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Feb 2013
12:07am, 27 Feb 2013
19,331 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
DG, i'm a great believer in focus and very specific training for or max 2 big events per year. Some can get by on talent and raw ability. the rest, like me, have to train hard for one goal in order to achieve their best. So I agree w ur clubmate. Depends what you want to achieve tho. Good luck either way! :-)G
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Feb 2013
8:18am, 27 Feb 2013
13,729 posts
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DeeGee
Thanks Happy.
It's not that I'm not focussing, btw. I am. If you were to look at my training you would see that it follows a pretty conventional day-on-day-off approach, Easy-Speed-Active Recovery-MP-Easy-Rest-LR with around 50 miles a week. Building over 3 months in both distance and pace. It's bread-and-butter marathon training. Just with a very long weekend once a month instead of a 22-23 miler.
I can totally understand this reaction if I were to be *racing* a marathon a month, but I'm not. As I see it, I'm running a 22 miler with 2.1 miles w/u and 2.1 miles c/d.
If I was training for Half Marathons nobody would bat an eyelid if I were running 15 or 16 milers at my peak, right? Why is the marathon different?
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Feb 2013
8:24am, 27 Feb 2013
68,504 posts
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santababy
I agree with Happy.
but hey, depends what you want out of your races.
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Feb 2013
8:42am, 27 Feb 2013
15,378 posts
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FenlandFunRunner
Also agree with Happy, with the addition that we are all different.
Recovery is very interesting, my understanding is that the body can create a hormone that masks the true damage.
You only know when you've overstepped the mark when you get injured or suffer with over-training syndrome.
Linked to we're all different, some can adapt rapidly, others, and I'm definitely one with respect to endurance running, require years for the adaptations to take place.
I'd say that I've only noticed true endurance adaptations in the last few months and I've been running just a bit of 7 years.
It is what you want out of it. Is a few seconds or minutes desirable compared to quantity?
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Feb 2013
8:54am, 27 Feb 2013
1,578 posts
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Curly45
Also agree with Happy...
I think specificity is the key here, the most specific way to train for a marathon is to use the race distance as the end goal. Now that's different than other long distance events (where you would go over distance) because of the need to off set adaptation from training with recovery.
However, I do know some very fast runners (sub 2:20 maras) who run one to two very long runs in training, but I think the difference there is three fold. They have built up to this over successive end point campaigns, its in training not as part of an event and its one or two. Not one a month.
That said, the difference between the focused view and the run many marathons view might be 5-10 minutes, not much, so if it makes you happy and keeps you training, you'll more than likely still get your sub 3 in a few years with cumulative fitness benefits, it may just take a bit longer.
Mp 5p 
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Feb 2013
9:20am, 27 Feb 2013
19,333 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Much better put by other contributors there. I don't think multi marathoning is wrong as a goal in itself, btw. I love what folk like Paul A do, with a marathon every weekend, and always at a great pace (3:15). That's brilliant. Great performance, tour marathons around the country and around the world. Do hundreds, rather than 1s and 2s of the event we all love. Magic. But... I don't think you can get a single "best" performance that way.
P&D training plan is very specific about where the races come in (last 6 weeks), how long they are (half - 10K max) and how the mesocycles contribute to peaking for your target marathon. Monkey with that at your peril (or mine!)
But Fenland made best point - everyone's different. Some recover quicker, some like motivation of events, some are happy with a 98% best time in lots of marathons rather that 100% best in one. Each to their own. And very best of luck with it all DG. :-)G
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Feb 2013
9:26am, 27 Feb 2013
13,732 posts
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DeeGee
You see, I wouldn't be asking this question if I hadn't been told that, in that guy's opinion, I am capable of sub-3. I know that I'm capable of sub 3:10 with the right weather, nutrition, tactics, celestial alignment...
If you'd told the 16 1/2 stone lager fuelled pie machine who started running six years ago to prove a point that one day he'd run a marathon starting in 2:XX I'd have laughed you out of town.
But the chap I was speaking to was right when he told me I'd run a sub-2 half, a sub-50 10k, a sub-20 5k... He's been right every time!
And now it looks like I have a decision to make. I have three years until I'm no longer a "healthy man under 40..."
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Feb 2013
9:28am, 27 Feb 2013
10,022 posts
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paul a
Agree with Happy - I've lost about 5-6 mins from my PB by doing a good number of marathons and I have sacrificed the sub 3 that I was probably capable of. For me though the fun is in doing marathons around the place and the challenge this poses. 26.2 miles is still a long way and it doesn't get any shorter no matter how many times you run it.
I made the decision of what would I be most proud of a sub 3 or 100 marathons - well my decision was easy. There are more people who have summited Mt Everest than have run 100 marathons and I know what an achievement that is. For me I will hang up my running shoes at some stage and look back with pride - no regrets at all. I've had fun, met loads of great people and done a few half decent times - that'll do me.
Everyone will be different.
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Feb 2013
9:41am, 27 Feb 2013
50,457 posts
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Gobi
Dee - i see you talking about 50 miles a week and that is quite new. Looking at last year i would say performance suffered due to not training enough therefore you were always running the marathons fatigued.
Give your new 50 mile a week approach 6 months and if running a marathon a month put a in a 20 miler between the marathons.
Do that run the marathons at a controlled effort and then pick the one to hammer carefully.
Go faster. Simple.
Opposite of Paul i just wanted speed over long distances. My pb came while 100km training and running multiple marathon and ultras 8-12 a year but picking when to run hard carefully.
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Feb 2013
9:42am, 27 Feb 2013
18,040 posts
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SPR
"There are more people who have summited Mt Everest than have run 100 marathons" - statistics need context.
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