alex_korr wrote:
I think that this was some excellent advice. I had 3 hours and 11 minutes to digest it today.
So... do you recommend doing long runs at the target pace every other week? Do them in addition to the tempo run that same week? I usually keep the tempo runs under 12 miles which includes a couple of miles of w/u and w/d?
FWIW, I ran my last sub 3 at age 47, 8 weeks after an IM. I come from a running background but never ran high mileage (most marathons off of 40 mpw or less, a bunch of sub 3s and most other marathons under 3:10, some on as little as 11 mpw average - ok, injured, but did aerobic volume swimming and biking). There are all sorts of programs out there; you just have to figure out what works for you. For us low-mileage types, the Printer guy had it right - you have to do long runs at goal marathon pace or slightly faster and be able to nail them. Yasso 800s and sub 1:25 half marathons are indicators but not guarantees that you can do it (they are more of a litmus test - if you can't do those, you probably don't have the speed endurance to run sub 3).
I typically liked to have 3-5 20 milers in my leadup to the marathon, mostly 3 rather than 5. I had several variations: the build (first 5M at 7:30, next 5M at 7:15, next at 7:00, last at 6:45 or faster), the steady (2M w/u, 16M at 6:45ish, 2M c/d), or "the test" (2M w/u, 16M at 6:30 or faster, 2M c/d). This last one, though, was fairly taxing, and I should also say I was aiming for sub 2:50.
As for pacers, I joined the sub 3 group in my last sub-3 marathon (the 2009 CIM), and the pacer was a well-known ultra guy, Kevin Sawchuk. He did a great job pacing the group of roughly 50, hitting 1:29:30 for the first half. At around mile 18, though, he told the people remaining that he had had the flu and wasn't feeling it, but we had 25 seconds in the bank, so if you had anything left go for it. A couple of other guys and I took off, but we were likely the only ones from the group who got the sub 3, as I went 2:59:54. That was a nail biter; mile 25 was a 7:05, and I had to push for all I was worth in the last 1.2 to hit the goal.
Not to debate high mileage vs low mileage, but one consideration is longevity in the sport. I never ran high milesage, so probably never achieved my genetic potential, but I'm still relatively speedy at 53 (not to mention CAN still run AT ALL), so there's that. I don't know many high-mileage guys from back in the day who can still run (and/or WANT to run). There are a few outliers, but very few.
BTW, I was never really fast (never broke 35 for 10K) but seemed to have decent lactate threshold (PRs 57:32 for 10 miles, 1:17:51 for 13.1), so running 6:45-6:50 pace was not difficult. That's really the key, especially if you're a low-mileage runner - if you can hold low 6:00 pace for over an hour, you don't need a ton of mileage to go sub 3.
Once I get over this IM obsession, I'll go back to open marathons. A good friend is trying to talk me into doing Big Sur next year, a race I've run 9 times but last in 2011. I think it's time to go back.
Ian