RW Forum Six - Sub 3:30

hey simon hope im not in trouble with your OH!

2Old hmm, im not sure, took me a week to work the facebook thing out. I did try with photoshop initially but it seemed impossible to her the photos smaller than 250kb.

Thanks Barry if I dont get through to the last 5 in this ASICS comp I might ask Minni to mentor me, she really does sound like she knows what she is on about

Spoons I have got an iphone. How did you feel after your run, hangover free?

Congratulations old4scrooge

Well done getting your run finished after falling over a bollard Simon, and well done not ripping any running gear (there's nothing worse!)

80 miles Chick?! Hope your six in the snow went well.  Good call not bothering, hard enough running in the snow without trying to race it. The baking sounds lovely

Sarah everyone has already said it but the slowing down on the easier runs really does work.  For me it means my legs aren't tired from a midweek 12 miler and I can really go for it in my speedwork the following night.  Recovery runs are done at an easy, conversational pace.  Good idea to recruit a running friend for these if you can, I have a weekly catch up with one of my friends, get my recovery run done and it's cheaper than going to the pub

DD you're definitely getting faster, 7:20s in the lunchtime heat with a hangover

O4S you are definitely slightly bonkers running a HM after the week you've had, well done 1:47 is a very respectable time.

Hope your head is OK Becs!

I'm no expert but personally I think for anyone who has been running marathons for a good number of years, 50mpw just isn't enough if we want to perform to the very best we can over 26.2 miles.  More like good mileage for HM training?  Unfortunately the majority of us have work, family, studies and social lives to juggle with running, and lets face it - running is only a hobby.  I'm not criticising anyone (as a die-hard 50mpw girl) - just my thoughts   Wonder what Moz thinks?

Sarah - on the iPhone, if you download atomic web browser, go into settings "identify browser as safari desktop", then you can do quotes, emoticons, bold etc.   

This was posted on my iPhone to prove it!  

And the hangovers gone now thanks!

Sarah...I've just seen your dinner on your forum page. That is mammoth. 

I think this is my first post in this forum. Hi everybody. I would love to run a sub 3hr 30min marathon next Spring. I'm not an expert on how to do this, so apologies if I ask any silly questions in the next few months. I think it's a possibility as my current PB is 3:44.

Enetering a forum with 24,000 messages though is slightly daunting 

Hello - I occasionally pop in here to see how much certain people are drinking!

With regards to mileage I’d say the more the better.  However, that only holds true if you have sufficient recovery – so most people (in any particular year) will be limited by their ability to physically absorb that mileage successfully and limited by their ‘life’ (sleep / stress / alcohol will impact the ability to recover).  

You can maintain mileage over the long term and improve but that’s more likely to run into diminishing returns.  Particularly because, if you’re getting quicker, you will be running for less time at the same mileage so maintaining mileage actually means reducing training load.  That’s also worth bearing in mind when comparing mileage – 50 per week is a lot more work for a club runner than 50 per week is for a pro.

I think running a successful marathon means you have to do certain things.  Just running 3 times a week focusing solely on key workouts (two long quality and a long) means you end up with about 40 a week at times as a minimum, so that’s the floor level.  You can / should add around that as much as you can handle.

In an ideal world an experienced runner would look to add about 5 – 10 miles per week on average on an annual basis.  If you run a marathon twice a year doing an average of 5 miles per week extra for each one is a solid strategy.  But as always the most important thing is ensuring adequate recovery.

Minni - Half pb is 87.34, mara is 3.27.52.

Morning

Moz has pretty well said it already but truly high mileage for mere mortals who work is counterproductive as we don't have time to recover, pros can handle the mileage because they get to rest. In the dim and distant past I used to regularly run 80MPW but my ultra times actually improved when I dropped back down to nearer 60MPW. Its the key sessions that really matter, i.e LSR, Speedwork and tempo, a MLR midweek is handy as well. The other point worth mentioning is that more than a few of us on here are not exactly in the first flush of youth and therefore cross training is a better way of reducing the battering our bodies take whilst maintaining aerobic fitness, its certainly worth noting that ALL of my PB's in this running life have come since I started Tri training. IMHO 60MPW is plenty for a club marathon runner of our level, though I prefer to train by hours than distance as it allows your average speed to increase without reducing your training load as happend when you set a mileage target. Usually I train 10 -13 hours a week which would correlate to a running total of about 70 -90MPW, so the training load hasn't decreased its just been shifted around and results have improved. Moral... X - Train.

O4S Nice see you back on form and put us all to shame, love the somewhere in Wiltshire comment. that will be me next year

Spoons: Hangover runs are so much fun.

Cycled pre dawn, could tell I haven't done much cycling of late, club run tonight.

Minni / Sarah - this is the link:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/atomic-web-browser-full-screen/id347929410?mt=8

Thanks very much for all the welcomes.

I was going to wait until I'd followed Minni's words of reading all 24,000 posts, but I think next Spring will have come and gone by then! 

Simon - yes you are correct........a very nervous, sleep deprived week.......whatever the result, I'm feeling more than confident now to reach my goals, now I'm feeling more comfortable reaching out for advice.

One thing I struggle with eating the right amount at the right time (I'm not saying I'm a glutunous pig.......just maybe eating my big meal in the evenings isn't the best). Does anyone eat 5 small meals a day instead of 3 like some running articles suggest?