Realistic Marathon Time Goal?

Member

2004 is coming to a close and I'm beginning to wind down, take some time off and get ready for next year. I'm planning to run my 1st marathon most likely late next year (October 9th, 2005) and I'm currently trying to figure out what would be a realistic time goal to aim for. That leaves me with 9 months of training time starting from January (excluding taper). In general I'm leaning towards a much longer base building period of 5 months (20 weeks) and another 4 months (16 weeks) of intensity/marathon specific training. I'll probably have a few tune-up/practice shorter distance races thrown in during time as well. I know I have to be somewhat conservative since this is my first one. On the other hand I have time on my side.
I'm currently deciding between a 3:10, 3:00, or sub 3:00 marathon....sub 3 may seem lofty but given the amount of time I have, I dunno...it may be a possibility. Any thoughts or suggestions of which path to take?

Thanks Smile

Gone Fishin

Double your halfM time and add 10-minutes... that's a good rule of thumb. And just my personal jingle here, but for you Tim, I'd say to not buy into the "first timer, just finish" mentality and/or the "go for the experience". From your run reports and racing of late, there is no reason not to pin your plan on a finish time. I'd say if you get some tune-up races that show you are in 1:25 halfM shape and you've got the miles in the bank to race for sub-3, then by all means, DO IT!

Member

If it were me I'd shoot for something even loftier than a sub 3. Maybe 2:50-2:55. But that's me, I like making lofty goals and I'm fine with not reaching them (as long as the effort was there).

Pyromaniac

I think sub 3:00 is definitely worth shooting for. As your training progresses you could alter it if necessary.

Excelent

Sub 3:00 is not an unrealistic goal at this point. You're young enough, and you have a good base going at this point

Frightened Inmate #2

I'll cast another vote for sub 3 hrs.

Of course, my vote doesn't mean much because the longest distance I've ever raced was a 1/2 marathon and that was 3 years ago.

FWIW - I think I may try to run a marathon when I'm fairly confident that I can get it done in 3 hrs. or less. I'm really not so hyped up on running that I want to be out there for more than 3 hrs. Running for 2 hrs. is about my max now.

Member

If you're using a program and you need to know your target finishing time right now......I'd go with 3:05 or 3:10 goal. Your main concern right now is the mileage right now, it isn't going to matter a whole lot whether you're doing those long runs at 7:30 or 7:45. As you progress to where you start doing a few marathon paced runs and/or tempo runs, you can always adjust if they are too easy. (the hardest part is determining what "too easy" means---because you'll never actually run a 14 mile MP run and say "that was a piece of cake")

For right now, I think sub 3 is a little lofty for your first marathon, not impossible, but even if you did succeed, the recovery for those extra few minutes.....well, from my own experience....not worth it. If you want me to elaborate more on that, PM me. Like jrjo, I go against the "do it to finish" idea, when you are running at a certain level, that idea is ridiculous if you're training 6 months for something. But at the same time, keep the goal as a stepping stone.

Realistic Marathon Time Goal?

LIFEFORM SOCIAL COMMUNITY NETWORK