I am now on week 7 of my training, with 8 weeks to go. I’m at a point where I feel like I have put in a lot of hard work, but I am starting to question if my workouts will get me to where I need to be. I’m still not even sure what a reasonable goal is for this race. I want to set a big goal, but I also want to have a decent chance of achieving it.
I’ve read dozens of stories of people knocking 20, 30, or even 40 minutes off their marathon times. This is especially true if your current times leave enough room for improvement. I know that there is plenty of room for improvement in my marathon time, and I know that I one day have the potential to run a 3:30 or better if I keep working hard. 
I have been doing these harder workouts (that honestly haven’t even felt THAT hard) sandwiched between easy days. It’s been working well, especially with taking the easy days really easy. I still don’t have as much confidence about my longer runs. I’m not sure how fast I should really be running them (even though it’s usually recommended that they are done slower, it makes me nervous because the whole point of marathon training is to learn to run for a long time and I want to get faster at doing that!) While I haven’t been pushing my long runs too much, it is the one area of my training that leaves me questioning if I am actually making progress in marathon training.
My speed workouts (800s and mile repeats) have been fast enough.
I’ve been able to see improvement in my tempo runs.
I am feeling more comfortable with marathon paced miles (up to 4 so far- but longer for tempos which are faster than MP) and hills.
I spend way too much time analyzing the data and questioning it all.
I want to focus on the positive, but I also want to stay realistic.
I know that self-doubt is a natural part of the process, and I have been saying all along that the most important thing is to look at the big picture of the progress that has been made. I think I have learned to recognize when I am making progress towards shorter distances, but maybe I just don’t know yet what is feels like to make progress towards a faster marathon time.
So I’m wondering how you measure your progress? How often do you look back on your training to think about how it is going? Have you ever cut a huge amount of time off of a PR? If so, what do you think you did differently during that training or race to help you make that improvement?
Great post! I know I have been there before. I like to compare training runs from one marathon to another-esp if I have run the same routes and the same races. I can see progress being made all the time when I review. I am currently looking to take 25+ off of my PR-I think I can do it!, if I do-this will be half of my first marathon time, so that would be pretty cool! Keep plugging away. The speedwork you’ve been doing is amazing. One thing that has helped me during long runs is running the second half faster than the first. This helps you finish in stronger legs!
I know that you are going to have a huge PR! Your paces have been amazing! That’s a great tip to run the second half of long runs faster. I usually do that…for some reason my first mile or two are really slow. But I can usually finish strong- the end of our 18 miler was way faster than the beginning!
Great post, and tough question to answer, as progress is very personal. I think that the fact that you are questioning the degree of progress even while making obvious progress is actually a good sign–it keeps you from being complacent. Now the tough part will be not letting it get to you and then burning out. I truly think that you must define progress for yourself. I know that isn’t helpful at all, but for me, this training cycle has been about not putting the pressure of a time goal on myself, so I am really just going by how strong I feel.
That’s very true. And I think that no matter what happens in the race, there is no denying that I have made progress while training. I guess measuring progress really depends on what you are looking at- whether its speed, endurance, mental strength, etc. It sounds like you will be able to see your progress when you are able to run a great no-pressure race at whatever pace feels right to you that day!
I am seriously always questioning this! I tend to have the opposite problem, where my long runs are pretty strong (but not at MP of course) and my speed and tempo workouts feel tough. That gets me questioning whether I have the speed it takes to even run the goal I set. Prior to my PR I didn’t do formal speedwork, but I was racing once a month with good results and feeling confident from that. My long runs were done faster than I run now but still felt easy, so I’m pretty stumped. I was also a bit thinner back then (not in a good way though) so if that was playing into my speed I’m happy to be a bit slower now. Only time will tell I guess!
There are so many factors involved, right? I think when you train differently it becomes a even harder to compare training cycles. I know when comparing my training now to my spring training that my runs are much faster now, but I was running alot more miles then (almost double).
I feel like somehow this is sort of similar to what I wrote about today, right? In some weird way it is. With me, my progress just naturally happened over time. I never focused too much on it which may be why it happened. Over time I just got better and faster and became capable of running longer. Maybe I could have had it happen quicker but the way I did it with the pressure off and injury free worked just fine for me. I posted a link from Runner’s World on Sunday about where your long run should fall. I don’t always like to run my long runs super slow but usually they just fall where they belong. Sometimes that’s faster and sometimes it’s much slower. I hear you when you question why they should be slower when you are trying to get good at running longer faster but I think it’s the combo of all of your runs that gets you good at that when the marathon comes.Not like I know though since I have yet to run anything more than a half marathon lol.
Yes I think you are right that its the combination of everything that gets you faster at the longer races. I guess its just hard to trust that:) I usually just run my long runs at what feels comfortable and then sometimes I start to worry about my pace and will try to speed up as the run goes on. I guess its not the worst thing, since it means I’m finishing the run faster than I started it. Like you pointed out, if you are able to progress slowly and stay injury free I think the faster speeds will happen naturally over time!
Between my first and second marathon (only two mths apart) I shaved 13 minutes off without even trying. I knew I wanted to beat my current time so I did have some to prove but didn’t know that was going to happen. Trust your training. You will do great!
It sounds like having a more general goal worked well for you! That is really amazing to cut that much time off in 2 months. Thanks for your support!
This is a really good question. I’m a numbers girl and usually measure my progress by my paces and times. I would love to get to the point where I didn’t need that though!
I am the same way! It can be hard to compare runs because there are so many other factors involved such as course, weather fuel, other mileage that week, etc. I wish I could just train and run off feel but I am really addicted to the numbers!
Since I’m not a speedy runner and I’m still fairly new to the sport I tend to measure progress by distance. It’s been really cool to run further training for the marathon and I can’t wait to train for an ultra next year. I ran 13 miles as part of training and ran it at a minute per mile faster than I ran my last half marathon which was encouraging for the speed part. I am excited to see how my half marathons go this winter now!
I wouldn’t worry to much if I were you. I mean, I think if running marathon pace during your long runs feels easier than it did last training cycle than you will probably PR this time since you will push on race day!
Increased distance is a great way to measure progress! My runs are definitely faster than last training cycle but I am also running less mileage. I still can’t help but wonder if I will be able to hold those paces over 26 miles! But thank you for the support:)
There are so so many ways to measure progress – one of my favourite markers is how I feel after a run – if I feel great after a run which I know would have shattered me a month ago, then I know that I’ve genuinely improved my fitness.
Looks like you’re on the right track though and you still have 8 weeks to go!
That is a great idea! I guess I have noticed that I feel better lately after hard runs than I used to. I think I am recovering faster, which is surely a sign of progress!
That is definitely a tough feeling. It certainly takes time to see results, and from what I’ve seen, you are getting pretty fast. It is hard to trust in yourself and not doubt yourself, but I am positive all your hard work will pay off.
Thanks Amy! It does take time, and its probably not worth over analyzing every single run. The training is happening and that’s what counts!
That’s a tough one! You can measure by races, of course, but if you don’t have any on your schedule, just measure by the quality of the workouts and the miles you are banking. As to your long run: I’d recommend doing a few with progressions–starting out slower than MP and progressing every few miles until you get up to MP and then holding it for a while. Other than that, keep the long ones easy–it really does have benefits!
Great ideas! I have actually been doing the progression runs for my shorter long runs and keeping the rest easier. You are right that it will have its benefits:) I do have one more race before the marathon- but its the Baltimore half. While I had intentions of “racing” it to see where my fitness is, I am pretty intimidated by the course! But we will see what happens!