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The Sub 3:15 Marathon Thread

2 lurkers | 336 watchers
Feb 2022
2:20pm, 16 Feb 2022
41,484 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
1% I think is permitted? So 420m descent in 42km?
jda
Feb 2022
2:46pm, 16 Feb 2022
12,019 posts
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jda
There's a bonkers downhill course in the USA that people use for Boston qualifiers. I think the wheelchair athletes basically get to freewheel (if they dare).

There you go, almost a mile of descent in 26 horizontal!

runrevel.com
Feb 2022
2:56pm, 16 Feb 2022
5,718 posts
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Joe Hawk
For GFA as long as it is measured distance and you get you name on the online results you are pretty safe. (or always used to be)
For records etc it needs to be with the limits and start and finish need to be within a certain distance so point to point races (tail wind) aren't valid and neither are downhill courses.
Feb 2022
2:56pm, 16 Feb 2022
17,065 posts
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larkim
I don't *think* the %age course drop thing is relevant to marathons that VMLM will take as acceptable GFA times, but I might be wrong. It's also 0.1% isn't it so 42m for a marathon.

The requirement for GFA is that the marathon is on a UKA certified course, and they can certify a course as being a marathon without much reference to the drop or point to point nature of it. So courses like the Loch Ness (c. 300m of drop at least?) are eligible.

Not as bonkers as some of the US ones though!
Feb 2022
3:02pm, 16 Feb 2022
41,487 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Thanks Larks, you're right - 0.1%. I was out by 1000%. Oops! :-) G
Feb 2022
3:05pm, 16 Feb 2022
22,051 posts
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Bazoaxe
5 lunchtime tempo miles. OK the weather was rubbish with wind and rain, but being around 7mm pace is a long way off where I would like to be
Feb 2022
3:07pm, 16 Feb 2022
17,067 posts
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larkim
I think Dudley will be getting in the way of 5x1000m tonight. Good night for a rest I think!
Feb 2022
5:02pm, 16 Feb 2022
1,518 posts
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Big_G
Whilst those courses are undoubtedly quick, what are people's thoughts on downhills trashing the quads? I have done Loch Ness a couple of times and I can honestly say that on one of the occasions it was the most knackered I have ever been after a marathon. It is possibly a quick course, but it is not an easy one, in my view. Dartmoor Discovery is hilly, but in my own experience it is the downhills that can hurt the most.
Feb 2022
5:24pm, 16 Feb 2022
4,719 posts
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FergusG
Loch Ness is certainly 'lumpy', and I found it harder than I'd expect a net-downhill course to be. It sill irks me (even though it was way back 2014 and 2015 that I ran it), that powerof10 show it on my record as a 'MarDH' rather than a 'Mar'!
Feb 2022
6:20pm, 16 Feb 2022
41,496 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I PB'd on Loch Ness at the time, but I wouldn't say it was a "quick" course. It's got a couple of decent uphills and even the net down at the start and the "flat" along the lochside has plenty of wee ups in it too. Hard to maintain rhythm, versus a pancake flat London, for instance.

Pretty though!

When doing proper lumpy, longer races, we prepared by deliberate, quad-mashing downhill speed repeats (Kenyan hills) down some local hills. It's flippin good training to avoid quad tiredness later in any race, even a flat one, full stop! :-) G

About This Thread

Maintained by Windsor Wool
For those who want to go sub 3.15 in a marathon and/or those that have already done it and want to give advice. Share your journey or help someone else's here.

2025 targets:

Chicago 12 Oct: Mark
Abingdon 19 Oct: Clare
York 19 Oct: PJH

2025 achievers:
Charles 3:07 @ Ghent
Mark 3:07 @ Christchurch
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