2012 New Year Resolution – Part II

How to run a Sub-5 Marathon?

We joked on the 4:12:11. But will this be my FM finish time?

What is the average pace for a sub-5 marathon? 7min/km. I think most of the regular runners will have no problem on this pace for 20 or even 30km, but the challenge is to do it for the whole 42km. From my observation and study on the web, I need to work on 2 main components.

1. Working on Top Speed

As we improving our short distance top speed, the body will learn how to perform efficiently. But eventually the body will need lots of repeating interval in order to pick up a faster pace. So, the classical speed work will involve few repeats of 1km or 1mile, pushing the body to accept the fact that it’s needed to run faster. My current speed work is very ad-hoc and involved very limited repeats.   

2. Working on Endurance

Endurance plays a major part for long distance running. It will allow the body to running on high gear for longer period of time. This involved 2 types of training, Tempo run and Long run. Tempo run working on the threshold of the lactic acid that body can produce and burn out efficiently (more reading: Here). Long run will basically let the body get used to the exercise duration and distance. My current endurance level still lagging after 30km point and the Tempo run is too short to really challenge the threshold.

Instead of blindly drafting out my plan, I downloaded one from RunnersWorld, with the SCKLM in June 2012 as target race event. The plan give some 4 workouts per week and weekly mileage increased slowly from 35km to peak at 79km. Compare this with my current simple workout routine, the plan look great and it will ensure some recovery interval between top and low intensity. You can make your own plan HERE. Btw, the 29 weeks training plan is just… boring… Let see if I can follow it for the first 2 months, then I will review the effectiveness again.

The tough part will be maintaining the pace and interval along the Speed work and Tempo run. The GF405CX will able to help. You can plan you workout via the Training Center, push it to the unit and load it (via Advanced Workout on the unit) to guide you thru the session. The ease run and the Long run will be guide by Virtual Partner from the unit too. Hope the GF405CX can last for another 7 months without problem.

I need to cut 44 minutes from my FM finish time for a sub-5 marathon. This is definitely not an easy target but I think it is still achievable. You may ask, how about the target to sub-1 hour for 10k and sub-2 hours for HM? The result will come naturally if I stick to the training plan.

Dream Big, Work Hard & Play Hard!