I'm gonna give qualifying another go, probably in December. Training the past couple of years got derailed a bit leading up to my races, so I'm looking to change things up.

When you were training to BQ, did you:

A) hire a coach?
B) go with an online training plan?
C) devise your own training plan?
D) other?

What was your general training like in the months before beginning your 16-18 week countdown to race day?

My challenge has been that I run Houston in January, rest a bit, train some leading up to the Texas Independence Relay in the Spring, then have nothing on my calendar. I guess my main goal right now is to come up with a plan for now through the end of summer when I'll begin my plan for race day (w/out getting burned out).

thanks

I had a coach and ran on a team with lots of low 3/sub 3 runners, so had a great support system, consistent training, and saw my coach, in person, multiple times a week.

I know that's not the norm or easy for people to assemble.

No coach. 99.% of my runs are solo.

First few marathons were with a Higdon plan found online. All bq races were done under Hanson's plans from the Hanson's Marathon Method or something like that book. I think I would have got a bq time with Higdon but needed a plan with less time commitment on the long runs.

I will sometimes modify the pace or run length on my plan based on how my body feels and weather conditions but that is as close as I get to making my own plan.

Every year I tell myself I am going to write a plan down to build up training going into marathon season. Every year I end up forgetting when training will start and do not have the base I think I need going into training. This year I am working on Sprint work over the next few months to prep for training season.

Where is your fitness currently?

I never give my runners a full 18-week training plan, too many things can change between now and the race, but you have to keep the big picture in mind. The benefit to a coach is their ability to adapt the plan to your needs and hopefully improving fitness.

I personally BQ'd following Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning plan. I used Hal Higdon to get within striking distance and once I felt like I had mastered his plans I moved onto Petes.

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Where is your fitness currently?

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Pretty decent (for me). I ran San Antonio in December. Then Houston in January; my 15th marathon. Was doing 30-40 miles a week leading up to TIR.

I'm trying to keep up a good base, but also mix in weekly speed work. My past 2 training cycles for Houston have been heavier mileage compared to previous years (eg., 6 or 7 long runs of 20 miles). I also got injured twice - one knee issue, and one snowboarding incident.

I just ordered Hanson's book, as I've seen it recommended before.

I was referring more to how far away from getting BQ you currently were.

Just keep at it, regardless of what you decide to do, consistency is key in any training plan. Put in the work and you'll see the results. Good luck!

I'm reading Pftiz's book right now. Still early days, but I've used HH for my 1st 3 marathons and then wrote my own plan for number #4 and PR'd by a large margin. Still a long long way to go to get to that 3:05 mark though.

Don't forget you don't always have to get faster. You can stay the same speed and get older and eventually get in assuming you are within 10-20 minutes now.

I qualified at my 8th marathon after slowly working my times down over the course of 8 years or so, with drastic improvement over the last 2 years of that time span. That was when I went from just randomly signing up for a half/full marathon every now and then all the way to committing to running consistent weekly mileage.

I went through a few Higdon plans, then I read the Hanson's book, the Pfitzinger book, and the Koop Ultramarathon book. After reading those, and training consistently, now I write my own training plans.

For me, the most important thing was running consistent mileage every week. I typically run 6 days per week. 4 of the days are just easy, 1 speed/tempo run, and 1 long run.

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I was referring more to how far away from getting BQ you currently were.

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Oh, yeah I've got work to do. My PR is 3:33, 6 years ago. I need a 3:10. I know I can just "get older" but I want to qualify with the current standard (or even 3:05 if I can really get after it). After my PR I ran a number of races w/out a written plan. Then got back to written plans 2 years ago. Had I not hurt my knee 5 weeks before the race, I think I was on my way to a 3:25 or so in January 2017.

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For me, the most important thing was running consistent mileage every week. I typically run 6 days per week. 4 of the days are just easy, 1 speed/tempo run, and 1 long run.

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I was kind of doing this from January through March, but have slacked a bit the last couple of weeks as I've been working on a house project. Right now I need to right down a plan to get me through the summer.

NoahAg said:

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I was referring more to how far away from getting BQ you currently were.

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Oh, yeah I've got work to do. My PR is 3:33, 6 years ago. I need a 3:10. I know I can just "get older" but I want to qualify with the current standard (or even 3:05 if I can really get after it). After my PR I ran a number of races w/out a written plan. Then got back to written plans 2 years ago.

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I was able to improve from 3:30 down to 3:00 in the span of 1 year. I just went back and looked at my training log and I ran 3100 miles in that 12 month period, which works out to about 60 miles per week. I'm not advocating that you (or anyone) should just jump right up to 60 mpw. But, I had started to see marked improvement when I worked myself up from 35 to 50 mpw, so I just kept building from there. I'm a 33 y/o male, btw.

Find a plan, and consistently stick with it, and the results will definitely come.

You may be closer than you think. I think my first BQ time was a 15 or 20 minute PR. Depending on where you are and conditions of the races you have run, you might just be a good weather race day away.

So I've lost nearly 10 lbs since I started this thread. I wasn't trying to lose weight. Just a combination of completing Whole30 with my wife, and running consistently.

Next question: Have/do any of you try to get down to a certain goal weight when you're going for a PR?

I've never been overweight, but over the last 30 days I certainly shed a few extra lbs that were hiding. I see that one trap I've fallen into during previous training cycles was thinking I could eat whatever I wanted b/c I was burning so many calories. I definitely feel healthier now.

I have played around with different weights and found out what works for me. 165 for most of training and 160 for my races worked. Any lower than that and my energy would suffer, any higher than 167 and I would see my run times suffer

I just let me weight be what it is. I think I tend to pretty consistently lose the same amount during training. So for me the key would be to put in the effort during the off-season. I also run to eat. Pretty sure not eating Whataburger would help if I had a goal weight.

Should be able to depending on your background. I would either add 10% a week or as 15-25% one week, then hold there or back off 5-10%, then up 15-25% again and repeat until you hit 8 weeks.

Make sure you listen to your body and pay attention to any aches or pains. You'll need to back off on the pace you ramp up if your body isn't making the adjustments.

There will probably be better advice than that.

sims05 said:

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I just let me weight be what it is. I think I tend to pretty consistently lose the same amount during training. So for me the key would be to put in the effort during the off-season. I also run to eat. Pretty sure not eating Whataburger would help if I had a goal weight.

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I also run to eat and drink but find that once I get inside of about 6 weeks to an A race, it's easy for me to cut back and drop the last few lbs. After 16 weeks of training, that beer or reaching my goal is a fairly easy choice.

No coach... solo runs... use a hal higdon plan but did no speed work. but my qualifying time in 2007 for my age group was 3:15... it is more stringent now.

The one thing I did that had me in the greatest shape of my life was consistent core work. Abs, lower back, obliques... pretty sure that had a huge impact on being able to maintain my pace that I needed.

3 month follow up. Since starting this thread I have been running more consistently than ever.

When you trained to BQ, what was your weekly mileage?

I'm on week 7 of following Hansons plan, and I've been at 50/week for the last 4 weeks. While I've done higher mileage in the past, I'm doing more "quality" workouts now. Still, part of me wants to be closer to 70/week.

I no everyone's training is different. Just curious what's worked for y'all.

I've been all over the place. I've run a 3:00:30ish with only running 3 days a week coming off a stress fracture.

My usual build up is 18 weeks with mileage between 60-90.

More miles generally = faster times but you can also just run yourself into the ground chasing some arbitrary weekly mileage goal.

CastleRock said:

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My easy runs and long runs are between 9:45-10:30/mile. I can keep up a 9:09/pace for 3-6miles.

Any chance of breaking 4 hours? I'm 6 weeks into Higdon 2.

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I think so. When I trained for my first I used a tweaked version of Higdon's plan There was little variation in pace between my runs. Most of my runs were 9:30-10/mile. I only ran 4-5 days a week and peaked at 35-40 miles.

I figured I'd go for 4:30, but a couple weeks before the race I decided I'd try for 4:00. Ended up running 3:57. Even though it's a long race I do think there's an adrenaline effect on race day, especially for the bigger races like Houston.

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My easy runs and long runs are between 9:45-10:30/mile. I can keep up a 9:09/pace for 3-6miles.

Any chance of breaking 4 hours? I'm 6 weeks into Higdon 2.

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Yes - your times are pretty much me. Long runs are usually around 10-10:30 - I rarely break 9:00 on any practice run. BCS marathon I did 3:54...a 13.1 I did a month later I did 1:45. I average 50-60mpw. 41yo m.