| Lowering my marathon time... [message #1007226] |
Sa, 13 Mai 2006 06:12 |
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Hey all...
I ran my 2nd marathon in St. Louis about a month ago, my first being
Chicago. Due to poor training and a slight injury during the first
race I finished in 4 hrs 20 min. I was more dedicated in training for
St. Louis and finished in 3 hrs 19 min and some change. I monitored my
times for my longer runs but never did any speed workouts and being in
college I didn't train all out.
I will be running Chicago again this fall and I'd like to knock off at
least 9 minutes in order to qualify for Boston. Since training doesn't
officially start until late June I've been doing a long run each week
(between 13 and 15 miles) and have been doing at least one speed
workout a week of 6 or 7 miles which I run between a 6:20 and 6:35
minute pace. Is this the right way to increase my overall speed? And
as the weeks go by should I increase mileage for my speed workouts?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks in advance,
Kyle
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| Re: Lowering my marathon time... [message #1007240 ] |
So, 14 Mai 2006 01:12 |
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On 2006-05-13, bx9802 [at] aol.com <bx9802 [at] aol.com> wrote:
> Hey all...
>
> I ran my 2nd marathon in St. Louis about a month ago, my first being
> Chicago. Due to poor training and a slight injury during the first
> race I finished in 4 hrs 20 min. I was more dedicated in training for
> St. Louis and finished in 3 hrs 19 min and some change. I monitored my
> times for my longer runs but never did any speed workouts and being in
> college I didn't train all out.
>
> I will be running Chicago again this fall and I'd like to knock off at
> least 9 minutes in order to qualify for Boston. Since training doesn't
> officially start until late June I've been doing a long run each week
> (between 13 and 15 miles)
How much mileage are you doing now ? What were your mielage and long runs
like in the 12 weeks leading up to your last marathon ?
> and have been doing at least one speed
> workout a week of 6 or 7 miles which I run between a 6:20 and 6:35
> minute pace.
Do you mean, you run 6-7 miles at a constant pace for your speed workouts ?
> Is this the right way to increase my overall speed? And
> as the weeks go by should I increase mileage for my speed workouts?
Probably not. Long runs at a constant pace aren't all that effective.
You probably should do some reading on speed workouts. A good distance
for a tempo run (hard steady paced run, what you seem to be doing) is about
5k-5miles.
Other good speed workouts:
(1) interval work adding up to about 3 miles, such as 4x1200m, 6x800m, or 3xmile.
(2) Hill reps: find a steep hill about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long, and run up it at a
good pace about 6 times.
Might help to get a good book on training if you're serious. Would recommend
Glover's book (competitive runners handbook) and the Jack Daniels book (Daniels'
Running Formula).
Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
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| Re: Lowering my marathon time... [message #1007256 ] |
So, 14 Mai 2006 17:59 |
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<bx9802 [at] aol.com> wrote
>....June I've been doing a long run each week
> (between 13 and 15 miles) and have been doing at least one speed
> workout a week of 6 or 7 miles which I run between a 6:20 and 6:35
> minute pace. Is this the right way to increase my overall speed? And
> as the weeks go by should I increase mileage for my speed workouts?
> Any advice would be helpful.
Donovan's advice is good.
If you can really run 6 miles at a 6:20 pace, and you're doing your long
runs, I think you are just about there now. You are probably in better
shape than you think.
In my opinion, with some good coaching you could break 3 hours. Your 6
mile run at 6:20 predicts about a 3:04.
Your speed is there; you need to get your endurance in rock-solid shape so
that 26 miles is not that big a deal. When you get to the point that you
can run 20 miles at goal pace + 1:15 min/mile and feel fine two days later,
you're ready to rock and roll. Don't push the pace on your long runs -- if
you do, you will be bypassing the endurance (fat-burning) circuits and using
too much of your afterburner. Save the fast stuff for shorter distances.
Even though you aren't training optimally to get the last bit of speed out
of your body, you are in very good shape now. I'd hold off on the speedwork
until 7 weeks before the race, and then be very careful. Limit it to a few
informal brisk surges once or twice a week until then so that speedwork
won't be a shock. Please note that It is so easy to injure yourself by
going just a bit too hard too soon, and by not reacting to small injuries
and tightnesses immediately.
Stay healthy. The first priority is being able to show up at the start...
-- Dan
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| Re: Lowering my marathon time... [message #1007280 ] |
Mo, 15 Mai 2006 05:50 |
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Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate the advice. I'm sure you'll see
some more posts from me in the future. Thanks again
Kyle
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| Re: Lowering my marathon time... [message #1007309 ] |
Mo, 15 Mai 2006 22:47 |
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Dan Stumpus wrote:
> Limit it to a few informal brisk surges once or twice a week until then
> so that speedwork won't be a shock. Please note that It is so easy
> to injure yourself by going just a bit too hard too soon...
My experience agrees with Dan's advice. I think you can also restate
the same info with different emphasis to good effect, something like:
So that speedwork doesn't become an injury-provoking shock,
it's a very good idea to precede it with weeks of strides and/or
other similar low volume, short distance, high speed running.
Some advocate injecting a couple sets of strides per week
into your runs nearly year-round.
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