Sub 3Hr Marathon
3 lurkers |
311 watchers
Jul 2024
7:30am, 22 Jul 2024
1,780 posts
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Chris
I did think about getting a coach a while ago but the idea of letting someone else control my schedule is tough. I do wonder after years of higher mileage if I could get away with up to 50 mpw for a marathon. Surely there’s a reason the elites run a lot though?
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Jul 2024
1:53pm, 22 Jul 2024
2,313 posts
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rhb
I trusted Garmin Autoroute. My 5 miles of effort coincided with it routing me onto muddy tracks, then into a field of Giant Hogweed, then around paths with Japanese Knotweed, thick brambles & head high Nettles. 4 miles of compromised effort later I hit familiar road / canal path so ran 2 miles uninterrupted at 6m30 pace to make up for it then jogged home for 14 in total.
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Jul 2024
3:39pm, 22 Jul 2024
2,424 posts
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Brunski
@Chris Volume in a marathon build up is very important to people like me. I reckon I'm more of a fast twitch runner and probably never going to convert shorter times to marathon equivalents. Maybe speedwork and strength training is more important to people who're more endurance runners, but I'd have thought in general the more mileage you can handle the better (as long as it doesn't affect the paces you do sessions in). I guess at the 2:40-3:00 level it's balancing mileage with other life priorities and there's probably a bit of diminishing returns and injury risk to factor in once you hit 50/60/70+ miles a week. |
Jul 2024
7:43am, 23 Jul 2024
665 posts
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damo_HAC
Chris, my coach works around my schedule. I tell him what days I'll be doing other stuff, and he builds the weekly plan around that. I'm in China at the moment, and travelling a lot, so days I'm flying or in a hotel with no access to a park, he builds a treadmill session that I can do in the hotel gym. He's expensive (£50 pw) but I get a tailored service, and I think it's worth it. My company pays it instead of a gym membership that other staff get. On the flip side, sometimes I feel like doing a run in the hills with my pals, but coach has planned a MP session on the flat, so I miss out. This mornings 12k easy was in 30C heat with 85% humidity, so feels like 37C. Don't think I've ever drank 1.5L of water on a 60min run before 🥵 |
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Jul 2024
7:47am, 23 Jul 2024
666 posts
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damo_HAC
I agree with you Brunski, I'm definitely in the slow twitch camp, so speed sessions are more important to me. Fast twitch people probably need more mileage to get that sub 3 marathon.
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Jul 2024
8:50pm, 23 Jul 2024
83 posts
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DT19
Damo, I also have that with parkrun and coach. I like to just go along for a social and run at mara pace or bit faster but coach discourages it. I think I've got a natural endurance bias. My best times have always been in half's and longer, even when I wasn't realy training with structure. I've run 3.04 mara off 28m per week average over the 12 weeks before it which backs that up. I pay £105 a month which I think is money well spent. |
Jul 2024
9:10pm, 23 Jul 2024
323 posts
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Miser
How people convert is fascinating. I'd always thought I was a heavily slow twitch person, with my half always much stronger than shorter distances. Not so sure looking at different people's various marathon conversions - think I'm probably more middle of the road than I'd realised. The interesting bit is how to change your training to reflect this… £100ish a month seems a fairly standard rate for a coach. Seems a lot of money at a glance, until you start comparing to either other sport equivalents or the thousand different ways one can waste money 
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Jul 2024
12:22pm, 24 Jul 2024
2,425 posts
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Brunski
I think I know what I need to do to run a faster marathon and having a coach would probably help crystalise that, but at the same time I really value the social side of running. I can usually find upto an hour a day to run, longer on a Friday and a Sunday (if I get up early). I also meet mates on a Monday evening and we run sessions ranging from 400s to mile repeats. So my weeks will not fit anything like a structured plan, or what a coach would suggest. When marathon training I'll often use Friday as a long run/ occasional MP session, ditch (or jog) parkrun, then hilly easy or medium flat on Sunday with mates, giving me 36 hours to recover sufficiently to run again on Monday night. When not marathon training the Friday run is shorter and easier, the parkrun probably tempo or quicker. |
Jul 2024
6:02pm, 24 Jul 2024
45,418 posts
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SPR
Re fast twitch Vs slow twitch, generally the distinction is slow twitch actually do more mileage (eg and 800 runner that's more a 400 type vs one that's more a 1500 type). The slow twitch fibres are recruited by the mileage Vs the fast twitch fibres needing more speed (or the slow twitch to have been exhausted). I guess the slow twitch runner may adapt easier and once the base is built, it's harder to lose. I do think there's something to training being more than running and depending on the time you have the balance may be different for each runner. Certainly many pros are doing more than running so it's strength, speed and high mileage not one or the other. |
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Jul 2024
8:34pm, 24 Jul 2024
1,783 posts
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Chris
I always figured the idea of high mileage was to do the efforts on tired legs to get used to that end of marathon feeling. I do get that improving speed makes marathon pace feel easier though. I’m certainly on the slow twitch side, I bet most people on here could put sprint me in 100m…I’m forever losing a sprint finish! |
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