What is the minimum mileage I need to run sub 3?

Impossible to answer right.

But my guess for you would be 50-60 miles if you train properly.

Yes, I was thinking 55-60 miles.

However I was also debating just aiming for 3:05-3:10, but I don't want to do the marathon again for a long time, so I feel like I should shoot for sub 3 again.

Yeah 50-60, prolly can do it on less with fast PRs & a good fueling plan.

It's up to your body and your talent level.

Obviously, more milage gives you more room to mistakes in the first half of the race. On less milage you typically need to execute much more flawlessly.

I believe you need to run 26.219 for it to be official.

calf issues wrote:

I ran a marathon a few months ago and blew up because I didn't fuel properly. I was holding 6:45-6:50 pace for about 17 miles and then walked / jogged to the end.

Since then I have run a 37 minute 10k. I have also aquired a few niggling injuries. I want to make my training as efficient as possible with regular tempos and intervals, so what is the minimum mileage I can get away with. Last time I did 70 miles a week but I'm not going to do that this time.

Thanks

How do you know you blew up because you didn't fuel properly?

Is it possible you blew up because you overestimated your fitness or over trained?

This seems to be a much more likely reason you could only run 17 miles at "marathon pace"

Minimum? Something like 40-45?

If you’re long run is 22-25 miles, you’d probably be able to maintain that fitness with one more run of about 15-18 or two runs of 10-14.

If you’re doing 7 runs a week of 10 miles per run average, that is not marathon training. That’s 5k/10k training.

Build up your long run and only add in extra mileage that will keep your fitness but leave you recovered for your next long run.

Ezra K. wrote:

Minimum? Something like 40-45?

If you’re long run is 22-25 miles, you’d probably be able to maintain that fitness with one more run of about 15-18 or two runs of 10-14.

If you’re doing 7 runs a week of 10 miles per run average, that is not marathon training. That’s 5k/10k training.

Build up your long run and only add in extra mileage that will keep your fitness but leave you recovered for your next long run.

I think most (male) runners with some level of fitness/talent would crack 3 running 7 10-milers a week.

Heck, I ran 3:12 on 45 mpw with my longest run being about 18.

if you did a 37' 10k and 70mpw but didn't get sub 3 it was either a suboptimal conditions or just a bad day, or you overtrained

i've done under 3 twice on non-downhill courses. never broke 38' in 10k and never ran more than 70 in a peak week, much less averaged it

calf issues wrote:

I ran a marathon a few months ago and blew up because I didn't fuel properly. I was holding 6:45-6:50 pace for about 17 miles and then walked / jogged to the end.

Since then I have run a 37 minute 10k. I have also aquired a few niggling injuries. I want to make my training as efficient as possible with regular tempos and intervals, so what is the minimum mileage I can get away with. Last time I did 70 miles a week but I'm not going to do that this time.

Thanks

What was your 10k fitness right before or during your last build-up? That'll indicate how much you've improved since then, but it does seem like you didn't quite have sub-3 fitness last time if you only made it 2/3 of the way. But more training and time will help!

26.2 miles

Maybe 26.5 if ya don't run da tangents

calf issues wrote:

I ran a marathon a few months ago and blew up because I didn't fuel properly. I was holding 6:45-6:50 pace for about 17 miles and then walked / jogged to the end.

Since then I have run a 37 minute 10k. I have also aquired a few niggling injuries. I want to make my training as efficient as possible with regular tempos and intervals, so what is the minimum mileage I can get away with. Last time I did 70 miles a week but I'm not going to do that this time.

Thanks

Depends on various factors including age, athletic ability, and pain threshold. Generally I would think 70 mpw unnecessary. For me, the first marathon was 3:08 on 35 mpw. The second and third were 2:49 and 2:47 on 50-55 mpw. I was in my late 20s and early 30s, and had not run track/XC in HS or college. Fueling during the race was irrelevant because we didn't really do that in the early '80s, and we didn't have super shoes.

So I'd posit 50-60 miles per week.

i ran 2:58 off of a peak of 63 miles but that was my only week over 60. there were a lot of upper 40s/low 50s weeks in there. i ran a 17:30 5K a few weeks before the marathon. i was 29 at the time, former slow college runner.

If you're athletic at all, then you need 30 mpw in your 30s, 40 in your 40s, 50 mpw....in your 50s.

calf issues wrote:

I ran a marathon a few months ago and blew up because I didn't fuel properly. I was holding 6:45-6:50 pace for about 17 miles and then walked / jogged to the end.

Since then I have run a 37 minute 10k. I have also aquired a few niggling injuries. I want to make my training as efficient as possible with regular tempos and intervals, so what is the minimum mileage I can get away with. Last time I did 70 miles a week but I'm not going to do that this time.

Thanks

This is going to depend on how you define efficiency.

If you define it as running as few mpw as possible, then you can probably do it on 25-30 mpw. You should probably do a long run of 15-20 miles once a week, and then do another run of 10 miles sometime during the week.

I bet you will be more likely to get injured and it may take you a lot longer to achieve your goal, if that's how you define efficiency.

I would guess that running 60-70 mpw would be pretty efficient for most people to run a good marathon. Certainly, if you can run a 37:00 10k, you are fast enough to run a 3:00 marathon without too much trouble. All you need is endurance. The easiest way to get there would be to run more. The harder way is to hurt more, but it's less miles...

I ran 2:37 on 35 MPW. I did hit 40 miles one week when I did an 18 miler but 35 was the average for about 10 weeks prior.

You blew up at 17 miles and walked/jogged because you weren't in sub 3 shape or anywhere close not because of your fuelling. A 37 min 10k predicts sub 3 but only being able to hold sub 3 pace for 17 miles suggests you are not sufficiently aerobically conditioned for the marathon. Running less miles and more tempos (which I suspect you are running too fast anyway) and intervals is only going to exacerbate that discrepency. You're also likely to end up properly injured.

Ezra K. wrote:

Minimum? Something like 40-45?

If you’re long run is 22-25 miles, you’d probably be able to maintain that fitness with one more run of about 15-18 or two runs of 10-14.

If you’re doing 7 runs a week of 10 miles per run average, that is not marathon training. That’s 5k/10k training.

Build up your long run and only add in extra mileage that will keep your fitness but leave you recovered for your next long run.

Seven runs a week of 10 miles per run average is very much marathon training for a 3 hour type runner especially if a couple of those are marathon paced tempos. Running 40 - 45 miles a week in 2 runs with 22 - 25 in one run is most definitely not marathon training. The obsession with long runs is a big part of why people struggle with the marathon.

there must be at least 3 threads in the past week with the same subject. Do people ever do "search" functions anymore?