The Sub 3 Support Thread

Amazing day yesterday. Everything was perfect. Really enjoyed the 1st 10 miles and kept a bit back from the 3hr pacers. Feel good at 24k so went ahead. Feet not so good at 32k but kept the pace going and managed a 2:56 time. Brilliant atmosphere but my thighs are in tatters. It was my 1st marathon so many thanks for the advice!

Ranleth wrote: »

Amazing day yesterday. Everything was perfect. Really enjoyed the 1st 10 miles and kept a bit back from the 3hr pacers. Feel good at 24k so went ahead. Feet not so good at 32k but kept the pace going and managed a 2:56 time. Brilliant atmosphere but my thighs are in tatters. It was my 1st marathon so many thanks for the advice!

Show off.. well done great time.

Marty Bird wrote: »

What was everyone's thoughts on the pacers ? I thought they didn't do great 2 of them were way ahead I managed to reel one in. I came across a few in unhappy runners.

I was behind the last pacer until probably 18 miles, looking at the front Pacers splits though doesn't look like it was too fast

Marty Bird wrote: »

Didn't seem like that yesterday. But thats just my experience. I settled in with the last pacer at 20 miles then went ahead of him just to be sure.

1st was front 3hr pacer 2nd is last (I think not 100% sure)

AuldManKing wrote: »

The pacers typically run within 60-90 secs of the time, but looking at the Strava of 1 of the 3 hour pacers, I see he ran a 6.30 / 6.25 / 6.31 upto the 10 mile mark - that does seem fast.

Last 6 miles was on ave a tad over 3 hour pace.

Edit: Sorry - just seen the above post with splits.

Maybe with was just me they seemed to be just that little faster and a few others said it to me. I ending up just pacing off my watch. Which ended up well.

normanoffside wrote: »

Those are the front 2.
There was another (3rd) 3 hour pacer who did a good job. He was 2 minutes behind the lead pacer at 40k but still finished 40 seconds under.

Apologies so, I was with the 3rd

Tommy Max wrote: »

Thanks to all the runners here for the advice and support. race went well. Did it in 2.56 and felt good but some hamstring cramps in last few miles which were a worry as energy wise I felt like pushing on.

We were not sticking with pacers. The front pacers appeared to us to be all over the shop from what we could gather. They flew past us up laurence hill and we had banked a good minute or more of a cushion at that stage. They were a good couple of hundred yards ahead of me at around mile 21/21. I passed the first 3 hour pacer around 3 miles to go so he was well ahead of the 3 hour. Even though I knew I was well on track, the sight of the 3 hour balloon ahead of me and getting further away was playing on my mind a bit but I said ignore it.

I imagine that pace might have wrecked some runners who were in borderline 3 hour shape.

Hope all went well for you guys anyway.

Yep, I had my own moment of doubt due to that pacer too I'd love to know if he was telling people as they went along that his plan was to bank so much time, you'd hope so anyway.

Cona wrote: »

Congrats to anyone that clocked the big sub 3 on Sunday. In the spirit of the thread, would you mind giving a summary of your training over the last 12 weeks or so...what you found worked and what you might change?

I started my training on the for this on tuesday 3rd Sept I used the P&D plan and I used the last 8 weeks of the 88km to 113km per week plan. The first week of the plan with the increased mileage really knocked me and my legs were wrecked from it so I took a week off.

When I came back I adjusted some of the sessions by a couple of kms shorter after another 2 weeks into the plan legs felt so much better I continued on with all the distances on the plan right up to race day.

Now I had been training for triathlons already throughout the year so I would have built up the endurance over the year.

The marathon training was far from ideal I would have loved another 4 weeks to be more confident going into the race that I could hit the numbers. As it out turns it went well on the day and I was delighted to get it.

I found the days when you would have had VO2 max session it would be 14km with 6x600 meters at 5k race pace. I found these sessions were very beneficial to me if that makes sense.

Am I right in saying only less than 18k actually ran it after?? The live results show less than 18k? Is that correct.

Explosive_Cornflake wrote: »

What are the next Irish Marathons? I missed out on sub-3 this time around, but I feel I'm close.

I think Clonakilty and the Gap of Dunloe are the last big ones of the year but they both have more height gain than Dublin.

You also have the small events from the Marathon Club Ireland and the East of Ireland groups.

What is the story with priority booking. do you pay €90 straight away or €15?

Jaysis its a long time to be thinking ahead to another one.

Now the dust has settled on Dublin and i have my entry for 2020, I am looking to begin my training for a sub 3.
My last 2 marathons have been 3.18 in 2018 and 3.19 in 2019. I was on track for a 3.14 this year but was getting pain/Muscle strain in my Diaphragm for last 4 miles and had to slow down, Legs and everything were feeling good up to that point.
So i am looking for some advice on how i should approach a 12 month training?
I have some other races planned for Feb/March and might look at the marathon in cork.
For my past 3 marathons i have used the P&D 18 Week 55 mile plan, But i have been looking at the 80/20 Plan since dublin to get my head around it.

boydkev wrote: »

Now the dust has settled on Dublin and i have my entry for 2020, I am looking to begin my training for a sub 3.
My last 2 marathons have been 3.18 in 2018 and 3.19 in 2019. I was on track for a 3.14 this year but was getting pain/Muscle strain in my Diaphragm for last 4 miles and had to slow down, Legs and everything were feeling good up to that point.
So i am looking for some advice on how i should approach a 12 month training?
I have some other races planned for Feb/March and might look at the marathon in cork.
For my past 3 marathons i have used the P&D 18 Week 55 mile plan, But i have been looking at the 80/20 Plan since dublin to get my head around it.

Similar setup to yourself BoydKev. Had ran a 3.18 in my first Marathon, followed by a 3.13 at DCM last year. Copped on a bit with the training this year and managed a 2.51 at DCM.

I followed the P&D 18 week (up to 55miles) plan for each of the last two attempts. Still found it to be excellent and would probably use it again for next year. Main difference for me this year was just consistency in training over longer period. Following the '18 DCM I took a couple of weeks off but then just started tapping away at a few sessions (3 to 4) per week over the winter to keep the fitness base, max mileage per week of c. 40-50k. For my first two attempts, I'd done very little over the winter and then just gone headlong into a plan about 18 weeks out from the event. Unsurprisingly, that led to minor injuries during that period pre race and I felt as though I'd never arrived at the start line in top condition. This better consistency over a longer period also meant I had c. 1,000km more in the legs for the 10month period ahead of DCM - as well as the obvious stamina benefits, it also put me in a much stronger psychological space that I was going to make a big improvement year-on-year and that a sub-3 was a realistic goal.

Other change I made this year to help with the consistency in mileage was to do nearly all my midweek runs before work. Once I got into the routine of a 5.30/6.00 start, I found it mentally easier to get the session done first thing in the morning and not be subject to the usual stresses of trying to get out of work later in the day at a reasonable hour or managing the practicalities of fitting in an evening run around shopping/cooking/eating dinner etc!

Good luck with it all and enjoy the winter sessions!