Preparing for first Marathon

[Eric Day]

This year I have dedicated my running to preparing myself for my first marathon. I have increased my mileage to 10 daily miles + a long run. Most of the time I've done 6 runs a weeks, although I have missed some days due to many excuses. This sunday I did a 19 mile long run at a 5:58 min/km pace and felt 'comfortable' with it. My objective is not to race the marathon but run it and finish in a decent time frame (around 3:45). Is this do-able? Am I missing something?
My marathon is on Dec 6th, so still have a few weeks, plus need to put in a few more long runs. I have another 19 miles this sunday, then a 25k hilly run, then a 35k run. After that I will begin to taper the long runs...

Please feel free to review my training run and comment as much as possible. All review is greatly appreciated.

[Chris M]

Just looking I noticed the following (and thought of some questions too!):
Looking at your PRs, for your half, when you ran it was it a very hilly course?
Your 10km pace is 7:17 per mile and your half pace 7:55 which is quite a large difference. I think you might be able to run a bit quicker over the half marathon distance perhaps? In comparison I lose about 15secs per mile from 10k to half distance. I imagine with the consistent 10 miles daily run your endurance should be pretty good, have you noticed the average time/effort of the daily 10 mile run changing? How do you feel when you do that run - is the pace easy, do you feel you could run much faster and have to hold yourself back?

How do you feel the day after your long runs? Any muscle soreness, do you run the day after normally?

I think your goal of 8:35 pace for around 3:45 sounds achievable, the pace of your long runs seems reasonable for that kind of finish time.
One thing to watch for is going into the marathon overtrained which in hindsight is what I did when I ran my first one!

What is the course like for your marathon?

[Eric Day]

Thanks Chris.
Lets see...let me try to answer the questions.
Yes, the last half hilly, there was a killer kill at km 17 which almost beat me.
Avg time/effort are reasonably the same; but I can say I feel better now than a few weeks before. Sometimes I think I can go faster and sustain the pace for the whole run (but I hold myself back).
The day after the long run I feel almost fine, muscle soreness no, just my groin area is a little sore for one or two days after my long runs.
The course is pancake flat, at sea level (its in Mazatlan, one of Mexico's famous beaches).

[Sasha Pachev]

Chris - Eric has too challenges. He is fairly new to running, and he is a former smoker. With this background, for the next 3-5 years his endurance will be lagging some - he will be losing more than the average runner training at his volume as the distances get longer.

Eric - I think 3:45 is doable. But marathon is a mystery. Very unpredictable. Especially the first one. So I'd say just go out at the target pace and try to hold it until possible failure. If the failure happens, try to contain the damage and learn from it. If not, be thankful.

[Eric Day]

Sasha, I didn't get the part

he will be losing more than the average runner

. Could you explain?
Also, should I worry about running at sea level? It will be much more humid and hotter than my average training where at Guadalajara. I understand that going down to sea level will be better for me...

[Chris M]

He is a former smoker.

Whoops! I wasn't aware that you used to be a smoker Eric, so your progress is really good with that in mind! Great that you gave up smoking too.

What you say explains the half time. Plus (I think) you live/train at altitude? So the pace of your daily runs/effort is more than the time/paces would suggest.

 

[Sasha Pachev]

Eric:

There is a certain rate of slow down that happens as you increase the distance of your race. Let's consider Ryan Hall as an example. He can run the mile in 3:59, then he slows down to 4:16/mile in a 5 K, 4:33/mile in the half and 4:49/mile in the full marathon. So he races the marathon at 83% speed of his best mile. The reason he is able to do so is that he is in good health, and he has been training at high mileage for a long time.

Depending on the conditioning and health history you will see a variety of marathon speed/mile speed ratios among runners. While it would take a miracle to take your average runner and condition him to run a 3:59 mile, it is quite realistic to expect for the average runner to achieve 83% or higher ratio of the marathon speed to the mile through proper endurance training overtime. Those who have a disadvantage of some kind that affects their current endurance will have that ratio at a much lower level, though. They will lose more speed than expected as the distance increases until something is done to overcome or compensate for that disadvantage.

I estimate that you can run a mile in around 6:00 in a race situation. If you were to race the marathon at 83% of your mile speed, it would give you 3:09:32. It is not going to happen in the next few weeks, but with time not only will your ratio improve, your mile speed will improve as well.
 

[April G]

This makes sense Eric.  As a former smoker and new runner I slow down a lot too as the distance increases.  I think as long as you stay consistent and keep at it in your training you will overcome it.   Really, though, think of how far you have come by being persistent and getting those runs in!  Just think of how much farther you will go in another year of running and not smoking!