Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards.

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Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum:
marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards.

thedutchtouch

Nov 6, 09 10:52

Post #1 of 8 (409 views)

marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards.	Can't Post

i've been a runner for most of my life, crosscountry and track from middle school through college (track only in college). I've run numerous road races, the baltimore marathon, and the nations triathlon. (i only say this to imply that i have the baseline fitness and experience necessary to think about 2 marathons in one season etc, and i'm not going to be an idiot about it.

with that said, here's my question- if i pace a much slower runner in a marathon, how much of a time gap should i give myself to train to attempt a PR marathon later in the season.
we're talking like a 5 hr marathon pacing, shooting for 3:10 PR. could i just use this as my longest training run and then follow it up with a 5 week or so taper? or is it better to give myself 10-12 weeks or so to drop the mileage back down, build up to ~20-22 again for my long run and then have a 4-5 week taper?

We're thinking about the pittsburgh marathon for the paced marathon(used to live there, and i know the course) which is on May 2.

When would you all advise that i try to schedule my A race of the season? i'd like to preferably run east coast- minimal travel from maryland is best. i was thinking the MCM but that's not until the end of october.

thoughts? suggestions? (even if it's just a good running forum that'd be helpful too, thanks)

wckid

Nov 6, 09 12:38

Post #2 of 8 (367 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [thedutchtouch] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've run only 2 marathons so others my be able to help more. During training for both I did long slow runs (30-40 sec slower/mi than race pace) of 20-23 miles 4 weeks prior to the race (before my taper). If you are training for a 3:10 PR then a 5 hr pace for the first would not likely have much negative effect due to the slower speed. I would think you could race within 4-5 weeks. The more important question, will the 5 hour pace marathon be too slow for your training to meet your PR. Someone with more experience may be able to help with that question.

Runners World has Forum, you could try them.

Good Luck!

thedutchtouch

Nov 6, 09 12:58

Post #3 of 8 (344 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [wckid] [In reply to]	Can't Post

thanks for the heads up, don't know why i didn't think of runnersworld.
3:10 pace is 7:15 min miles
5 hr pace is 11:27 miles. that is quite a bit different.

i wouldn't be using this AS a training run, but was mainly wondering if subbing it in for a longer training run would hurt me at all.

Greggor

Nov 6, 09 16:21

Post #4 of 8 (276 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [thedutchtouch] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I would almost exclude that marathon from my schedule and consider it not much more than a long trip to the mall...same muscle groups. Seriously, it woul dbe something I do but not a training day. That is too much of a difference in pace to be of value w.r.t. training effect, enjoy your friends but do a long run a few days before or after if you need one. If you wanted to go to Let's run dot com, great, but be sure to duck.

xcsnail

Nov 6, 09 16:33

Post #5 of 8 (265 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [thedutchtouch] [In reply to]	Can't Post

You should post this on the Letsrun.com forums. They are a sweet helpful bunch...

tigerchik

Nov 6, 09 16:38

Post #6 of 8 (260 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [xcsnail] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I don't go over there. Are they as nice as all of us?
___________________
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xcsnail

Nov 6, 09 16:41

Post #7 of 8 (255 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [tigerchik] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I was actually being sarcastic. They make ST look very tame in comparison.

dre125038

Nov 7, 09 4:42

Post #8 of 8 (169 views)

Re: marathon training ?- posting here because im not familiar with good marathon boards. [thedutchtouch] [In reply to]	Can't Post

I'm with Greggor. Treat the first one as a long hike for training purposes. But if it's May 2 I'd want to wait until fall to do the serious one to try for cooler weather. (My worst marathon memory is one on May 3, which happened to be the first warm day of spring here, and it got up into the high 70's. Ugh.)

Another thought is to make sure you can run that slowly. For example:
http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/...ce-training-run.html
In case the link didn't work perfectly, what I am referring to is in part III of the Hadd series on ChuckieV's site. If you have run with your slower colleague before with no troubles, then you should be in like Flynn.
Good luck,
Dan