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Sub 3Hr Marathon

1 lurker | 312 watchers
Mar 2018
9:53am, 29 Mar 2018
12,773 posts
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Bazoaxe
Yeah, I remember you passing me on that day Postie and I tried valiantly to hang on. I cant recall exact stats, but I was something like 1:29:45 and 3:00:57, so a slight drop off in pace.

I am pretty certain though that if I had gone through halfway in 1:27:45 I would have finished with a slower overall time as I really was on the edge of what I could achieve for the last 3 miles.

I do agree though that in the majority of marathons, people will slow down in the 2nd half, but its about managing that. I am almost certain that the example of the last person under 3 hrs that was used, that person had a target faster than they actually achieved and they were not targeting to narrowly break 3 hrs.

Anyway, back to current events, I had a broadly encouraging set of intervals last night, details of which I blogged. It was a session I wasn't looking forward to, but I almost ran these to the paces I wanted. On to the main test on Sunday though which is a significant chunk of MP. If I can do that at appropriate pace and HR then I remain on the sidebar.
SPR
Mar 2018
10:06am, 29 Mar 2018
25,807 posts
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SPR
Muscle damage theory makes sense, what doesn't is that running faster solves the issue. Surely running faster equals using more muscle fibres earlier which equals more muscle damage. Same applies to glycogen.
Mar 2018
10:11am, 29 Mar 2018
12,774 posts
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Bazoaxe
Ive just looked back to check my facts.

I had misremembered years. My 3:00:57 was in 2015 and I went through halfway in 1:30:07 that year.

2016 I went through halfway in 1:29:35 and that's the year Postie passed me around mile 23 when I was just on target but I had a meltdown at mile 24 and ended in 3:02:50. Poor fuelling I think was the case.

5 weeks later I ran 3:00:27 at Edinburgh and went through halfway that day in an almost identical 1:29:36
Mar 2018
10:19am, 29 Mar 2018
117 posts
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paul0
Had a decent hardish effort yesterday, 14 miles starting with a 250m hill and then about 7k at 4.00min/km (6:30/mile) pace - aided by being chased by a dog for about 1 of those k.

Next week is 3 weeks out from London but I have a 6day walking holiday planned. While in theory this ought to help aerobic fitness I've never found it do so in the past (please the numerous pint stops don't help). I'm thinking of getting in a long run on Easter Monday before I go, and then trying to squeeze in a couple of sessions while there, hopefully doing enough to limit too much loss of fitness.
Mar 2018
10:42am, 29 Mar 2018
2,649 posts
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jdarun
There are fairly subtle arguments either way for a modest pos or neg split being truly optimal, it would be very hard to prove the case and could possibly vary from person to person (some are more sensitive to overheating, for example, and some may be better at taking on food and fluid). However it's certainly true that the optimum is quite close to flat splits for everyone.

I personally find that the only thing that drops my speed is my legs seizing up badly and at that point the thought that I should have gone faster earlier doesn't feel that attractive!
Mar 2018
12:15pm, 29 Mar 2018
12,776 posts
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Bazoaxe
I agree JDA, the trick for me is in delaying the point that the legs seizing up occurs, or preventing it entirely. Running faster too early in my experience makes that happen earlier rather than later.

Interestingly on the run walk thread there was a debate a few years ago with a feeling that for someone like me on the cusp of 3 hrs, if I was to introduce walk breaks and run faster when I was running I would be able to break 3 hrs. Jeff Galloway claims to have helped loads of people in this way. I cant recall the exact numbers but it was something like running at 6:30mm with a 20-30 second walk break every mile. That doesn't sound feasible to me either.

When I next try to break 3 hours it will be on a plan with a small positive split so hitting halfway in about 1:29:30
Mar 2018
12:20pm, 29 Mar 2018
918 posts
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Brunski
Nice discussion on pacing, never having paced a marathon optimally I'm going to stay out of this one!

However chances of pacing the next one we'll have hopefully been improved by another pre-work long run of 22 miles (my longest one of this build up). My 5 longest runs are coming in at 101 miles, and my weekly mileage is up about 15% on York. Thankfully my planned 2 hour meeting with the evaluation analysts was cancelled so easy day today šŸ˜ƒ.

LMH - glad to hear your knee remains glued together. Ice nutter - nice night marathon. Baz - great to hear you nailing sessions. Postie, good to see you in here (and running again)! JDA - keep positive, almost there! If I've missed anyone keep smiling šŸ˜ƒ
Mar 2018
12:31pm, 29 Mar 2018
2,357 posts
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FergusG
Got my VMLM Registration and Final Instructions by email today. Confirms that the Race Number range for FGFA is 30921 to 33380 (Iā€™m 32740).

Bumped into PostieBoy at the start area last year. Who else is in FGFA pen this year?
Mar 2018
12:41pm, 29 Mar 2018
12,779 posts
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Bazoaxe
Think I was a 29k number and thus I am on green GFA with the celebs and world record attempters

I miss Red FGFA start, only been there once in last 4 years I think...
Mar 2018
1:09pm, 29 Mar 2018
919 posts
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Brunski
Yep just seen the Email Fergus - I'm number 32589 and so also in the FGFA start.

Hopefully catch up with you there!

About This Thread

Maintained by jdawayinamanger
All about hitting the magic 2:xx:yy!
Targets 2025
========
23 Feb Seville
mattykay
2 March Tokyo
DT19
G-Dawg
30 March Ghent
Charlesvdw
27 April London
DT19
G-Dawg
OO61
Alun
27 April Manchester
SteveBelfast
whiteflash
5 Oct Chester
EdGreig

========
Results 2024
bunting
medal medal medal medal medal
18 Feb Seville
mattykay 2.58.32
14 April Rotterdam
jomo_richmond 2:43:18
21 April London
Chris 2:39:16
Alun 2:59:28
28 April Boston
Brunski 2:52:33
28 April Newport
Miser 2:50:14
6 Oct Chester
OO61 2:58:26
13 Oct Chicago
DT19 2.45.53
Unsafe_Breadbin 2:53:56
20 Oct Amsterdam
Charlesvdw 2:59:37
20 Oct Abingdon
rhb 2:59:07
27 Oct Dublin
Paul N 2:59:08
medal medal medal medal medal
bunting

=====================
Current (2018) thread owner jda, if I go awol then someone else should feel free to take over...

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