30 female marathon time. (Or maybe I'm putting words in your mouth!)
larkim Nov 2017 1:35pm, 15 Nov 2017 3,306 posts	0 larkim And now reading around it, I think it is a bit of a myth, so I'm sorry I brought it up!!
HappyG(rrr) Nov 2017 1:39pm, 15 Nov 2017 27,760 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Usually with these "single examples" we find that either: They can do it 20-30 mins quicker and were ambling the time they did (hence not achieving their best - and hence, hence you can do any carp training you like, if you just want to amble your event) and/or Brilliant previous training but now cutting back due to injury or life. Again you might do well off previous great training, but not your best and/or It's your first event and hence you have nothing to compare if what you're getting is your best, or whether you were just gift or lucky or both. In any case, you could still do better if you did more miles and more long runs (i.e. 20 and over) IMNHO G
Dvorak Nov 2017 1:41pm, 15 Nov 2017 14,689 posts	0 Dvorak No, I was more thinking of "potentially sub-3; actually 3.xx on limited mileage". That's phenomenal. Seems 25 a week though, not 6 month total (which would be literally unbelievable). twitter.com (zoom screen to see details)
Dvorak Nov 2017 1:45pm, 15 Nov 2017 14,690 posts	0 Dvorak Although that does look like rather more than 25 miles a week to me, if I am reading it correctly.
larkim Nov 2017 2:01pm, 15 Nov 2017 3,307 posts	0 larkim I think there's a misreading of a quote in the whole story. There's a second article about her which documents her running life from about 2010 onwards. In it she recounts winning races etc, but then taking a break in June 2016 and then joins a group in January 2017 at which point she says she felt a bit of a fraud having only run about 25 miles total since June. So it seems since Jan 2017 she has trained full on (and as you say, those moonshot weeks are substantially more than 25 per week) and there's just some poor journo work taking her quote about June / 25 miles and misunderstanding it to mean June this year. This is the article I'm referring to - featured.flosports.tv
HappyG(rrr) Nov 2017 3:39pm, 15 Nov 2017 27,762 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) If a journalist wrote an article saying "Theresa May became prime minister by only getting 5% of the vote" or "Police on average only work 7 hours per week" or any other such sh*te they'd be at least embarrassed and more likely sacked for not doing their job. But when they write "A marathon runner has broken 3 hours by just wearing new shoes" or "A 60 year old runner has run a half marathon power only by peas" or other such garbage, it gets them republished in every idiot rag around the world and they get paid. Why does everyone seem to want to rubbish running / endurance sports - is it just jealousy? It can't be that hard, I'm sure I could do it, here, I'll write/read/believe this article about how easy it all is and all those folk huffing and puffing around are just stupid and rubbish. I'll never get it! And yet they'll happily revere a footballer and contribute to paying them £1M per week to just kick a ball about and have a reasonable level of fitness. Sheesh. G
Autumnleaves Nov 2017 5:29pm, 15 Nov 2017 11,423 posts	0 Autumnleaves I could not have put that better :)G - if I complete my marathon next year I will be proud to say how much training it took - surely it's all part of it. Why do we expect there to be shortcuts? (Not 'we' here obviously, people in general).
Tim of MK Nov 2017 6:25pm, 15 Nov 2017 2,265 posts	0 Tim of MK God, this thread's come a long way since I started it way back in August. Ironically, just after writing my first post here, I injured my calf. So, the final five weeks up to the Berlin Marathon were a total write-off (including three planned long efforts). But I decided to do Berlin anyway. Obviously, the time wasn't that special (probably 40 minutes off what I'm capable of - maybe more). However, that actually didn't matter a jot. The bottom line was I loved every minute of it. It was totally brilliant My slowest ever marathon will be the one that I'll have the best memories of. So, where's this rambling going, I here you ask. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that it isn't all about "times". If it was, we could all just run 26.2 miles round our local streets. For many of us, it is about life experiences! Time is very, very much secondary.
Pothunter Nov 2017 2:08pm, 17 Nov 2017 279 posts	0 Pothunter Well said Tim, glad you enjoyed it