Tam's training for 3:45:00" in Feb. 2008

September 20, 2026

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Location:

Austin,TX,USA

Member Since:

Sep 11, 2006

Gender:

Unknown

Goal Type:

Unknown

Running Accomplishments:

Paul & Tam at Congress Avenue Mile: 5:46" 2004. Marathon: 3:44'

Short-Term Running Goals:

Run AT&T Marathon (Feb.18, 2007) in 3:30:59" to qualify for Boston.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Being healthy at 59... like Paul!

Personal:

Married, 2 kids, boy and girl.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Sun, Oct 01, 2006

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
3.00	0.00	2.50	3.50	9.00

IBM 10K race. T=73-76 degrees. Humid 75%.

Slept 7 hrs. Woke up 2.5 hrs before race time. Well hyderated. Good relax warm up for 2 miles. Drills.

Ran 6.2 miles at 7:36" AVG

Warm down 1 mile.

To qualify for Boston I would need to run a 3:30:00” marathon or for a 10K I would need to run at 7:12” pace.

My last 2 miles time trial at 6:50” pace suggests that I potentially could run a marathon at 3:36:18” or a 10K at 7:24” pace. And that was my goal for this 10K.

I did not have a watch on me so the first 2 miles I was running at about 90-91% effort which seems pretty comfortable to me. Everything works as planned. I felt like I could keep going at this pace for 6.2 miles. The official clock said 8:30” for the first mile but I had a late start so it doesn’t tell me much about my pace. I felt like I was running at about 7:20”-7:30” pace. I learned later I ran the 1st mile at 7:39" pace. Going into the 3rd mile, with a little bit of incline, my body started feeling the heat. My legs and my heart (rate) started working harder and harder to maintain the pace and keep up with the group that I had been running with. At about 3 mile mark, I was sweating a lots and my breathing became uncontrollably hard (95-98% effort). I was forced to slow down and take a 30 meters walk break during the water stops. I slowed down even more during mile 4th & 5th, forced to take some additional walking breaks beside the usual water stops and it was so painful that I was seriously thinking of quitting. However, running slower allowed me to recover a little bit. I also felt a little bit better mentally and start picking up the pace on the last mile (second wind?). The downhill plus the thought of finishing the race really helped to carry me on the last mile. I probably ran the last mile at about 7:10”-7:20”, thanks to the strong finish on the last 400 meters. I was totally spent at the end.

I am very disappointed that I ran my 10K at 7:36” pace, not at 7:24” pace as planned, or 7:12” as required for BQ.

The only little consolation is I usually ran at about 8:00” pace for a 10K in October then ran a February marathon at 3:45:00”.

Should I focus more on endurance/MGP/tempo runs and less on speed? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Comments

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Oct 02, 2006 at 13:06:50

You have plenty of speed for a Boston Qualifier, or even for a 3:30 marathon. Just need some base mileage.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Oct 06, 2006 at 07:25:50

Your description of the race sounds like you do need higher mileage and tempo runs to get better. That is also consistent with my observation of your training. I suggest you start with a rule that the day does not end until you've run at least 6 miles. Do not worry about the pace. In fact for three weeks or so, run all of them easy just to get used to the routine. After than, start throwing in 2 mile tempo runs twice a week.

From Tam Hoang on Fri, Oct 06, 2006 at 14:17:35

Thanks for your advices. I will try to do my best to increase the mileage and tempo runs.

What do you think my weekly mileages need to be at this point for a 3:30:00" Marathon training?

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Oct 10, 2006 at 10:00:34

Tam - rather than talking about the mileage it would take to run a certain time in the marathon, I would rather focus on the ideal mileage. The reason being that I believe 3:30 is way below your true potential, and you will go past this goal quite naturally as you do quality training overtime.

Your ideal mileage is probably 70 miles a week based on what I've seen you do in your training so far and how you've responded to it. However, you should build up to it gradually. I suggest you start by never ending a day with less than 6 total miles 6 days a week unless you feel the threat of an injury or are tapering for a very important race. When you feel good, go a bit more. Go 10-12 miles, but no more than that for your long run, and run about 4-6 of them in the middle at 8:00 mile pace, the rest jogging. Do that for a month, and let's see how you respond to it. If you are handling your daily 6 mile runs fine, throw in a couple of miles at 7:45 pace in the middle, but do not do track speedwork.

From Tam Hoang on Fri, Oct 13, 2006 at 12:19:08

Hi Sasha,

I ran 7 Motorola Marathons in the last 8 years. After my first Marathon, I always want to run a 3:30:00 Marathon. I ran my first Marathon at 4:30:00” and second Marathon at 3:45:00” (3 Marathons at about 3:45:00”). During which I trained mostly three times a week: Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. When it was getting close to the marathon, sometimes I ran 4 times a week (Averaged about 25- 35 miles a week). There is no cross training. I normally ran once or twice a week during the summers. I used to be a strong believer of Jeff Galloway Marathon training method until it repeatedly failed me.

I am trying to increase my weekly mileage and focus more on tempo/endurance runs and less on speed work this year.

There are several factors that could make it hard for me to increase my mileages but the biggest one is my wife; she believes 20 minutes x 3 times a week excercise is enough for me! And that's tough to overcome!

These are things that I do this year that is different from the last 8 years:

After the Marathon, consistently trained during the summer, mostly 4 times a week - I am in much better shape coming into this Marathon training program.

Ran 4 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday), occasionally five.

Started cross training 5 weeks ago to strengthen upper body and abdominal. Will do legs work out as well.

Try to meet the time predictor for 1 Mile, 2 Miles, 5K, 10K, 1/2M for a 3:30:00 Marathon before Marathon date. In May, once a week, I started by running 3 miles on the treadmill at 7:47” pace, then after about 3-4 weeks, try to lower it by 6”-7”. This week I should start doing it at 7:18” pace (I ran 3 miles at 7:24” three times in September). After I successfully lower my 5K down to 7:00” pace (I've never done it before), I want to do a weekly tempo run at MGP (8:00”) start at 6 miles and work up to 12 miles.

Run the long run faster, preferably at about 8:30-9:15” pace with some miles at MGP 8:00”. Jeff Galloway said I should run it at 9:30-10:00” pace with 1 minute walking break every mile! Last year, Donnie said I ran too slowly during the long runs.

Believe that I am capable of running a 3:30:00 Marathon and willing to train hard to get it!

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