Sub-4hr marathon support and celebration thread
178 watchers
4 Mar
3:36pm, 4 Mar 2024
48,846 posts
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DocM
My sub 4 hour marathon was also when I was in 22something parkrun pace. The "time on feet" training I think becomes increasingly more important as the target time increases. In daily life it's not unusual to spend 2:30 on your feet but most people wouldn't do 4 hours without a break. ( If you think about when you walk or take a tour around a museum or something).
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4 Mar
3:57pm, 4 Mar 2024
23,431 posts
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larkim
I have done one four hour marathon on the comeback from injury and both me and the better half have done a 33 mile trail ultra (not quickly in her case as it pre-dated the anaemia diagnosis!) so being out on feet for a long time should be OK. It's more being out on feet at a marathon-paced sustained effort. She is following the Hanson plan, and my biggest reservation about that is that it tops out at 16 mile runs (it does a 10 on Saturday then 16 on Sunday, and their logic is that running long on tired legs is the way to approach it, rather than do a single long 20 mile run) so there's a long period of time at sustained effort to be handled. But there's no reason not to trust a well-thought through plan and she is putting in the miles. She ran the 10/16 this weekend and definitely went too fast in the 16, but not so fast that she was dead on her feet at the end - she just ran it faster than she should have done (about 9:30 pace, rather than something in the 10:00-10:30 which is what I would have gone for if I had been her). She won't be a great 5k converter I don't think as she doesn't have natural "speed" in her cadence. I suspect she has fantastic endurance to be honest, so would expect her to be better at a marathon than she is at a 5k, though in truth she's never likely to be well trained at either! |
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4 Mar
4:47pm, 4 Mar 2024
48,847 posts
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DocM
sounds like she is doing a pretty decent job then. I certainly subscribe to the idea of "running on tired legs" with back to back runs as a way of getting the fitness in.
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5 Mar
8:11am, 5 Mar 2024
2,253 posts
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auburnette
That conversion can work and Hanson's is a good plan but she absolutely mustn't go out any faster than 8:50 or so. Especially because London has some downhill at the beginning. No weaving to pass people, just steady 8:55 pace until 16-18 miles then the gloves can come off!!!
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5 Mar
9:33am, 5 Mar 2024
23,437 posts
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larkim
LOL! Was having this conversation last night and she wants to enjoy that first bit of downhill! I despair 
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5 Mar
11:49am, 5 Mar 2024
48,857 posts
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DocM
I never go off too fast, except once when i thought it might be nice to meet up with someone in front of me. Such a massive mistake.
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5 Mar
12:00pm, 5 Mar 2024
68,019 posts
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Velociraptor
I went off at a pace I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain in my last marathon, but I was so undertrained that I was going to slow down at the end no matter what and my best plan on the day was to run at a comfortable effort level for as long as I could and hope I could keep running until I got to the point at which I could walk at 15-16mm pace from then on and still finish within the time limit. I wouldn't recommend a strategy like that for normal use. I've negative-split most of my sub-4 marathons. Possibly all of them apart from Snowdonia, where the course profile isn't conducive to a negative split. |
6 Mar
3:33pm, 6 Mar 2024
842 posts
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solo
larkim she sounds a strong minded lady which serves well for the marathon! As an aside what does the Tanda calculator say? I have never had a chance to use it properly as my last marathon was done a week after pulling out at the 23 mile point of another marathon due to illness. Even so not that far away. Interesting that I haven't run today yet and lost another minute by their calculation, now sitting at 3.33.17. Others views on Tanda? I am sure I have asked this question before 😆 |
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6 Mar
4:06pm, 6 Mar 2024
23,445 posts
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larkim
Her Tanda is sitting at a 3:53 based on the last 8+1 weeks - better than mine which is about 5-10 minutes slower than I'd be wanting to go in London! Tanda has always converted incredibly well for me - generally within 90s on "normal" courses (it's less good for Snowdonia!). Whether that's me sandbagging or just pure coincidence I don't know! |
6 Mar
4:14pm, 6 Mar 2024
7,393 posts
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Oscar the Grouch
It's generally accurate for me, within a few minutes either way.
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