What’s actually holding you back from sub-3?
For some runners, more volume can be very beneficial. For others, the main limiter is threshold fitness or raw speed. It comes down to knowing what’s holding you back. If your 5k-10k PRs are better than your marathon PR (i.e. you’re an 18 min 5k runner or faster) things that might help are more long runs with marathon paced work, a mileage increase, and/or more threshold runs.
Here are some threshold workout examples:
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2 x 3 miles (2-3 min easy) at threshold pace (~6:42-6:34 min/mile, 4:10-4:05min/km)
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10-12 x 3 min (1 min easy) at ~4-8s faster than threshold pace
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2miles -2 miles -2 miles -1 mile (2-3 min easy) at threshold pace, or do a progression starting a little over threshold pace and ending the mile a little under.
However, before you start marathon training or in the first phase of training for a marathon, you’ll want to focus on faster, shorter workouts. This could be everything from 12 second to 1 minute hill reps, to 200s, and 3-4 min intervals at VO2 max pace. Then even as you get more into marathon specific training, you can still add in more touches of speed without running yourself into the ground.
These are some specific ideas:
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8 x 30s (1 min easy) or 5-6 x 1 min fast (1 min easy) after the end of a threshold run
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10 x 800m (1-1.5 min easy) at ~10k pace
But what if you’re already in your final 8 weeks of marathon training?
If you’re in your final 8 weeks, the goal shifts. You’re not trying to close the gap, you’re building fitness and getting comfortable at sub-3 pace.This could look like 4 x 3-4 miles at current marathon fitness pace builds the endurance and strength to hold your pace on race day. Or, 10 x 1 mile at 6:52/mi (4:16/km) gets you touches of sub-3 pace in your long runs without overdoing it, while still supporting your current marathon fitness.