How much has your marathon PB improved since your first marathon?

Pisco Sour

How does your current PB compare to your debut marathon? It would be interesting to see where everybody started off from and where everyone is now. Theres a lot of great experienced runners here but everybody had to start somewhere.

TheRoadRunner

Current PB is 50 minutes quicker than my marathon debut. Think I am capable of increasing that difference to an hour but may be wishful thinking !

robinph

Depends on which one I coun't as my first.

First marathon distance covered was 25 yeas ago, effectively over a cross country course and as a kid, did the same againg the following year. Not certain but think they were probably somewhere around the 5-6:30 hours mark, but that is just guessing.

Then did that same course again as an 18 year old in 4:?? with the ?? being a big number, that was done with minimal training.

Then did London in '96 again with minimal training in 4:3?.

Then actually did some training and did Dublin '08 in 3:27, but could have done without the 5 weeks galavanting off around the world before hand messing the last couple of months of training up a bit.

Dublin '08 was my first serious attempt as far as I'm concerned these days, have to se how Rotterdam '10 goes now as far as improving on that years time.

misty floyd

First: Belfast May 09 3:40:12
Second: Dublin Oct 09 3:25:2?

Only 2 done.

asimonov

I'm the same as misty, I've only done two marathons

march 09 3:22 Connemara
november 09 2:58 Firenze

no idea what the limit might be, but I hope there is a little bit to go yet.

shels4ever

only done 2 myself
1. 4:22 1999
2. 4:5x 2009

i'm going the wrong way, need to put that right in may.

Salty Dog

Currently better off by 41 mins on my first

Oisin11178

Longford Aug 09 3h40m
Dublin Oct 09 3h37m
Ill go 3h30 soon i reckon, just gotta do some more eundurance work. Suffered in the last 3 miles with cramp in Dublin. Should have gone sub 3h30.

Peckham

From 3:26 first time (Dublin 06) to 3:00 third time (Dublin 08)

Krusty_Clown

Peckham wrote: »

From 3:26 first time (Dublin 06) to 3:00 third time (Dublin 08)

^ What he said. ^
3:25 Longford '08 (1st) to 3:00 Berlin '09. Hoping to improve on that this year.

--amadeus--

83 mins better off but it took 10 marathons to get there!

A good add on question is how did you make the improvement - in my case it is simply consistency of training (at least 2 marathon training cycles a year every year from 2005) and progression (when my improvements slowed I upped the training)

plodder

4:05 first marathon and three more later, 3:55 is the best. Not a great improvement, but in my favour the last two were run were very little marathon training. It made me decide though, not to run another marathon without doing a program to improve the time a good bit.

Peckham

--amadeus-- wrote: »

A good add on question is how did you make the improvement

For me it was all about progression. I've never really had a problem with consistency - when I've a plan I tend to stick to it! Used Higdon Intermediate plan for my first marathon, and then Pfitzinger 55 mile plan for my other two - i.e. higher mileage and speed work. Plus my year-round running was of a better quality.

Abhainn

First: Dublin 2007 - 3:14
Fifth: Dublin 2009 - 2:47

I think I have a couple more mins improvement in me.

Continous Improvement = Consistancy + Dedication.

Slogger Jogger

+1 to what Abhainn said.

1st marathon was Dublin (04). 3:50:03
18th marathon was Edinburgh (09) 3:01:22
Improvement: 48 mins 41.

Gringo78

Dick Beardsley ran his first marathon in 2:47:14. He ran 13 consecutive personal bests and eventually lowered his PB to 2:08:53 5 years after his debut marathon. Thats a fair progression considering the time he started out with.

jrar

First - Dublin '07 - 4:20
Last - Dublin '09 - 3:47

Have never followed a programme as such, just upped my pace early on last year, and then tried to sustain it over the year until the marathon itself (which was really the Berlin run which I did in 3:53 but heat/dehydration got me on the day) so entered for the DCM in early Oct. and ended up with a PB - funny how things work out sometimes !

Brianderunner

First. Dublin 07 DNF
Second. Luton 07 3'38
Last Dublin 09 in 3'22

Hope to break 3'10 later this year and 3 in the next 3 years. The accumalation of consistent mileage over the years really helps imo.

TFBubendorfer

First marathon: Dublin 04, 4:06:22
Best marathon: Dublin 08, 3:05:37

I was disappointed about missing out on a sub-3, but I was chuffed to have cut over an hour off my debut time!

sarsfieldsrock

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

First marathon: Dublin 04, 4:06:22
Best marathon: Dublin 08, 3:05:37

I was disappointed about missing out on a sub-3, but I was chuffed to have cut over an hour off my debut time!

Wow that is some improvement.
My first was Dublin 04 4:05:32 and my best Longford 07 in 3:53:07.
Nowadays I am going backwards as I don't target a specifc marathon.
This year hope to do all the official Irish marathons and to go sub 4 hour in a few.

ronanmac

First New York 2002: 4:39
Last Dublin 2009: 3:55

eliwallach

Sorry just saw this thread now...

First: Dublin 2008: 4:27
Second: Dublin 2009: 4:00

27 min improvement but wasn't thrilled.

Don't know if there will be a third......

MisterDrak

First marathon: Dublin 06, 4:18
Best marathon: Dublin 09, 3:31

How do i get to 3:10 for Dub 10???
Was ready to drop dead after last year...

shels4ever

eliwallach wrote: »

Sorry just saw this thread now...

First: Dublin 2008: 4:27
Second: Dublin 2009: 4:00

27 min improvement but wasn't thrilled.

Don't know if there will be a third......

There has to be a 3rd i'm in same boat i'm not a huge marathon fan but need to get the 4+ hour monkey of my back..

rigal

First: Edinburgh 2009: 3:48:50
Second: Amsterdam 2009: 3:26:47

Hoping that the third will be in Edinburgh this May and will aim for sub 3:30 there again and then aim for sub 3:15 in Dublin.

Magnet

First: Connemara`06 4:37
Second: Longford `06 4:05
Third: Zurich `08 3:46
Fourth: Dublin `08 3.23
Fifth: Paris `09 3.22
Sixth: Belfast`09 3.21

Now I`m gonna try for Sub3 this year!!!

ultraman1

first..........Dublin 2006....5:20:xx
Thirteent..Dublin 2009....4:38:xx:eek::eek::eek::eek:

tunguska

Have just done two myself. But this year alone I'll be doing at least two.

First: Dublin '08 = 3:02

Second: Dublin '09 = 2:45

SUNGOD

first.. connemara 08..........3:09
second... cork 08..............3:06
third....dublin 08...............3:00

rigal

SUNGOD wrote: »

first.. connemara 08..........3:09
second... cork 08..............3:06
third....dublin 08...............3:00

2008 was a good year!

SuperCereal

Dublin 08 3hr 58
Barcelona 08 4hrs 30
Dublin 09 4hrs 30
Dingle 09 3hrs 59
Barcelona 10 is coming March 7th really hope to get 3hrs 50

the two raaces where I went up instead of down were in most due to laack of training consostently and having quite a boozey social life, staying away from booze this year and hope to improve a lot.

liamo123

did Chicago in 3.37.. did dublin 3 weeks later (which was madness) in 325.. am doing barcelona in march and if i give up the bloody fags i hope to do about 3.15

acurno

Dublin 05: 5.20 (knee went at 20.limped home)
Dublin 06: 4.13 (upped the mileage slightly)
Dublin 08: 3:18 (took it seriously)

Nearly an hour of each so this year going for 2.18 in Dublin. Should be easy based on past performance!!

3hr target this October.

smmoore79

Dublin 2008 4 hrs 4 mins
Dublin 2009 3 hrs 10 mins

2 hrs 16 mins next if this trend continues :rolleyes:

Rebelrunner

1st Cork 09: 4hr 34min
2nd Dublin 09: 3hr 44min
Happy with 50 min improvement although it was more to do with heat in Cork than anything else.

ironmonkey

Dublin 2002 - 4.37 (I think)
Dublin 2007 - 3.29

I 've done 6 marathons and it's come down steadily. I'm hoping for a 3.15 at some point maybe Dublin this year. We'll see.

Oisin11178

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Longford Aug 09 3h40m
Dublin Oct 09 3h37m
Ill go 3h30 soon i reckon, just gotta do some more eundurance work. Suffered in the last 3 miles with cramp in Dublin. Should have gone sub 3h30.

3h24 in Gloucester. Going the right way and about time:)

runsalot

3:09:39 Hyannis,Mass.USA 2007
2:38:46 New York City,USA 2009
My 1st one i had only taken up running 3 months before it having turned 30 and on the pudgy side.

misty floyd

runsalot wrote: »

3:09:39 Hyannis,Mass.USA 2007
2:38:46 New York City,USA 2009
My 1st one i had only taken up running 3 months before it having turned 30 and on the pudgy side.

savage time in NY. Well done.

Krusty_Clown

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

3:25 Longford '08 (1st) to 3:00 Berlin '09. Hoping to improve on that this year.

3:25:35 to 2:55:15 (March '10).
Took 18 months to take 30 mins off my marathon time. Wonder if I can take another 30 over the next 18 months? Damn you, diminishing returns.

mithril

Cork 08: 3hr 21min
Berlin 09: 2hr 59min

No real motivation to try and bring it down further.

misty floyd

misty floyd wrote: »

First: Belfast May 09 3:40:12
Second: Dublin Oct 09 3:25:2?

Rotterdam April 2010: 3:00:30

Oisin11178

Oisin11178 wrote: »

3h24 in Gloucester in january. Going the right way and about time:)

3.14 blackpool april:-)

Scampwolf

Cork 08: 4:37
Cork 09: 4:27
Dublin 09: 3:51

Will do Cork and Dublin hopefully in 2010, 3:30 is target, if only I could get my training to be more consistant, But I still enjoy it , Thats the main thing isn't it ?

robinph

robinph wrote: »

Then actually did some training and did Dublin '08 in 3:27, but could have done without the 5 weeks galavanting off around the world before hand messing the last couple of months of training up a bit.

Dublin '08 was my first serious attempt as far as I'm concerned these days, have to se how Rotterdam '10 goes now as far as improving on that years time.

With the Rotterdam '10 time of 3:26 it seems I've only managed to take a single minute off my time so far.

I am still certain that there is another 20 minutes to come off that time though, just if I ever bother to do it properly. Dublin'10 is the next bash at it.

Condo131

Cork 85 4:10:03 - 1st on 15 mpw :eek: Not 15M long run!
Dublin 85 3:11:17 -56 mpw
Dublin 86 3:04:44 - 65 mpw
Dublin 87 2:58:50 - 65 mpw
Dublin 88 2:46:03 - 85 mpw

Resting on my laurels since (In other words all downhill since then). Last Mar was Dublin 2003 - 3:13:29 (M50). Dublin 09 - ?? - 3:18, if all goes well.

Mick Rice

Dublin '99 -> 3:27
Dublin '07 -> 2:46

earlyevening

Dublin 06 4:04
Dublin 09 3:07

Hopefully move closer to 3;00 in '10.

psychozeb

first cork 2008 4:07:36
best dublin 2009 3:20:20

47 mins better than first one but hoping to go sub 3:15 in berlin in september.

Krusty_Clown

Condo131 wrote: »

Dublin 09 - ?? - 3:18, if all goes well.

I think you missed the boat on that one, unless you have a De Lorean and a flux capacitor. That's a hell of a record.

Condo131

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I think you missed the boat on that one, unless you have a De Lorean and a flux capacitor. That's a hell of a record.

Well....I can dream, can't I? 3:18:xx (M55)...hopefully that's not a dream too. Looking good for Dublin...Now, if I could only knock some more time off my shorter races ....and a few years off the clock!

....."a De Lorean and a flux capacitor"....maybe Marty can help me....Didn't somebody say that the 9 mile mark in Cork is outside McFly's? ...or was it McAfee??