The Sub 3:15 Marathon Thread

329 watchers
Jul 2015
8:53pm, 5 Jul 2015
4,692 posts
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Joe Hawk
Potteries didn't go great, got it done don't think I'll rush back next year.
Jul 2015
9:05am, 6 Jul 2015
2,003 posts
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Huntsman
I've got a trail half marathon this Sunday called The Stansted Park Slog. Going to attempt about 10 miles of the race at 7:30 - 7:40 pace. A few of the hills I will be walking up as very very steep.

Anyone else racing this week?
Jul 2015
9:27am, 6 Jul 2015
837 posts
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dan.
I'm hungover; I enjoyed the post-race social ;-)

3:06 for me on a very tough course, quite warm, really enjoyed it though. Ran within myself and was pushing on throughout the race. I haven't looked at the splits but I would think it was pretty even or possibly a negative split. We won the team prize and I was a counter which was brill :-)
Jul 2015
9:41am, 6 Jul 2015
24,749 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Wow, well done dan, that's impressive to be able to do a 3:06 as an "easy" race. Congrats on team prize. I love doing races as a club or team, as running is so often seen as just a solo sport, but it can be really teamy! :-) G
Jul 2015
9:49am, 6 Jul 2015
838 posts
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dan.
Cheers Happy, and now you've got the ultras out of your system we'll be seeing you around here more I hope. Have you signed up for any maras yet?
Jul 2015
10:09am, 6 Jul 2015
3,195 posts
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clare1976
Well done Dan, when we won the ladies team prize at Abingdon marathon it went some way towards making up for the mess I made of my own race.

Please can I have some advice on getting some speed back when marathon training? I have completely lost all my short distance speed this year especially since being injured earlier in the year. I have endurance and can easily hold what I'd call 'marathon pace / effort' but I am struggling with the faster stuff. Last year I seemed to achieve both endurance and speed so I know they aren't mutually exclusive, but it's like I have a barrier at the moment. Do I need to man up and do more tempo runs, pushing myself hard? Would some shorter reps of say 800m, 1k, mile etc help me? Or a mixture? I have done all of those in the past but don't want to tire myself out without getting the benefits at the same time by doing too much faster stuff.

Yesterday I had a half marathon. It has significant hills up and down at the start and the end and the Middle is gentle rolling. it's not a PB course and I'm nowhere near PB fitness so I thought I'd use it as a marker. But after a few miles, I realised I was running within myself and my heart rate was what I'd expect for a marathon, so I stuck to marathon effort until the hill near the end when I pushed myself harder. I knew I wasn't running at half race effort, but it was as though I didn't have it in me to even if I'd tried. It was all too easy to default back to marathon effort as that's what I seem to be best at these days. I am concerned that if I had tried to push harder and race a bit, I'd have blown up. Yet I know I should have been able to go harder based on my heart rate. My CV system suggests yes but my legs and body are saying no! Marathon training is important to me as I build up to Chester, but I also want a crack at a good HM in early September, so I want to try and get some of my sharpness back as well if I can.

Thanks!
Jul 2015
10:10am, 6 Jul 2015
24,750 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Half marathons so far dan. Going to try and get some speed back into the legs. Hoping that I've done enough "long runs" to count as a decent endurance base. It's all about trying to sharpen up a bit. 8 min / mile feels like sprinting at the moment! :-) G
Jul 2015
10:15am, 6 Jul 2015
2,807 posts
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Curly45
Well done dan. great running! :)

Clare - I did short reps during marathon training over the winter - 200m-1k once a week and found it really helpful for my turnover and speed. I did find I had to do long warm-ups (3-4 miles) before the session and the next day's morning run was pretty awful but it did work.

It's about what you can handle though. I also find core work and strength stuff really useful for the shorter stuff.
Jul 2015
10:19am, 6 Jul 2015
24,751 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Clare, that sounds a bit strange. Have you tried doing a 5k or other fixed distance time trial? An all out effort to see where you are? Most training plans recommend this somewhere (either at start of your plan, or during it) in order to gauge you real current ability. You then adjust your training paces based on this and your target marathon pace can be judged from your paces that you then do in training.

I would say that some people have good marathon pace but poor 5K, others are the other way round and hence need to concentrate on different things in training. I'm probably at your end of the spectrum at mo - I can go long and quite steady, but a 5K would be woeful. So I feel I need to concentrate on short stuff - even shorter than 800m / 1k reps for intervals. I'm going to do 200 and 400m (many clubs' speed work has shorter intervals, usually for benefit of those doing 5K, 10K, half training etc.) I think we'd benefit from that. Just, imho of course. Others may advise differently! :-) G
Jul 2015
10:46am, 6 Jul 2015
2,004 posts
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Huntsman
Clare - include strides in your runs. 600m/800m/1k intervals are included in the P&D schedule towards the back end of training. The intervals are ran at 5k pace with 50-90% rest in between intervals. I haven't ever done the sessions before so no idea if they are going to work or not :-)

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.

2024 declarations:

Milan 7/4: Charles
Manchester 14/4: allmatthew, Fergus
Rotterdam 14/4: Akie
Christchurch NZ 21/4: Mark J
London 21/4: KS, larkim
Boston UK 28/4: SJA
Copenhagen 5/5: bowman

-----------------------------
2023 sub 3:15s:

Bowman: 3:06:57 (Växjö), 3:09 (Jönköping)
charlesvdw: 3:03:33 (Berlin), 3:07:55 (London)
chrismean: 3:12:45 (London)
FergusG: 3:13:41 (Manchester)
JDA: 2:52:48 (Manchester)
larkim: 3:09:30 (London)
Rossco: 3:05:15 (NYC)
WW: 3:05:45 (Manchester)

Other very notable 2023 performances:

allmatthew: 3:17:40 (Manchester)
Clare: 3:16:59 (London)
KS: 3:35:13 (London)
tipsku: 3:29:36 (Leipzig)

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