No, toyed with it but never taken the plunge! I really want to do the Cotswold Way Challenge 100k next year; I need events that are adventures nowadays tbh, rather than pure athletic milestones.
I know what you mean. I’d like to run some Alpine type stuff next year if possible. Marathon Mont Blanc or similar. Not too far but still ‘ultra’ to an extent… with amazing scenery. The Thames path type stuff just doesn’t appeal to me but some of Gingerbongo’s coastal adventures look pretty cool.
I still crave a bit of competition though… love a bit of cross country and that’s all about racing for a place as opposed to a time…
I’d agree with this. So far I’ve done…
2016: 85:08 
3:04:17 (only marathon I’ve “executed”)
2017: 82:56 3:25:44 (compromised training with a niggle, compounded by going out too hard)
2019: 79:35 DNF (sickness race week, compounded by then being an idiot with how I tried to run)
It sounds silly, but I just don’t see a correlation between HM and M. HM is just a totally different type of endurance requirement as far as I’m concerned. I can feel like I’m on the limit within a few k, and hold it together. You just can’t go anywhere near that in a marathon (at least in my experience).
That is a bit quicker than I thought.
I was supposed to be doing a marathon earlier in the year but ended up damaging a ligament in a pot hole!
Did a half early in the training and got a 1:29 but reckon I could get to a 1:27 HM
I hear what you are saying about it being a totally different race so maybe up my endurance work with longer runs.
After a GFA for London which I think is 3:15 for me now but would love to get under 3.
@Poet I might look at Chester but still getting over the injury and don’t want it to flare up again.
I agree … people tend to underestimate just how quick half marathon pace is. On current form and a recent half to reference I’d estimate my paces at…
5k 3.38@/k
10k 3.48/k
HM 3.58/k
Marathon … 4.16/k if I’m being (very) optimistic
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I agree most closely with @stenard here. I dont think they correlate well at all, Mike from the old forum (can’t remember his TT name) went years before he cracked a sub 3, something just kept happening, yet this guy was runing sub 34 10ks and sub 75 halves! (incidentally went 9.30 in Roth last week as well! Cracing stuff!)
I’ve only done two ‘proper’ maras so far. Manchester in '15 was short, but i ran a 2.52 (so probs 2.53/4) off a 1.18 half - legs just started cramping up at about mile 24. Ran an injured 3.04 or something at London in '17 off a 1.16 half (though i was aiming for a 2.42).
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That’s interesting…for me it is (all from 2019):
5km - 3:37/km
10km - 3:39/km
HM - 3:49/km
Mara - ?
Most calculators are geared towards runners doing proper mileage, not a tri-antelope doing 3 runs per week.
Marathons are proper hard!
As a comparison, mine are (all from 2019)…
5km - 3:28/km
10km - 3:40/km
HM - 3:46/km
Mara - ?
When you write it like that, it seems like it should be so easy to run 4:15/km
@twhat - I’ve got Chelmsford penciled in for a potential “Fastest Marathon dressed as…”
Was due to attempt one last year (record was 3:17), but picked up a weird butt injury and didn’t run.Then someone smashed to record I was targeting at London in 2:43
Guinness take a while to get back to you, so I’ll still be training regardless and if not it’ll either be a Sub-3 attempt or a London GFA (sub 3:10)
Haha! Yep!!
i’m probably even worse at the mo …
5km - 3.22/3
10km - 3.35-40
HM - 3.45-50
Mara - who knows, i think 4.15 would be doable, but no long runs would be my undoing!
How the heck can be so “slow” over those distances and RAPIDO over 5km???
Fancy doing a bit of a swap 
One word - untrained! I’ve not been really training specifically for anything this year, but i’m reaosonably fit. But that means my more natural talents shine before my weaker ones, as they require specificity.
My PBs are a little better aligned, though they are still much more heavily weighted towards the shorter distances - my 3km PB is about 9.20, and i ‘feel’ like that should be closer <9.15. But weirdly when it gets really long, then i seem to get better again (in terms of field position, as times don’t really mean anything).
I think to make the equivalent tables work you have to run your half marathon off marathon training. Train for a half marathon and you will never get a good conversion rate. That’s my experience anyway.
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But i think back to the original point. Running a marathon as a reasonably well seasoned endurance athlete is easy.
Running a marathon at your maximum capacity however is another game altogether! So many different parts of the jigsaw to get right, and one misshapen piece can throw the whole race out. With halves and under you just go hard and that’s about it (obviously not that simple), and if it goes wrong, you should be ok to race again within weeks potentially. Maras - not so, unless you’re seriously gifted like Adam Hollland or something (look him up, he’s a nutjob!)
That’s why I only picked HM’s undertaken as part of a marathon build.
That’s good. Hopefully see you there. I’ll be going for the record for fastest marathon dressed like a twhat. Normal attire should suffice.
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I tend to agree that some people are just better suited to 2+ hour running. Plenty of regulars in local road races with similar training annihilate me over 5k/10k but struggle to break 3hrs.
I have the following correlation:
10k - HM/20M - Mar
2010 36 - 1:18 - 2:56 (learning the ropes)
2011 36 - 1:22 - 2:54
2012 35 - 1:17 - 2:45
2013 n/a - 1:15 - 2:58 (injured 3 weeks before)
2014 n/a - 1:18 - 2:44
2015 n/a - 2:03 (20M) - 2:45
2016 n/a - n/a - 2:51
2017 36 - 2:06 (20M) - 2:49
2018 n/a - 2:03 (20M) - 2:51
2019 n/a - 2:01 (20M) - 2:39 (4%s! 
)
As you can see I don’t like the short (10k) stuff much. I do very little “speed work” (actually close to zero) after being repeatedly injured early on. I do like a hard long run (18M+) with multiple efforts (4x5k or 2x10k for example). I feel they are much more applicable to my marathon specific fitness than 400m/800m/1k reps. Longest run tends to be 24M without efforts, but at a reasonable pace (normally twice in 12/16 week build up).
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That’s a frocking 10 year build to that time 
Nice 75 minute HM in there 
What’s your background prior to 2009?
Prior to 2009 I would say, recreational runner? Basically started running to lose weight in 2005 (getting married) and first offroad race (10k) was 2008. I started dabbling in triathlons in 2013, but always focused on a spring marathon. Ironman training curtailed the running a bit, but as it’s my favourite discipline I tend to do more of it than is probably necessary.
Yearly mileage totals…for anyone really bored (don’t have any records prior to 2009)
2009: 2187
2010: 2250
2011: 2424
2012: 2507
2013: 2318
2014: 2427
2015: 1853
2016: 1828
2017: 1925
2018: 2065
2019 (to date): 1192
Jeez…23,000 miles logged over the 10 years…should make my circumnavigation of the globe this year
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That’s great, cheers!
So you’d say running a 20 miler is a far better gauge than a half marathon? I’m guessing that’s why you switched…
…that is also some massive mileage.
Average of 40mpw with a couple of weeks off (non-zero average)
I’ve never come anywhere close to those times, or that mileage, there’s probably a clue in there.
Here’s my boredom file:
Started running in December 2006.
Did IM from 2008 - 2012.
2013 was ITU world champs in London.
Did naff all after that until June 2018.
2007 - N/A 39:18 (first 10k) 1:29:10 (second HM) 3:31:50 (first Mara - hungover and snowed)
2008 - N/A 37:54 1:39:47 (ran with brother 2)
2009 - 1505km 36:27 1:22:30
2010 - 1491km 36:27
2011 - 1956km 35:55
2012 - 1456km 35:01 1:25:23 3:07:58 (part of a 30 mile run)
2013 - 987km
2014 - 780km N/A 1:34:15 (ran with brother 2)
2015 - 100km N/A 1:50:15 (ran with brother 3)
2016 - 550km NOTHING
2017 - 302km NOTHING
2018 - 862km NOTHING
2019 - 942km 36:34 1:20:41 NA
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