I'm in the midst of training for my 2nd marathon in 3 years. I ran a 4:46 marathon time in 2008, and I had my eyes set on breaking 4 hours last year before a knee injury derailed me 4 weeks before the race.
I found myself more motivated here in 2010 to run that sub-4 hour marathon. However, as I sat down to set my training goals for this year, I found myself asking the question, "What would it take to qualify for Boston?" I turn 31 this August. I have 4 years to run a sub 3:10 marathon before my age puts me in the 3:15 target.
Here are the goals I have set for myself:
1. Lose weight - I am still carrying extra pounds that need to come off. I figure 180 lbs is a safe target, but that's just a number. As the pounds come off, I'll reassess periodically against my running times.
2. Run that sub 4:00 marathon - I'm running the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 17th. I'm in the midst of a 18 week training program preparing me for that day right now. It is the Hal Higdon Intermediate I training program found here!
3. Increase my miles - my base for this training cycle was a 20-25 miles per week average. I will take a short rest after this fall marathon, then I fully plan on increasing the duration of my runs, adding a 5th training day, and pushing 35-40 MPW averages.
My hope is to get 6-10 weeks of increased mileage training after the marathon, and I will reassess my goals to get me to that Boston Qualifying time.
If you have read this far, you may wonder how I could even think about 3:10 if I haven't even ran better than 4:00. I realize this is not going to happen overnight. My hope is to see a steady improvement in my times of each marathon I run before I turn 35. I also have the luxury of having a convenient Spring and Fall marathon very close to where I live. I will run in Grand Rapids this fall, and if all goes well, I may push 3:50 as a goal for the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse city next May.
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