#1: Target time analysis and first test

In the first blog I deal with the analysis of the initial situation and the objectives. Let's start with the goal first:

Run 42.195 km in less than 2:40 hours. If I convert these 160 minutes into the pace to be run, I end up with a maximum target pace of 3:47 min/km for each of these 42 kilometers.

For the marathon this would mean the following times:

1 km - 3:47 mins

5 km - 18:55 min

10 km - 37:50 mins

20km - 1h15h40

21.1 km - 1:19:49 h

30km - 1h53h30

42.195 km - 2:39:38 h

That's a house number! Is this realistic? I think so!

A small side note: Patrick Lange ran the marathon in 2:39:45 in his Hawaii victory in 2018 - but after swimming 3.8 km, cycling 180 km and extreme climatic conditions. Brutally! Greatest respect!

But: I would be faster than the world champion ;-)

As already described, in the past few weeks I had done my running units more on the basis of gut feeling and placed greater value on developing speed than on volume. True to the training wisdom: "If you can't run fast over short distances, you won't be able to run long distances fast either" (the "phrase pig" is hereby opened). Therefore, a 3:47 pace is not a mental hurdle for me at first, but a A pace that I was already able to run well over shorter sections in the previous running units and even undercut significantly.

Position determination: 10 km test

But how long can I keep this up? Where am I right now? What are the training priorities for the next few weeks? In order to get answers to these questions, a performance test was the first thing to do: a 10 km test on the track . 

Out of training, with no great rest periods beforehand, short and painless. Well - we'll cancel the "painless" again... After a short warm-up and run-ABC warm-up, we started: 25 laps of 400m each. The watch tracked via GPS, but in the end it wasn't accurate, but showed a bit too much - 10.17 km instead of the exact 10 km. This also distorts the average shown a bit.

Result: 37:30 min gives an average of 3:45 min/km

OK. I can live with that for now. BUT: That was 10 kilometers in top conditions and I was close to exhaustion. That means my marathon target pace is pretty much the same as my current threshold pace of 3:45 min/km. So this 10 four times in a row - no chance at the moment! But that is exactly where the core lies for the next few weeks:

The marathon pace must not be a threshold pace, but must be in the lower intensity range!

This means for the training:

1. Increase in volume and improvement in basic endurance

2. Improvement of base speed and threshold speed

1. Circumferences and basic endurance

It is clear that you cannot win a flower pot with 30-40 km/week. This means that the scope is increased in the first step. With this increase, an important training principle is in the foreground: FREQUENCY BEFORE DURATION . It's no use just throwing long runs into your training plan - tendons, ligaments or joints are usually the weakest link. Overload symptoms (knee pain, periosteum inflammation or tendon irritation) would be inevitable, I really want to avoid that. So: instead of three running units per week, there is now a fourth, then a fifth. I'm slowly approaching the longer runs now. Everything that is over 20 km, I miss so far completely. But that has to be a veeeery important part of marathon training, since these long basic units are extremely important for fat metabolism. I will make another contribution to this topic, since the energy metabolism is one of the performance-limiting factors in a marathon. Brutally important!

Started a bit optimistic: on the second 5 km I had to slow down significantly. The speed hardness over longer distances is still missing.

2. Base Speed ​​and Threshold Pace