Sub 3Hr Marathon
1 lurker |
313 watchers
May 2024
7:54am, 28 May 2024
17,147 posts
|
jda
I just found the seconds kept coming, year on year, as I kept up the training and crept up on the miles. In my 40s however. PB aged 50 (5y ago) and I'll not get close to that again now. Biggest marathon campaign was just under 1600km in 18 weeks so that's not a huge amount by some peoples' standards but it felt quite a lot while I was doing it! 87km or 55 miles per week average, probably best thought of as 100km mostly with some missed due to various disruptions. |
May 2024
8:46am, 28 May 2024
3,739 posts
|
Bowman 🇸🇪
Some people need more miles to get faster jda  I have averaged 100 km weeks over last few years, and not only for a few weeks leading up to a marathon Not the best responder to exercise obviously. 🤣 But maybe your miles have more intensity in them and so on, there are many parameters. |
May 2024
8:47am, 28 May 2024
44,423 posts
|
SPR
I don't think it has to be either/ or. Even just adding hill strides/ sprints to your regime is working on muscle efficiency and power and will be helpful. If you look at Canova's method has his marathoners do this. Obviously they do stuff at 5k/ 10k pace as well. Sprinkling some in without making it too hard (eg via fartleks) would seem sensible. I've said elsewhere that despite what I train for, most of my improvement came from general training and I only started doing specific MD work regularly in 2021 and that probably still needs work in terms of finding the right balance. |
May 2024
6:52pm, 28 May 2024
275 posts
|
Charlesvdw
Thanks for the advice everybody. The consensus seems to be that mileage is the most important metric. Of course I have to balance mileage with work, family life and the physical limits of my body. Bowman 🇸🇪: don't you have a sub 3 target this year ? I like your odds better than mine. |
|
May 2024
7:21pm, 28 May 2024
3,741 posts
|
Bowman 🇸🇪
<q uid="110035"Bowman 🇸🇪: don't you have a sub 3 target this year ? I like your odds better than mine.</q> Yes I don’t know when it will fall in place though. But I have at least 2 more chances this year. Maybe 3. Probably best chance on the late autumn ones. |
May 2024
7:27pm, 28 May 2024
26,785 posts
|
Bazoaxe
Mileage is important but the mix within that is also important. I was like jda and improved over time as I ran more and ran smarter. Key was also getting over and keeping on top of injuries. The Jack Daniel’s plan was the game changer for me having followed P&D for many years. Both plans were perfectly good and I think something just a bit different helped. |
May 2024
7:51pm, 28 May 2024
1,764 posts
|
Chris
I’m definitely in the mileage camp but remember the recovery cycles too. You can’t keep running high mileage all year, the body needs time to recover and adapt so you can then make a bigger step forward. Having lighter weeks can be mentally tough but really do help
|
|
May 2024
8:27am, 29 May 2024
44,452 posts
|
SPR
There's more up to date stuff on Canova's methods out there probably but this is a comprehensive summary of his book from 1999 for anyone interested: runningwritings.com There's a section on fast twitch/ slow twitch and some of what I was suggesting yesterday is based on my understanding of that but there's much more in there. |
|
May 2024
8:32am, 29 May 2024
17,159 posts
|
jda
Jack Daniels here, it's not intense though, just 1 or two hard workouts a week (they are big and hard though). Also summers off from running, which I suspect has helped my longevity if nothing else. However my knee is still not 100% and I've hardly run since Christmas. So I'm wondering if I'm running out of road. It's not a proper injury, but the worry is that if I ramp up the miles again this winter it will turn into something more serious. |
May 2024
9:13am, 29 May 2024
6,346 posts
|
Windsor Wool
have you had yourself checked out JDA? It could easily be a bit of arthritis in the knee which is unlikely to clear up just by rest. The specialists tell me that knees are an easyish fix though once you’ve a diagnosis….
|
Useful Links
FE accepts no responsibility for external links. Or anything, really.Related Threads
-
RW sub3/3.15
Feb 2025
-
The Sub 3:15 Marathon Thread
Feb 2025
-
The sub 3.30 marathon thread
Feb 2025
-
Sub-4hr marathon support and celebration thread
Dec 2024
-
Sub 2:30 Marathon
Oct 2024
-
The sub 2.45 marathon thread
May 2024
-
The sub 3.45 Marathon Thread
Oct 2023
-
The sub-5 hour marathon thread
Apr 2022
-
5:43 Marathon to Sub 5hrs
Dec 2018
-
Sub 3.05 Marathon Plan / Advise - Help please
Aug 2016