About marathon goals

I think it’s about the right time of year to reflect on the last 12 months and start considering objectives for 2021!

My main objective for 2021 is very obvious, I want to run a sub 2.30 marathon. I’m yet to decide how to structure my training and when to attempt the effort, but in a way the “when” is not really important, only the “what” and the “how”.

I have possibly two very decent opportunities: London, October 3rd and Valencia, December 5th.

9 weeks in between them so there’s also the possibility of having two goes at it. Recovering from a marathon can be quite complex, the body might give signs that after 2–3 weeks we can attempt a fast 5k or 10k but then muscularly we’re not really ready for another gigantic marathon effort for a few more weeks, even up to 2–3 months after the first effort. There’s also the difficulty or the little margin for error in that interim period. Too long no to touch long distances (after 3–5 weeks we may need to start working long stuff again) but too short to push the training to get much fitness gain, it’s all really about recovery and fine tuning.

One thing I have learned over the last 5 years is that there’s no such thing as a “final chance” to run a time. Let me rephrase… There might be a final chance, but often it’s not when we tell ourselves, and all we’re doing in those situations is adding more pressure to achieving an already difficult goal.

When it comes to the marathon, specifically, there’s no peak age. Some runners achieve their best times in their 20s whilst other runners’ best times might not be until their 40s. One of the best things about the marathon is that it requires strength and physical endurance which are two things we’re likely not to have in our first few years as runners.

What age gives you, or experience really, is the ability to learn something, to practice it and get to know it properly, and that’s also priceless when trying to conquer the marathon distance. The nature of the race is one of unpredictability so the more we run it the more scenarios we experience and we learn from.

For me marathon running is the ultimate test. I have never tried running longer than 45km so can’t really comment on ultra running but as far as I’m concerned marathon running combines all aspects of physical, mental, psychological, intellectual and instincts all combined into delivering a complete performance.

More and more we’re seeing the marathon distance being raced, not just endured. The elite are now using pace as the main input rather than time or distance. How fast an you go, as opposed to how long before having to slow down.

Yes, a lot of us mortals have to worry predominantly on distance and time but personally, I like the fact that one doesn't have to be an elite runner to start looking at speed. Improve your speed and your marathon time will improve. It really is a unique distance.

I’ve completed 17 marathons in 10 years. My first one was in 2010 and it was an expected disaster. The only positive about that first time was that I got addicted to the distance. In fact what happened is that I could not, and still can’t, stop trying to improve the preparation.

One of the secrets of running a marathon is that we don’t need to train the hardest or be the fastest we’ve ever been, we just need to prepare in an optimal way, and that might mean that even when the fitness level is lower overall we’re still able to perform better. The best way to measure marathon readiness is completing the marathon itself. No 10k time or 2 mile test will tell you anything about your marathon readiness, only the right preparation and right mindset will get you there.

The reason the marathon is so difficult to master is that it really combines a bunch of running, and life, principles. I’d like to compare marathon training to making paper chains… A couple of rings don’t make a chain and the aim is to put as many together as possible. Be patient. Don’t start thinking that the chain looks great after 6 rings, instead just focus on attaching another ring and then another ring. When the day comes you will have the longest possible chain because you didn’t stop or break it at any point.

With this analogy all I want to illustrate is that patience and dedication is required, but also not getting ahead of ourselves in attaching a ring really fast but in a sloppy way only for 4 rings later the entire chain to collapse.

But then, how do we know we’re attaching the rings properly and securely? How do we know the chain will hold? The answer is experience and theoretical knowledge based on others’ experience.

Trust the experts. Trust the plan. Trust the coach. Trust the runner who has been through it and can help shape that preparation and point out what could or could not work.

When marathon training we don’t need to prove our fitness every week. We just keep making and attaching paper rings to the chain.

Runners who have experienced the marathon several times before have a clear advantage. They know how difficult the distance is. They can anticipate some of the challenges and prepare well for them. They also have the advantage of having accustomed the body to endurance training previously so when it comes to training, some of the steps in the process can be accelerated.

One aspect of marathon training and running that I always go back to is the mind. What role does the mind play in training for and completing a marathon. Earlier I talked about an intellectual challenge. I’m really referring to a self awareness and the ability to make decisions. Not just knowing your body but also being able to intellectually comprehend or process the hundreds of factors impacting your training.

Knowing when you’re tired or emotionally down, knowing when to cut a session short or an extra push on some others. Understanding the big picture and judging progress holistically and not only based on the here and now.

I remember when I first started running marathons how there was this invisible sub 3 ceiling. For about 2,5 years it became my obsession until I started focusing on the process and practices rather than the pace I had to run at. As soon as I shifted my way of thinking and training I went from 3:02 to 2:54 with very similar mileage, only smarter training. I ran that 2:54 comfortably indicating I could have perhaps gone quicker on the day and well clear of the imaginary sub3 line.

I think it’s natural for a lot of runners to start improving at any distance and start looking at what marathon milestone they could achieve. The conversation becomes about what time to go for rather than what to do to improve performance.

It’s no surprise, when we look at marathon finishing times (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301571201_Reference-Dependent_Preferences_Evidence_from_Marathon_Runners), we see a massive drop of runners in the 5 minutes after a round full or half hour (ie. 3 hour finish, 3h30m, 4h, etc.)

In fact, the 4 hour one seems the biggest drop. Over 100K runners finishing in 3:58, 3:59 and then a drop to around 65K-70K runners in 4:00-4:05!!

So I encourage marathon runners to let go of those pressures and just focus on the process and enjoy the little increments of fitness without having to quantify them constantly.

Just to clarify, I am not saying don’t have a target or a goal. Goals are a must to keep challenging yourself and act as a big help with getting you motivated, I am saying don’t train to that goal, train to your own reality and your own possibilities.

I have this ambition to keep improving and I set myself the challenge of not limiting myself. That means I don’t want to put a number to what I can do. I want my own training and my own ways to determine how far I can go, not my prejudgement of what’s possible and what’s not. I know this sounds very Kipchoge like with his “no limits” talk but, as I said earlier, there was a time I thought sub 3 was impossible, and now I am looking at sub 2:30!

Often we look at what has happened in the past and we start predicting the future and we forget that it is in our own hands to change the course of action. It is also worth noting that, in many cases, the cause of not achieving a marathon time is not that we have reached our ceiling, it is more likely that we have not prepared adequately or set our target too high for where we are at the time.

I understand that many runners will think that the main requirement for getting that elusive sub4 or sub3 is a big increase in mileage and they worry prematurely about what they think they will need to do to get to that level. That is also not necessarily the case. In many cases runners could improve their marathon time by 10%-15% without increasing mileage, and there are also times where the runner would actually benefit from less miles.

I’ve posted before about how I believe mileage should be the lowest possible to reach our target. If you can run your target 2.59 on 60km a week why run more?

Of course we can’t expect to run 42.195km successfully without specifically preparing for the distance so inevitably distance running will be required. There’s no hiding the fact that long runs are essential and that means focusing on mileage more than when preparing a 10k or 5k.

I think that’s enough for now but as some of the athletes I coach get more and more into their own spring marathon preps I think I will be posting more concepts and training help in here.

Happy running everyone!

PS. I haven't really been doing much myself lately but decided to still run 41km on my 41st birthday on Tuesday.