I ran another marathon today in Harrisburg. This was my third. The whole goal that I set for myself two years ago was to break 4 hours.
I was at 1:52 minutes at the half, and still finished in 4:07.
Everything’s fine, except for my legs which start to die on me at about 20 miles from hauling my 200 pounds around. They got so tight and sore, I had to stop and stretch several times, and I just watched my four hour mark slip away. You just can’t run with leg cramps, you have to work them out, or your legs just stop working.
Now, I won’t have another shot at it until next year.
Yeah, but you don’t understand. This has been my goal for two years! Every day, I get out there and pound the pavement for an hour or more with the goal of breaking four hours.
Every month I studiously study Runner’s World for all the extra hints and tips and dietary help. I have the right shoes.
It feels like I went to law school worked my ass off, and studied for the bar, and failed 3 times in a row.
Well, winter’s coming and there’s going to be no marathons around here for a while. Theres a couple in the next few weeks, but I already ran two in the last three weeks. In reality it takes a couple of months for your body to recover from a marathon.
I have sore tendons, and my knee’s bothering me, because I ran these two close together.
So, I need to recover and shouldn’t really consider running another marathon until January. Of course, then it’s the middle of winter, so I’d have to travel.
I have a pregnant wife and a kid, and she ain’t going to let me fly out to some warm place to run a marathon, nor would I feel comfortable doing so.
No matter how hard you try, you always lose some conditioning in the winter. You just can’t do that many outside miles, and treadmill running is easier than running outside.
When spring comes I’ll be getting back into condition, and while there’s marathons then, I have little hope of hitting my mark in Spring.
Then summer comes and it gets really hot. You can cover miles, but it’s hard to get a good time in stifling heat. Nevertheless a lot of training will stand you in good stead.
Then fall comes along and the weather cools off into ideal marathon conditions and you get a shot at a personal best.
is there no training you can do over the winter months, such as swimming? It seems that your issue is with endurance. You seem to have the pacing sorted out.
I would guess that it just went wrong on the day.
Well done and best of luck to you for your next one.
There’s no problem with endurance. I feel good and strong. I’m not even tired after the marathon.
The problem is that I’m 200 pounds. That’s a lot of weight for my legs to carry 26.2 miles at a run. I’m well-conditioned, but it seems like I’ve reached some kind of limit because of my legs.
They just betray the shit out of me right there at the last 3 or four miles. It’s not pain or fatigue. Those are tolerable. My legs just stop working.
If I lose 20 pounds I’ll nail it, but I don’t think I can run much faster at my current weight. At 180 pounds though, I’ll be scrawny.
Maybe it’s something in your pre-race regimen. At the dog track, the last pooch to crap is usually the winner. Maybe if you dump like a nervous greyhound just before the gun you’ll do better. Makes sense, as it’s that much less weight you’re hauling around.
C’mon Scylla, how can to break 4 hours if you don’t do squat?
Scylla sounds like you might be over-training. If you are running over an hour everyday that is not good. You need rest days, and days with short runs. And drop your weekly miles in the weeks before the marathon. Try a virtual coach on the internet (sorry no link). I have never used one but, I have heard they can be helpful.
Another thing to try is cross-training, this will lower the stress on your body and can help your time.
1:52 may be too fast at the split, try for a more even time.
Yeah, I know. I’ve been following a training program. The hour a day was a gross oversimplification.
In training I’m doing about 50 miles a week. There’s a rest day in there as well as light and heavy days.
The week before the race I do about 20 miles. If I’m running on Sunday, I’ll do 5 miles on Wed. 3-5 miles Thurs. a 1-2 light jog on Fri. and nothing on Sat. None of those would be speed runs.
That puts me at about the right mileage and right program for a marathon.
Over the winter my long runs will sort of fade away, and my runs will tend to be 5 miles on the treadmill. Once a week I’ll do 10.
As for the split time, I dunno. The only thing that’s bothering me is the strain on my legs. I’m not getting fatigued or exhausted. The scary thing is that I probably was running a negative up until mile 21 or 22.
In that case, it sounds very much like you’ve answered your dilemma Scylla - you need to lose a bit more weight.
I’m not quite sure how you reckon it’ll take as much as 20 pounds though. You’re looking to shave off 7 minutes from 247, which by my math works out at just under 3%.
I’d have thought that a similar drop in weight, say 7 pounds, might just give you the boost you’re looking for.
Now I’m a hockey player, not a runner, but from my experience even a difference of 7 pounds is pretty noticeable over an hour of hockey. Over an endurance event like a marathon, I’d have thought it’d make a big difference, and all without losing much in the way of muscle mass.
