My monthly mileage is a lot less than some of the others. Oct had a nearly 2 week layoff due to sinus infection, plus a big gap in September. Maybe due to weather? Those meddling kids? I don't remember.
Queue up the Scooby Doo ending from Wayne's World!
I needed to stop doing a "PR the day" mindset and focus on appropriate training paces.
My mistake was believing that every training run had to be at race pace. While that mentality helped me finish every race I signed up for, it also left me tired and pretty much done with running on the long runs. Training was the thing that I hated doing, but needed to do in order to have the fun of race day.
The one thing that was most surprising during the transition from my previous plans was that despite more days per week and more mileage I actually felt better during the training. It didn't feel harder. And I think that was a function of buying into the mindset of train slow to race fast.
A similar thing happened with me. I used to need 2 or 3 days to recover from my long runs when I was only running 3 days a week. Once I started running 5 days a week at a slower pace, I started to feel back to normal on my rest day following the long run.
Hi all. I'm more of a slow 5k runner but have come to really love it over the last year. Staying in this thread is a way of keeping myself accountable. Don't know if it's mostly just more serious runners in here but if there are other tortoises like me:
I used to think this thread was only for serious runners. Instead I found that it's a place where runners of all speeds, abilities, and goals share our own experiences, triumphs, disappointments, and such.
Unfortunately, I am quite afraid that I lack both the speed and endurance. The plan that I am following for the marathon is having me run in the 30s mpw.
My
@DopeyBadger plans consistently had me running in the 20s per week for Dopey. I have finished both marathons just fine despite very hot conditions during both races unlike anything I had ever trained in or raced in before. The accumulated volume and consistency over time really adds up.
how is your body ready to run 26.2 miles if you limit yourself to a maximum of 2 1/2 hours running? I want to "trust the plan," but I am VERY nervous that I will seriously bonk if I don't run a greater distance. At this point, I am able to run 12 miles in 2:30. Mind you, I felt like I could continue running at that pace (12'29"), but how can one trust that I will be able to run more than double that number of miles if I don't train for a greater mileage which would take me longer than 2 1/2 hours? OY!
I shared the same concerns you have outlined here. Two factors helped me. First off, I knew from previous training experience that following a well laid out and properly designed plan works. I knew that the time spent training reaps the rewards in the end. Secondly, I tested the plan on a half marathon. I had been used to 14 mile long runs for a half marathon. The new plan had me with an 8 mile long run for the half marathon. Despite being an absolute mental wreck and very sore come race due to outside circumstances that contributed to an absolutely terrible start, I wound up crushing my PR by 3 minutes.
At the end of the day, this is a major hurdle for almost ALL runners who attempt to do less than a 20 miler in preparation for a marathon. How can I possibly "only" do X distance and be prepared for a marathon? And for some, they can be convinced by the anecdotes of other's experiences. Some other people like to look at cold hard data that shows that a lower % LR of the total of training yields a better conversion from shorter distances (
link). But the grand majority only have that light bulb click for themselves after they simply trust the training and do it for themselves. I was one of the group of the grand majority. I had to personally experience it myself before the idea truly took hold.
I was a mixture of this. I had many runners here share their own experiences with me that helped me begin to wrap my head around the concept. As I began to want to attempt the marathon, I also did not really want to devote 5-6 hours every Saturday with the long runs necessary under the plan I had been using. It was less difficult to put the miles in over the course of the week instead of in one day. At the same time I also came to recognize that even though I could ask the same question 50 different ways, I had to choose to trust the plan and see if it worked. It did. Spectacularly.
I went through and found some old plans that reflect people of a similar fitness level to a 15 min/mile LR. They all had different availabilities and goals, but to my best recollection where each successful on the plans despite limiting their LRs.
I'm one of those plans. I put in more miles than the Galloway plan, but spread them out over 5 days instead of backloading them into one really long run. Despite getting a nasty chest cold 10 days before the race, I was just fine come race day. During each Dopey race, I knew I was feeling stronger after coming off the cold and knew I was exactly where I needed to be when I felt infinitely stronger than usual during the last 3 miles of the half with the full the next day. I will not pretend that the training plan is easy. It was not. I had to give up some things to get the miles in. I had to find new ways to persuade myself to go out for the run when I wanted to do thousands of other things more. But it all paid off.
I can see the real benefit to the 16-18 mile LR plans from a time perspective. It is hard to find huge chunks of time several weeks in a row to make a traditional marathon plan work
That to me is biggest benefit of a more weekday volume and shorter long run plan. It's much easier to run 4-6 miles during Monday through Friday and then have a 2.5 to 3 hour run on Saturday than to have to carve out 5-6 hours on Saturday alone.
This will be my first full marathon. Ran many half but never a full. My buddy, who has ran several full, told me I should look to get some new insoles as the ones that come with shoes are paper thin and ones with more cushion will help. So was looking to see what I should get. I guess the one issue i hope they would help target is that my lower back will start to hurt after a bit. Not in the middle, but on the sides.
You may want to get fitted at a local running store. Mine helped me identify what exactly I needed. What works for one runner may not work at all for another. Personal experience works best and as others have shared, you get that through training.