Seeking a better country...

Kam I think your dead on about the mileage thing. I feel the same way about the price to pay for a sub 3 and want the sub 3 but don't know about the price I'm willing to pay for it.

I averaged prob 47 miles for the 3:02 I got last yr. I wonder IF perhaps I did 55-60 mpw if that truly will be the difference maker in a sub 3???

Angie, when it happens, I don't want it to be close. I want to train for a 2:50ish and settle for a 2:55. In looking at dozens of marathons in the 2:50-2:58 range, the one thing you can count on is 60-70 in the months leading up to the marathon. Jake's blog title is the truth. "The secret is there's no secret." It seems possible to fake it up to the half marathon distance, but to run under 6:40 pace for 26.2 miles, you just have to put in crazy miles. Unless you are Christi. She's the one outlier, and ran a 2:52 at st. george on 45 mpw, but with tons of high quality miles.

I think if it's worth running the race it's worth training for. I agree if your going to shoot for a sub 3 kill it and be well under.

I think in order for me to run those kind of weekly miles I def need to slow down my AP.

Kam,

since I moved back to the homeland, I discovered that around here people (from hobbyjoggers to local/national stars) train very differently than in Utah. I am one of the few ones still "obsessed" by mileage, while most of the runners around here make the center of their focus how many hard workouts (intervals, tempo, you name it) they can squeeze in a week (from 2 to 3), while the rest of the week are just easy miles or complete rest (it depends also on their goal race). For the marathon the only key workout is to do as many kilometers as possible at race pace runs up to 18-20 miles with a few k as a warm up and a cool down. I know many people who routinely do a couple of long runs 30k long at race pace (over 4 months of preparation) while every week end go out to do a HM at marathon pace (and they have a 2:40-2:50 marathon time).

I know that skipping runs, running below 100 miles/week and doing fast/speed workout (if you are not a sub 3:00 marathon runner) is really considered a typical "gentile" behavior on this blog, but in other parts of the world is considered normal.

You have just to use the time you have without worrying much. I stopped being slave of the mileage counter, I focus more on working hard and everything else will fall in place.

Good luck and don't give up already.

Congrats on the Garmin. Nicely done and good to know. I don't have any sprinklers to run through so maybe mine will last longer.

On the mileage front, I feel the same way. There is no secret, and it's all about the base mileage and as Camillo points out, the quality miles in there as well. Regardless of whether you go for a sub 3, you did earn the right to say you're a 3 hour marathoner. That's impressive.

I'm late to the party here. I think your bet is safer with more miles, but my opinion is that over 50 miles is not absolutely necessary. Better yes, necessary no. I think tempos and long runs are the key with some added race specific runs. I do believe in junk miles not to be confused with recovery miles. What do I know though, I just ran a 3:12... not the best source here for your time goal:)