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Boston Marathon bound
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A few questions:
1. When did you run your last marathon and what was your overall time or pace?
2. Have you run any half marathons since your last marathon and, if so, what was your time for your last one or two of those?
3. When you say you're running at an 8:30 pace, at what distance is that, and are you running "all out" like you would on race day?
I don't know anything about Fitzgerald's plans, but I can tell you I trained my butt off for Boston and only managed a 10-second improvement over my prior marathon just six months prior. I'm no expert -- I've only run the two marathons -- but, unless you've had a MAJOR change in the level of your running fitness, I would think a pace improvement of more than 15 to 20 seconds would be pretty rare ... but let's see what other, more seasoned, marathoners have to say.
posted almost 2 years ago | Report
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My first marathon was a disaster. The last month of training I had boils. In fact the week of the race I couldn't even lace up the shoe on my left foot because of the boils. However, my wife and I were scheduled to run together for our first marathon, so run we did. My time was 5:13, but I don't think its an accurate reflection my my ability (prior to the boils I had run my first half marathon at 2:07 (that was October, the marathon was December).
Since then I have run another half marathon (Country Music in Nashville). I had only been running 2x a week while doing P90X for 2 months leading up to the race and still came away with a 2:01 finish (so mad that I didn't break 2 hours, but I hadn't trained for it either).
Anyway, 8:30 is steady pace for me, I'm not going all out at that pace like I would for a race.
As compared with last year's plan I I running about 10 to 12 more miles each week. Also I've started the training earlier, which will allow me to get some better long runs.posted almost 2 years ago | Report
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I'd say your half marathon time from Nashville is the best gauge you have at this point. Using http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp?dist=13.1&units=miles&time=20100, which is a pretty good little tool, it suggests your equivalent marathon pace is 9:32, which equates to a 4:10 marathon. While that may sound discouraging, especially when your targeting a 3:10 marathon (7:15 pace), it does sound like, with an increased emphasis on running in your training, you have a good opportunity to improve. That said, I would be very reluctant to state it's possible to go from a 9:32 pace (which is a good ballpark, given the rule of thumb that your marathon pace is about 5 percent slower than your half marathon pace) to a 7:15 pace in roughly an 8-month span, even if you weren't optimally trained for running back in April. You'll definitely get a better read when you run your half in October. In the interim, you may want to think about racing a 5K or 10K (or two), or maybe even another half for that matter, to get another read on your potential, given it's been three months since Nashville. (You can use the same site referenced above; just adjust the "dist" and "time" values, accordingly.)
Good luck with your training and in reaching your goals. Just be careful not to overtrain and risk injury.
posted almost 2 years ago | Report
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Thanks Tony. I'm trying to be realistic and at the same time I have Boston as a major goal and would like sooner, rather than later. I think your right, the half in October will give me a good gauge of where I am at (particularly since it as a rather hilly course, while the marathon I'll be running is generally flat.
There are a couple of 5Ks in the area that I may run prior to the other races so I may do those as well.posted almost 2 years ago | Report
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