How I coached Matt to a 45 minute marathon PR
I just got back from Houston TX, where I watched the Houston Marathon on Sunday morning.
One of my athletes ran the full (and ran absolutely fantastic, we’ll talk about that shortly) and another lives in downtown Houston. So I jumped on the opportunity to go meet up with them.
I love working with people online, but there’s nothing like sharing a meal with someone and getting to know them better 1-on-1.
My athlete who did not race over the weekend, Jorge, is recovering from a pretty complex mouth surgery. Thankfully he had the energy to meet up for a drink (or … a couple … several … hey we only see each other in person once a year!).
Matt, my athlete who ran the full, brought his wife and 4 kids. We had an awesome dinner on Friday night, and the whole family ran the 5k on Saturday. Bigtime family goals.
But the fireworks came on Sunday.
Matt finished the marathon in 3:34:43 - a 7 minute PR from just a few months ago (3:41 at Marine Corps in October), and 45 minutes faster than he ran a year ago.
And let me tell you - these were far from optimal conditions.
At the start of the race, the feels temperature was 17F and SUPER windy. I thought to myself, no one’s gonna run fast today.
I told Matt before the race - get in a nice big pack. Block some of that wind. And if you need to hold back the first 5k, do it!
But he absolutely crushed it. Look at his splits:
Just perfect execution.
I’d like to tell you how we got there - how Matt was able to drop 45 minutes off his marathon PR in one year.
Running EASY
You read that right.
Now, Matt works hard. Super hard.
With his work and family schedule, he sometimes does his long runs in the middle of the night!
But something he’s done right for the past year - he does A LOT of easy running.
He just ran 3:34 for the marathon over the weekend. That’s 8:12 per mile (~5:05/km).
Do you know what pace Matt runs most days?
9:30-10:30 per mile (~5:50-6:30/km).
Be honest - how many of you do your daily runs 1.5-2.5 minutes per mile slower than your marathon pace?
I ran with Matt on Friday in downtown Houston. We averaged right about 10:00/mile pace for 3 miles. Even with the race excitement and tapered legs, he kept it nice ’n easy!
Running MORE
One of the biggest perks of running your easy runs easy - you can handle more overall mileage.
When we started a year ago, Matt was running 25-30 miles/week.
From March to October, he averaged 41 miles/week.
Now, that’s not a massive increase. 10-15 miles/week more than he was doing before.
But that was for 7 months! That continuous volume compounded over time and led to huge fitness gains.
Smart workouts
Now it wasn’t all easy mileage. Even though he probably would have improved a ton just by doing that.
Week-in-week-out, Matt executed smart, targeted workouts.
I’m deliberately avoiding saying “hard” workouts here. That’s not to say that none of ‘em were hard! But the vast majority of them were well within a reasonable effort.
Each week he’d do:
one LT1 (aerobic threshold) run: 20-30 minutes at LT1 effort (usually around 8:30-9:00/mile)
one LT2 (lactate threshold) workout: short LT2 intervals, longer threshold intervals
one long run, sometimes with a pickup to marathon pace at the end
Those LT1 runs were very comfortable. And we never went wild on the long runs.
So that leaves the one bigger LT2 workout each week. Which were sometimes very challenging - I had him do 8 x mile at threshold effort about a month before Marine Corps - but still under control.
In fact, I got over-excited having him do that 8xmile workout. I remember he was exhausted the following week - we wound up doing a full week of only easy running and strides to get his leg back under him. Big mistake on my part.
Big training cycle, then sharpen up
Marine Corps was a huge success for Matt. 3:41, a 38 minute PR.
But Houston was still the big goal.
Alas, after Marine Corps, we had Matt take a few weeks of rest and easy running to let the legs recover.
Then came Thanksgiving.
Then came Christmas. And with it a family ski trip where Matt only ran a couple times.
Instead of looking at this in a bad way, I saw an opportunity.
I knew Matt worked incredibly hard for Marine Corps. That 3:41 was EARNED.
But I also knew that hard work had taken its toll. Like I said before, we wound up starting his taper early for Marine Corps because I overworked him a bit beforehand.
This was an opportunity for Matt to REST. To absorb all of the training he had done. And then to sharpen up before taking it to Houston.
And that’s what we did.
We didn’t worry about the low mileage around the holidays. We didn’t worry about the ski trip - OK, I worried a bit there, for God’s sake Matt, please don’t crash!
And when we did do workouts, they were chill - light LT1 runs, some mild LT2 fartleks (like 12 x 2 minutes at 8:00 pace, same pace he did for 8 x mile before!).
I wanted to get Matt sharp.
And guess what? It worked!
He ripped through the bitter cold streets in Houston and set a 7 minute PR.
I can’t stress this enough - the conditions at Marine Corps were perfect. 40 degrees, no wind.
The conditions in Houston? I mean sure, cold is better than hot, but it was FRIGID. And the nasty biting wind didn’t help.
But Matt came through when it counted regardless.
I’m proud of him!
Training is Simple
Matt’s progression showcases my core training philosophy - and how stupid simple it is.
Run more. Run easier. Train smart.
That’s 90% of it. Then the last 10% is the nuance for that athlete.
I almost wish it were more complicated. I’d probably sound a lot smarter. But alas!
See you next Tuesday,
Michael
PS. If you want your own 45 minute PR story, book a free call with me today.
I love coaching people to new heights, and I’d love to help you too.
