Portland Marathon Week: The details are in the numbers

Today, with the marathon less than a week away, I checked out my weekly mileage totals from each of my four previous marathon totals and compared them to the 16-week schedule I've done for this marathon.

Based on my training, I should PR easily. But will I BQ? (I need to average 7:38 min/mile for a Boston Qualifying time of 3:20)

Year Time	Portland - ??	2009 – 3:53	2008 – 4:08	2007 – 5:20	2005 – 4:41
Avg. weekly mileage	55.29	38.39	41.62	29.79	30.07
Peak weeks	12/50…6/60	9/40 .. 4/50	10/40 .. 3/50	6/40 … 1/50	8/30 … 1/40
Runs over 1 hour	60 of 88 (68%)	37 of 72 (51%)	29 of 85 (34%)	21 of 69 (30%)	24 of 73 (33%)
Runs over 90 minutes	29 of 88	13 of 72	14 of 85	13 of 69	15 of 73
Runs over 17 miles	10 (8 over 20)	5 (5 over 20)	5 (4 over 20)	4 (2 over 20)	3 (2 over 20)

Year - Time: Probably self explanatory. But just in case... "2009 - 3:53" means I ran 3:53 in the 2009 marathon. "2008 - 4:08" means I ran 4:08 in the 2008 marathon.

Peak weeks? Under Portland, for example, I have 12/50 and 6/60. That means I had 12 weeks where I ran at least 50 miles that week and 6 of those weeks were 60 miles or more. In training for the marathon earlier this year, I had 9 weeks of at least 40 miles and four of those were at least 50.

The part of the equation missing from this chart is my paces for key runs. I didn't put that in on purpose because the question for me has never been speed. It's been muscular endurance. I've run 5ks under 20 minutes and can run a mile in under 6 minutes. But my training and nutrition in the past has turned me into a 10- and 11-minute miler in the last 10k of my previous marathons. Hopefully, having averaged 55 miles a week over the 16 weeks before taper is enough for me to hold the proper paces.


*My marathons in 2005, 2007, and 2008 were all in Dallas at the White Rock Marathon. Course was very flat except for a few hills around Mile 20. The 2009 marathon was in Fort Worth, which was a little hillier.

*The weather for all but the 2008 marathon was in the 30s or 40s. The 2008 marathon saw temperatures start off in the high 60s.

*Training for all the marathons except for Portland was basically on flat terrain. If you know anything about Austin, or have read my blog, you know that its pretty hard to find a flat place to run here, unless you run all of your mileage at Town Lake Trails.