uw234 wrote:
Hi Slowtwitch,
I am all in on an "ill fated" attempt to go sub 3h in the Milano Marathon on April 7th. On paper and by current marathon training wisdom I should have next to no chance of going sub 3, as I have a Marathon PB of 3:39 (from 2006 though), can currently run 5k in 18:45 and have "only" run 900 miles in 2023....and on top, I am not super light at 175 pounds (5'10'').
Since I don't have the time to ramp up my mileage and go on a "proper" marathon training plan, I have started a plan that almost exclusively focuses on hard running but only 3x per week. I am currently in week 4 of this plan and I am wondering if this makes sense. So far I can handle the load quite well.
The plan looks like this:
Run 1: Progressing intervals at around 5k pace (starting with 10x2min on 2 minutes rest, progressing to 6x5min on 2 minutes rest)
Run 2: Tempo run above Marathon pace (starting at 30 min at 4:05/km progressing to 60 min at around 4:05)
Run 3: Long run including Marathon pace intervals (starting at 1.5h total run time with 30 min race pace interval, progressing to 3h total run time with 3x30 min at race pace followed by 20 min above race pace (4:05/km), 5 min breaks of slow jogging between intervals.
Anyone out here who has followed a similar plan? Any suggestions, what else I should do?
I am totally fine with failing miserably in April - the journey will be the reward - or the punishment ;-)
Let me know. Thanks
Uli
Hi Slowtwitch,
bumping my own thread with a quick recap on how it went.....long story short: I failed (and felt quite miserable, actually) and hit the wall at only 20 miles in and came in at 3:16 with lots of walking the final miles. My failure was mainly muscular, as I was still running at a very constant heart rate but just could not move the legs any faster.....
With regards to training and as many of you have pointed out: I was not able to complete this 3 run a week plan, as during the later weeks of the plan the workouts were just too hard, which likely was a telltale of my lacking fitness back then. About 7 weeks out I switched my approach and started to run 4-5 times per week hitting 45-55 mile weeks with one tempo run and fast finishing long runs. This worked quite well and I gained a lot of confidence in being able to go sub 3h with a 22 mile long run with the second half at race pace that I could finish well. Two weeks out from the marathon however, I started to feel a deep fatigue in my legs. Quads and calfs were very sore and my easy pace heart rate started to increase by a few bpm but since I have been quite tiered the whole build I wasn't too concerned and kept running. Sticking to my plan at that stage probably was the biggest mistake, as I could not recover until race day even with almost no running for 7 days. On raceday my legst were still trashed. I refused to give up on sub 3 even though I knew I would hit the wall in hope of a miracle recovery....didn't happen ;-)
I won't have time to go for another sub3 in fall but will try to keep some of that run speed and try again next spring....until then happy training to you all.
Best,
U