How long did you train for?
How many miles/week?
Were you willing to put in the time & effort and still couldn’t break 2:30 (male)?
The problem here is there are very very few members of this site that have run sub 2:30. I have no basis for that statement just a wild guess.
In most cases sub 2:30 is pretty elite. Not many do it. Those that do it train at a very high level. If you can run sub 2:30 on under 100 miles per week you are probably a very rare exception.
Hard work only takes you so far. Born talent is required in copious amount to attain sub 2:30. I’d guess at least half of this site may not be able to run that sort of pace for 5k?
Wrong site-- should have gone to smething like kenyanrunners.com
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A bicycle!
agree with the above. 2:30 is in the rarified air of runners. Only those with the right physiology can get there.
fastrunningblog.com has a large collection of legit sub 2:30 marathoners. Maybe you could get some advice over there.
That was going to be my answer
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I maxed out at 2:39. Probably could have done a 2:35 if weather was better and everything else also fell into place on the same day. This after averaging 70 miles a week for about 5 years. Peak periods of 80-90+ miles. I think I could have gone 2:32 if at the time I was working part-time rather than 60 hour weeks giving me time to run and recover from 100+ miles a week. 2:30 is likely not in my genetics. (5:02 mile PR in high school).
Go over to letsrun. Ask the same question. Filter out the 90% of BS and you might get some good input.
i think it starts with staying far away from a triathlon website… and builds from there.
but that is my 3:18 (i think) talking.
I may be a strange exception, but I ended up at 2:29 last year for a full.
This was all done on triathlon training (primarily for the 1/2 iron distance). So my running miles were pretty low (at around 45 miles per week). But many of the miles were intense, and done tired (coming off of the bike).
My bike hours were around 10hrs/week and was swimming 3 of the days.
Keep in mind, I ran track in college and graduated 4 years ago. I never stopped running post college, so I think I still have some of that built up milage/endurance from that.
Well i jad to pace myself for the first 10k then i let it go till i hit 13.1 .
How far off are you? I mean, I run with some fast guys - guy who won Seattle mary a few years back, former sub 30 10k guy, and both are just on the plus side for 2:30…I would say tri training isn’t going to get you that close. That said, i have no idea, with zero marathons under my belt outside of two IM’s. But just for perspective…
Brent
Is there any equation that gives the equivalent time for a 2:30 marathon pace for those individuals over 6’2 and 180 lbs?
150 minutes. 
I have had good success with your exact triathlon-based program…
albert
I am guessing if you have to ask you won’t ever be there. I have known people that ran in college and trained for years that were only kissing low 2:30s. They never did go under,. at that pace, a 5 min drop is is huge. I was sort of stuck at a 35 min 10k. I could get high 35s any race of the year, low 35s if I was lucky and could not hit in the 34 if my life depended on it, or possibly if the course was short. My hat is off to you if you get there. I would guess there are maybe 20, possibly 30 triathletes in the world that would pull a 2:30 stand alone marathon with a years training.
I think it largely depends on what kind of runner you are (ie how talented). I know several guys that have run right around 2:25 or under. Their mileage seems inversely related to their 10k ability.
28:50 guy: 40-50 mpw, plus triathlon training (keep in mind that’s ~2 years after college which was 80+ mpw)
29:45 guy: 80-90 mpw, for years.
32:10 guy: 100-120 mpw, on and off, for years.
Basically plug your 10k pr into McMillian. If it predicts a 2:15 marathon, you could probably run 50 mpw. If it predicts a 2:30, run 80-100mpw. If it predicts a 2:45, start running A LOT.
Hard work only takes you so far. Born talent is required in copious amount to attain sub 2:30. I’d guess at least half of this site may not be able to run that sort of pace for 5k?
2:30 Marathon = ~3:33/km = 17:45 5k
There’s no way half of ST could hold that pace for 5k, or even 3k. I bet it’s more like <1/8.
This is a hard thing to say, as people respond so differently to different types of training. I was never a runner until i started triathlon at age 22. Because of my swimming background i progressed fairly quickly to a sub 33 10k(about 4 years), and i pretty much was stuck in the mid to high 32’s my entire career. I ran an average of less than 30mpw, almost all hard, a page out of the Simon Lessing method.
Fast foreward to the end of my career at 37 and i decided to give marathon running a 2 month shot in the winter before the tri season got under way. I ramped up to an average of 43 mph a week, all at a 6 minute pace average or better. So no LSD runs, and very little in the way of warm ups, just start solid and pick it up every run. I did one 3 hour ride a week to get the endurance training in, but no swimming. I did one marathon after 5 weeks as a tune up, told myself that i would just run with the lead woman. Now this race was almost always won in the low 2;50’s for women, so i figured it would be a good solid effort. Now keep in mind that i had no idea how fast i was/could run a marathon, and really had no time goals. That is why i just thought to key off the top woman…
Well much to my suprise at about 17 miles and on about 2;49 pace, this gal comes up from behind and passes the leader i’m running with,I jump on, and she runs a 2;42. We must have passed 25 guys in that last 10k, but i figured what the hell, it is what is said i would do. That run suprised me and i figured that it was probably going to be the better of the two races i had planned, but i put in 5 more weeks of the same type of training, with 48m being my biggest week. Took a good taper and ran 1;20 for 1st half of the race, and then 4 old guys come running by me at 5;40 pace. Since i was running alone i said WTF and jumped onto them, and just figured i would get pulled as long as i could hold up. Well at mile 24 there was just me and one guy left and we were on 2;32 pace for the race. A few 100 yards later my will could not overide my failing body any more and i went from sub 6 pace to 8+ pace for the last couple miles, and if there had been a 27th mile, it would have been 12m+…Ended with a 2;36 on what most here would say was impossible on that low mileage, and from a non runner. But years of tri training apparently meant something, and the high pace in “all” training runs translated too.
So not quite 2;30, but certainly a more unconventional way to train and race a marathon from a swimmer. So for anyone that had any running background in HS or college and did well, it should be possible with a little focus and good luck from injuries…
I cant even break 20:00 so i am out :0(
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Great story - but probably more a testament to your personal talent for endurance sports than universally applicable training regimen
For every guy that runs 2:3x on 40-50 mpw, there’s probably 5000+ who don’t break 3:00
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