Sub-4hr marathon support and celebration thread
1 lurker |
176 watchers
14 May
8:44am, 14 May 2024
893 posts
|
Wezza
Fenland Flier wrote: I took a year to train for my first marathon and ran London in 4.07, of course I wanted sub 4 but there were far too many people. Consistency is definitely key Wezza and like has been said by V'rap you have time to build that up. Good luck. roberton good luck at Chester. Still, you must have been chuffed with that. I definitely would have been. To be honest, I'd be really happy with something like that, whilst feeling relatively comfortable, next year. |
14 May
9:06am, 14 May 2024
68,907 posts
|
Velociraptor
All those odds and ends of running history over the years are deposits in your account, Wezza, and your shorter times indicate lots of scope for improving your marathon PB, though they don't indicate the sort of talent that will bring sub-3 to your doorstep easily and you're likely to have to gradually optimise everything to get that fast. At a RW/Fetch dinner after I ran my first sub-4 in 2006 (it took me 5 years of stop-start running and several poorly prepared and poorly paced marathons to get there and it's never become something I can take for granted) I told a couple of lads who'd run around 2:40 that I intended to be as fast as them. As I recall, the manner in which they laughed at me was not at all unkind 
|
14 May
9:13am, 14 May 2024
5,615 posts
|
Ally-C
Was just looking back at my first marathon there, I didn’t realise I ran my 10k PB the week before. Plus two decent half marathons on the two weekends previous to that.
|
|
14 May
9:21am, 14 May 2024
68,910 posts
|
Velociraptor
As is often said, good marathon training for us amateurs tends to give us the right volume for shorter distance PBs. When I ran my first marathon I didn't know that the likes of me could have access to running races other than the London Marathon and the Great North Run. It wasn't something for which I had a frame of reference. |
|
14 May
7:29pm, 14 May 2024
894 posts
|
Wezza
Velociraptor wrote: All those odds and ends of running history over the years are deposits in your account, Wezza, and your shorter times indicate lots of scope for improving your marathon PB, though they don't indicate the sort of talent that will bring sub-3 to your doorstep easily and you're likely to have to gradually optimise everything to get that fast. At a RW/Fetch dinner after I ran my first sub-4 in 2006 (it took me 5 years of stop-start running and several poorly prepared and poorly paced marathons to get there and it's never become something I can take for granted) I told a couple of lads who'd run around 2:40 that I intended to be as fast as them. As I recall, the manner in which they laughed at me was not at all unkind That's fair talk Velociraptor . My ambition should really simply be this: to be as good as possible with what I have at my disposal - and have a great time striving for it. Who knows? My ceiling may not be anywhere near 4 hrs after years of trying. And if I've finally pulled.out all the stops trying and in my heart known that I've done all I can and end up with say 4.45, I'll be satisfied and promptly go straight to a number of fetchies and say, "you were.right!" 😀 Exciting times, as my ambition right now is to get another 4 steady runs in this week😂 |
14 May
9:30pm, 14 May 2024
5,441 posts
|
Cheeky’s Dad
I’d run 3 marathons (spread over many years) all around 4hrs 20 but with a 1:45 HM pb I thought I should have sub 4 in me. I’d always done 6 months of training but equally always building up from nothing and crashed and burned on the day. Covid got me running consistently and I did 100+ mile months every month from May 2020 till Chester in Oct 2022 when I got 3:56. I truly believe that it was the consistency which allowed me to build successfully to the marathon I wanted. Chester is also a brilliant race for a fast time. Big enough that you get a lift from the support, but small enough that you can run your own race (unlike London) pretty flat, good pacers and generally a fair few Fetchies 😁 Good luck Wezza I’ll hope to see you there |
15 May
1:00pm, 15 May 2024
3,495 posts
|
Big_G
Hi all, long time lurker. I’ve done sub 4 quite a few times times, although it took be many times to crack it, and I think due to that I’m always very happy when a finish time starts with a 3. Most recent event was Tokyo, where I did 3:58, in a fair amount of discomfort. I’ve been suffering with injury basically the last couple of years (plantar fasciitis) and I think if I was to do one now I’d be over 4hrs, hence my posting here. I do have an entry for Riga this weekend and although I’m travelling for it, I’m still not decided if I’ll actually do the event. It’ll probably be a late decision Saturday or Sunday night. Incredibly, incredibly unlikely to be sub 4 though as a) it’s likely to be warm and b) more importantly, I’ve only done about 25 miles since Tokyo and c) even more importantly, the foot isn’t right, and may still stop me toeing the start line. Podiatrist has said I can actually do the event if I want as although foot may be sore afterwards, it won’t set my treatment back. I am hoping to shift the PF in the coming weeks/months, and then I’ll be back base building more or less from scratch. I saw big improvements training to low HR over Covid and that will be my guide when I hopefully get back to it. A bit about about me that when fit I do quite a lot of marathons a year usually, and I’d like to get back to that. But it’s a long way from where I am now so I feel this is when I belong with current time goals and potential progress. I did do 5.5 miles today, to HR, at 11min/miles, which shows where I am currently. |
|
15 May
1:28pm, 15 May 2024
68,933 posts
|
Velociraptor
Welcome, [USER 100997 Looking forward to see what you decide about Riga - and what you think about the event if you do it. With your marathon history, you're well placed to make a decision about whether or not it's worth getting round in a time that's some way from what you can do at your peak. I'm playing with the idea of entering Windermere this weekend, not for a sub-4 attempt (those days were 15 years ago when my knees didn't mind hammering the descents) but for a long run somewhere nice with company and to try to improve on my best-ever "just the once" Windermere time, which is something like 4:37, and get my head comfortable with marathon distance again. But I'll probably decide that the entry fee and the early start aren't worth it. |
|
15 May
1:46pm, 15 May 2024
68,935 posts
|
Velociraptor
Oops, Big_G
|
15 May
2:02pm, 15 May 2024
2,152 posts
|
JEB
Dropping in to say hello, and to see if this could be the place for me. I did my one and only marathon when I was 40, aimed for 3:30, got 3:26 was very chuffed but decided marathons were not for me. Roll on 10 years of questionable and inconsistent running, injuries, surgeries, general CBA, and a throw away comment of mine has resulted in my well meaning husband surprising me with a marathon entry for my 50th! Once I was over the shock, a play with the Tanda Marathon predictor was indicating 4:35:32. Now, after 4 weeks of very steady but consistent running it's predicting 4:14:34. The marathon isn't until October and I'm still very much building up a base before starting a 16 week plan, but starting to wonder if sub 4 could be possible. |
Related Threads
-
Sub 3Hr Marathon
Nov 2024
-
The Sub 3:15 Marathon Thread
Nov 2024
-
RW sub3/3.15
Nov 2024
-
The sub 3.30 marathon thread
Nov 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