Workout for Marathon Time Goal

psalm69

Hi

I am gearing up for the Rotterdam Marathon in 4 weeks time, this weekend will be my last BIG effort before I start to taper. After a 2018 marred with injury I have managed to go through 3 phases of consistent running over the last part of 2018 until now.

1. Base - 15 weeks of very slow running averaging 47km's a week
2. Transition - 4 weeks Still slow but adding a session a week averaging 64km's a week
3. Peak - 5 weeks Adding 2 to 3 sessions a week with back to back hard days averaging 58 km's a week

I raced a 5km in December in around 19:30 mins and completed the Donadea 50km in February as a long run. The predicament i find myself in is I haven't done anything to predict an honest marathon time, I wonder if there is a workout I could do this weekend to give me an idea of where to aim for?
The goal would be to better my PB below.

PB's
5km 18:04
10km 38:37
Half 1:26:51
Marathon 3:12:08

Murph_D

psalm69 wrote: »

Hi

I am gearing up for the Rotterdam Marathon in 4 weeks time, this weekend will be my last BIG effort before I start to taper. After a 2018 marred with injury I have managed to go through 3 phases of consistent running over the last part of 2018 until now.

1. Base - 15 weeks of very slow running averaging 47km's a week
2. Transition - 4 weeks Still slow but adding a session a week averaging 64km's a week
3. Peak - 5 weeks Adding 2 to 3 sessions a week with back to back hard days averaging 58 km's a week

I raced a 5km in December in around 19:30 mins and completed the Donadea 50km in February as a long run. The predicament i find myself in is I haven't done anything to predict an honest marathon time, I wonder if there is a workout I could do this weekend to give me an idea of where to aim for?
The goal would be to better my PB below.

PB's
5km 18:04
10km 38:37
Half 1:26:51
Marathon 3:12:08

What was your 5k time when you ran the 3:12?

psalm69

Just checking there it was 18:34 and 3 years ago.The marathon time is two years old now

psalm69

pac_man wrote: »

Like yourself, I came back from injury and was training away but I'd not run a marathon in 7 years and training wasn't really giving me any indications as to what time I'd be able to do the marathon in.
My big workout last year was 16 miles at marathon effort around 3-4 weeks out.
Notice I said marathon effort and not pace. The whole purpose of the session was to give me a guide as to what I could do a marathon in.

I ran this on effort(i.e not looking at the watch or splits) and ran on what I perceived to be a sustainable but a toughish pace throughout.
I think that's essentially what marathon pace should feel like. Obviously you'd want to be running that on a profile that would be similar to the one you're going to be doing the marathon in.

I ran that training session by feel with the pace at 7:11, it felt tough but manageable.If you're hanging on for dear life towards the end of it then I'd be concerned.Another verification check was my heart rate afterwards and the average was in the zone for marathon pace.

On the day of the marathon, I ran it averaging 7:10 pace /3:08. I know some other runners that would use that as a guide rather than a recent half time and has been freakishly accurate. I also know people that have done this session but have blown up on the day. I guess that's the beauty of the marathon.

I understand that 16 miles @ ME is not for everyone. It's difficult to look at 1 session in isolation and say to yourself, if I can nail this then I'm onto a good thing come marathon day. I know of some that would struggle to do 10 miles at marathon pace but their week would be littered with other heavy session stuff.

Keep us posted on what you do. I'd be interested to see how you get on.

Cheers pac_man appreciate you taking the time ... that's a great session! I will have to look at the rest of my week to see if I could work on getting that in.

I have run 2 x 32km long runs and the 50km and was thinking to get another 30+ in this weekend with maybe sticking on Marathon effort for the last 10km.
The 3:12 marathon i was really struggling around 6km out so I have this idea in my head I need to have more endurance, I might have neglected the marathon effort endurance this time out, so your session is appealing.

You are right its hard to look at one session and say it will be the answer, its the accumulation of the miles I have been capable of putting in, anytime it's gone well for me is from consistency so lets hope that continues.

Sure i'll keep you posted & again cheers:)

Murph_D

How did you fare at Donadea? Consistent pace all through? I know it was a long run and not race but still a key session, arguably, that should have given you a lot of information about your endurance on a bumpy enough course after a few laps.

psalm69

Murph_D wrote: »

How did you fare at Donadea? Consistent pace all through? I know it was a long run and not race but still a key session, arguably, that should have given you a lot of information about your endurance on a bumpy enough course after a few laps.

I ran it pretty slow just under 4:45hrs (Only got lapped 3 times by GOH:eek:)but was comfortable the whole way. I didn't taper for it but the week after was a low KM week with 16km was all I could manage.