masterofnone, on 13 June 2011 - 10:51 PM, said:
BigKev, those times seem like quite a big positive split? I thought the intent was for a fairly even paced race for best allround effort? I'm keen to have a go at joining the sub 3 bus, are there many confirmed participants and what race numbers should I be looking for? I am concerned though about joining a group with a big positive split planned. Is anyone planning a more evenly paced race?
masterofnone,
In my view anything less than a 5min positve split is perfect running, a 10 min positive split is very good running and anything over a 10 min split and you probably went out too quick. IMHO you don't negative split a marathon, if you ever do you went out too slow. I've ran 17 marathons (and 10 ultra- marathons) and the best I have ever done is a 1:25/1:27 Bunbury this year. The reason for that was running 42* 1k races trying to keep every K under 4min. This is the ideal way to run but in my view you need a few minutes up your sleeve for the way back because trust me the second half is so much harder than the first. For a sub 3 you need to average less than 4.15min/k and having someone in your 'bus' with a Garmin Watch and the average pace is a huge bonus. I treat a marathon as 42 separate 1k races and as I said earler have an average goal kilometre pace and try and hit it every K. You're right about the perfect way to run a marathon is steady and evenly paced but you need to factor in tiredness in the second half. If you go through half-way slower than 1:28 I reckon you'll find it hard to sub-3.
All my sub-3 marathons have been postive splits of about 4-5 mins...Melbourne the last 2 years have both been 2:56 with a 1:26 out leg and 1:30 return. The first city-2-surf was a 2:58 which I think was a 1:26 out and a 1:32 back (but the second half is a tad hillier than the first !) Bunbury this year was the closest to an even split (and the fastest) but that was as I mentioned in the previous paragraph..better pacing and I'm in better form this year than the previous years...like a good wine maturing with age! (and the speed beard has helped!)
Your 10k time is a good indicator of a marathon time and only 1 person I know runs sub-3 marathons without running sub40min 10k (Geoffa and his magic white skins!) ..A 36min 10k indicates to me someone who should be aiming for a 2:55 or better so maybe you'll be able to prove me wrong and run a negative split marathon. I hope so, it must be a nice feeling to finish that strong... For a sub-3 I reckon you need a 38min or better 10k time.
I've got number 666 for the big day so look for the bald guy with the beard and the black skins, say hi and I'll set you up with some other runners I know are looking for a sub 3. At the moment there's Jon (Caulfield), CQ1, Eulalia, sub-3 dreamer and Brett(he ran a 2:57 last year) ...there'll be a few more on the day so it looks like it'll be quite a large one which is the ideal way to go...
keep running(in buses) bk
Edited by BIGKEV, 14 June 2011 - 02:30 PM.
1
. Good luck all - I'll be watching at the turn around.
