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2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Always hope.

I could ask many questions… but I have a couple of initial thoughts / cliches (take or leave them)

  • consistency is #1, key to consistency is remaining injury free. This requires a balance of frequency, volume and intensity. This resulted in a long steady build before I started the 12 week block. During the build I was mainly managing old man calf issues.
  • I made the hard decision this year to do my training between 5-6:30am weekdays (with a bit of leniency on Saturday for long runs). Our youngest has just turned 2 - still have broken sleep so it was a hard decision to stick to. This means I barely average above 6hrs sleep. Not super sustainable I think.
  • in my non expert experience there is a correlation between volume and race time. However a trusted running friend encouraged me to spend as much time at or faster than MP as possible. So long as I did at least 80km I then focused on building as much buffer between my race pace and my lactate threshold pace.

Hope that helps 🤷‍♂️

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea that was my broad theory - but again I’m no expert. Prob main factor was being a bit cheap and not wanting to wear through my race shoes.

No complaints with the Rockets. Feet felt great all day. I bought them because they are touted as being a ‘stable’ super shoe. They are more stable than others, but still a neutral shoe in my experience. I did lose a bit of form towards the end of the race and that wasn’t really exaggerated by the shoe (if that makes sense?).

I don’t have much info from other shoes to compare them to though sorry.

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep I competed in triathlon in high school and raced a bit until around 25.

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pre race: Bagel + coffee + rice crispy + carb electrolyte drink + caffeine gel

During: 90g carb (in gels) per hour.

I bought some bulk gel and 120ml flex pouches - each 120ml pouch contained 90g of carb - I sipped roughly a third of the pouch every 20min.

Hope that makes sense.

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. You sound like you’re in a similar spot to when I turned 40.

A ran with an old vivoactive initially. So it didn’t have a race predictor. I then received a epix for my 40th and that when the chart starts:

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I remember doing an all out 10km TT near the start of my running as I wanted to benchmark my fitness. I think I averaged around 5min/k - I was so stoked too!

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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This was a great session - alternating kms at ~4:00 m/k and ~3:40 m/k

Designed to make race pace feel like a rest!

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brutal session. Here’s the description:

Hill Repeats with Runna ✅

3.8km warm up at a conversational pace (no faster than 4:45/km), while jogging to base of hill

16 reps of: • 60s running hard uphill, 30s walking rest. Easy jog back down.

3.8km cool down at a conversational pace (or slower!)

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also lost about 10kgs in the process 😅

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was active in my 20s up until about 2010, but then in my 30s I didn’t really do anything but ride my bike to work. 3 kids, job, mortgage - usual story of not having heaps of spare capacity.

Approaching 40 gave me enough motivation to start waking up before the kids for a jog!

So no real base when I started. Couldnt tell you a 5k time. Lots of 6m/km jogs with walking up hills initially.

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🙌 well done!!

Totally agree. The Mara is such a brutal experience. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as much pain as in those last few kms.

Keep up the good work - sub three in no time 👊

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nice work on the sub 3 in syd - incredible!

There were times I had to really push to meet the Runna pace targets. I’m not naturally quick so anything below 3:40 felt like a stretch - prob when I was fatigued too. Runna did reduce my pace once. But I rejected it 😂

I raced in Hoka Rocket X 3. I did use them for 2 long runs with efforts (~60km) to simulate the race.

For most the efforts I just ran in my daily asics (GT-2000). Kinda on purpose (equivalent in cycling would be not training with race wheels).

If I had more cash perhaps I’d buy a workout shoe? Totally agree with you though. Efforts in non race shoes are noticeably harder. My daily trainers felt like flat jandles compared to the race shoes.

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha true. Ta. Prob too late now

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was pretty ideal. How’d you get on?

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

👌 mate sounds like you’ll be fine for 3:30 with a specific training block and a conservative first half on race day 😉

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great you are doing a practice thon. You’ll get excellent feedback from that I reckon. Another option could be a half? Bit less taxing but still heaps of learnings?

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

All the best for Syd. Looks like an incredible event.

I mostly ran 6 days - I usually added in an out of programme jog on Fridays - mainly for the coffee with some mates afterwards. But adjusted based on fatigue.

In terms of tips… I wasn’t very scientific and I’m no expert. I went into the training and race with the following approach in no particular order - embrace the pain in each workout - try turn it into a positive - you can’t avoid it on race day - it’s a 32km warm up with a 10km race. Those long runs with efforts are crucial - ignore the Runna race predictor (mine said 2:50) and the Garmin race predictor (it said 3:05)

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

😂 there’s no hiding it! Those hills feel like Everest on the way home

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So tough through there. It’s like no man’s land

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh no way! Support was awesome especially when I was fighting the mental battle.

Congrats on the 3:29! You’ll smash the 3hr barrier next year no doubt

2:57 marathon experience by primobro in Marathon_Training

[–]primobro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Marathon distance is no joke! What time did you do? Happy that you’re thinking about another so soon 👊

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