CarsonRuns Member

Truth.

If the OP is anything like me, they are going to want to now why the coach says to do 7 miles with 3@LT. You can get that knowledge from the books. If you are already a fairly accomplished runner looking to get to the next level, then a coach is the way to go.

ETA: After re-reading my reply, I sound like a snarky @ss. I didn't intend to sound that way, so please try to read that out. :) I can say with near 100% certainty that you won't run a marathon at your current HM pace in 3 months. If you trainer is a runner, please discuss the plan with him/her and do some research about…

You have my utmost respect, Ted. Thoughtful post and respectful disagreement. The gen pop forums could take a lesson from this post.

Doing the first will hurt your performance in the second. Can you do it? Probably. Should you do it? Depends on your goals. If you want to run your best marathon in the second one, don't do the first one.

I finished with just over 2100 miles, well short of my goal of 2800, which is what I ran the previous year. I had over 1500 logged the first 6 months before a knee injury caught up with me. I'm not going to state any mileage goal for 2015 until I'm finished rehabbing the knee and get back to regular running.

I think the disaster part is more the "walked, cried, hated myself" part than the time. If one is properly trained for the marathon, that shouldn't happen...unless of course you go out WAY too fast.

I completely understand the theory behind the mantra. I simply extrapolated it into times and paces to show what it translates to in marathon training. If your easy run pace is 12:00 minute miles and you stick to the mantra, your 3:30 run isn't going to be anywhere close to 20 miles for your long run and will leave you…

Doing a HM 5 to 6 weeks out is what is generally recommended. It's far enough out that you recover from the effort prior to the marathon and it's a great way to gauge your fitness prior to the marathon so you can dial in the pace. 4 weeks out is a little too close for my liking, but it also depends on how much faster your…

I'd argue that lack of hill work wasn't why your quads were trashed, but rather just a lack of cumulative mileage. Besides, hill repeats are designed to build strength, not to help you with muscle fitness for hills over distance. Running easy run routes with hills, especially your long run, goes a lot further to the type…

Too many variables that I'm unaware of to give you concrete advice. I'd be conservative for sure. Maybe start out at that 4 hour pace and then see how you feel around mile 18 and adjust accordingly.

Well, the fitness is already in the bank. There is nothing you can do now to be better prepared for the race, but you can certainly do things that will hurt you on race day. I would suggest just a few miles easy running each day for the next half week and then execute your taper. There is no reason to try to get back…

Put in on the calendar. If it's on the calendar it has to happen, right?

Yep. I grew up near there. Very familiar with the area. Should be a good place to run a good time.

You are one of the lucky ones. For ever runner that ran a marathon after only one year of training, there are 100 sitting on the sideline with injuries or that just quit running. It takes time for the body to be properly acclimated to the rigors of running. Not just muscle, but tendons and ligaments too. It's not about…

My standard answer is that you shouldn't even start thinking about a marathon until you have 18 to 24 months of consistent 25 mile average weeks. Why rush it? Make sure you are mentally and physically ready for it so you can enjoy the experience.

It will be flat, that's for sure.

Yep. Go up a half size.

Rule of thumb is that Gun Time is your official time unless there is chip timing. If it were me, I would record the Gun Time as my time for the race and try for a PR another day.

I ran the Delaware Marathon this past spring. I won't do it again. Here's why. It's hillier than you think it is. The profile doesn't really give you an idication of of just how hilly. There appears to be one big climb, but at the top of that it's rolling hills before coming back down. It's a full double loop course, so…

Most modern distance coaches are Lydiard disciples. There are very few exceptions and their athletes aren't winning races.

There has been volumes of information written on this subject, so I'm not going to re-invent the wheel here. The training you are reading about is all based on the principles developed by Arthur Lydiard over a half a century ago. This is a good synopsis. Sorry about having to click through the Runner's World ads.…

UA hats (yes plural). If you run more than one day in a row, you'll want more than one so you don't have to wash it every time. Same with gloves. I think I have 5 hats and about 7 pair of gloves of different weights.

Probably the 5th of never.

I ran Baystate a couple years ago. That was my first BQ. It's not an exciting course, but it's not boring either. It's a double loop along the river. The double loop section is about 10 miles, so there are some miles before that and the last 4 miles of the finish are fresh when you get to them. It's not flat, but it's not…

Could have been the illness, could have been that your glycogen stores weren't topped off, could have been that you used more energy in that first half than you thought you did because of temperature, terrain or other factors. I bonked at mile 17 on my last marathon which was 6 months after the previous one and I was…

Yep. You can't determine marathon pace based on training runs. You shouldn't be doing all your long runs at the projected marathon pace either. Use a calculator to determine what you marathon pace *might* be based on a previous race of a shorter distance. And even then, the calculator will be inaccurate for marathon pace…

It's a big world out there. Plenty of room. ;)

As this occurred after a difficult race and based on the symptoms, it could very well be IT Band. Here is my blog post about how to fix it. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/CarsonRuns

Yep. It does. How long does it take? That's going to differ for everyone. When your long run is 12 miles, 7 miles feels like no big deal. I know that I finally felt like a true marathoner when I approached a 20 mile run like it was just another workout.