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Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks?
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I am coming off of 4 weeks of no running thanks to an injury and was just starting to build back up my mileage and do harder training after a winter spent suffering from another injury before I took this time off. I have been swimming, biking and doing strength work during my 4 week off period but have been good and haven't run. Assuming I live in a perfect world and my injury is gone and a new injury doesn't rear it's head (big assumption, I know), is it possible to go from no running to PR running? And a bit more background, my PR was obtained with a lot of hard work last year (a few 100+ weeks, tough track workouts and brutal tempo runs) so it's not even close to being a fluff PR (for me) to take down.

And yes, I am just desperately searching for someone to validate my goal as my confidence wavers as I struggle with whether it still makes sense to go for it.
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Whats your age and whats your P.R.?
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [Kenney] [ In reply to ]
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Age: 38 - PR: 2:46 (female if that matters).
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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So you're just a few minutes off Olympic 'B' standard and you're wondering if you can get back there in less than 4 months after 6 months of injury and recovery when the previous effort took a significant build and sustained effort?

I'm not a betting man, but it appears to be a pretty safe one to say "no".
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Impressive......Trials qualifying time. Really hard to say. With your background and base, I say you may get close. With that time it may be hard to pr without any injuries in the past. I will let others chime in that know more.
I have a female friend that ran 4 marathons in 6 months trying to trial qualify. 2 with 3 weeks between. She has missed qualifying by less than a min. Her last try she finally did. She was 37 at the time. My point is this, rested or running a bunch with minimal rest, she just was not going to get any faster. She did qualify in her last try. .....
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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snotrocket wrote:
Age: 38 - PR: 2:46 (female if that matters).


It matters....means the difference between being a super bad ass dude and being an incredibly bad ass lady (and probably gunning for Olympic trials?) I'd be more willing to take advice from you than try to dole it out since your marathon is my 5k pace, but I'd think if you have the mental and physical strength to crank out a 2:46, there's not much you couldn't accomplish if you set your mind to it.

“Bloom wherever you are planted"
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Just a thought... Is it possible you are getting repeat injuries from ramping up training too hard and fast? And maybe training hard again after two injuries in less than a year for a PR might just set you back even further? I would suggest a goal other than a PR in your next race, something like finishing the year without another injury.

I say this because your situation sounds like mine a few years ago, 3 injuries in 2 years including a stress fracture in my hip, all because I kept trying to come back too fast and make that next race count. Not until i just swam for 6 months and then took another 6 months to ramp up did I shake the injury bug, and have been going hard for 2 years now with no issues (knock on wood).
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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possibly possible. I'd put the odds of getting into sub 2:50 shape at less than 50/50 based on what you've said here.

You'll have to take some risks with your training, some of which could be high risk depending upon your injury.

If you want to PM me more details I can pinpoint the risks & odds a bit better

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all the honest responses. It'seems hard when to know to let go of a big goal. Brian, I'll pm you when I sit down at my computer.
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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If you had gone into the 4 weeks off in PR shape, running 100+ mile weeks, I'd answer "likely".

But it sounds like you've been injured for a long time. Even if you've got good aerobic conditioning, I just don't see 15 weeks as enough time to build milage and get back to being able to sustain high running pace for almost 3 hours. If it were me, I'd be worried about re-injury, and would thus build slower and plan on racing in the spring of 2016.

2015 USAT Long Course National Champion (M50-54)
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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4 weeks is not long enough to un-run the miles out of your legs.

To get to level of your PR I would guess that you have at least several years of high volume training as a base. If you did not gain a bunch of weight during your break I'm not sure that you have lost that much. The risk is trying to return to your prior mileage too quickly and getting yourself injured. I'll give a you a qualified "yes."
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Re: Can You Get in PR Marathon Shape in 15 weeks? [snotrocket] [ In reply to ]
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You have been on here since 05 so you probably already know this but I will chime in on it anyhow. Out of all the posters on slowtwitch that I would listen to per training advice Desert Dude is probably in the top 1% of knowing what he is talking about......just sayin
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