My sub 3 hour Marathon Challenge #runningforfun #marathon #sub3

But I love it!

Marathon running is tough. Its both a huge mental and physical endurance. Race day is relatively easy versus the countless hours pounding the tarmac to get fit enough to run the 26.2 miles. Hoping you don't get an injury which can throw all those painful training sessions straight out the window if you can't even get to the start line. But despite this I love it. I love the mental and physical challenge that I put myself through.

It's all about the time

I have always wanted to emulate my fathers marathon running achievement. At the age of 49 he ran sub 3 hours in the London marathon. In numbers that is running 26.2 miles at 6.53 minutes a mile pace or under. I always believed I was in with a chance but having recently passed the the big 40 mark I realise that time may not be on my side forever if I want to hit the sub 3 hour mark.

I have decided to give it a shot. More than that I am training really hard leaving no stone unturned. More so I do not intend to run many more marathons than this one coming up so I better make it count.

I don't take these challenges lightly

I have carefully selected my race to ensure its a fast course and should experience nice marathon temperatures. I have found a train program that suits my capacity to train, and I have adjusted my diet to weather the demands of the training. All this should give me a shot of achieving that symbolic time.

I wanted to share my trials and tribulations from training to race day in the hope I may inspire or entertain others.

The preparation

Having lived all my life in a very temperate climate and been perfectly adjusted to running cross country in the snow, I now live in a country where the temperature doesn't fall below 26 degrees and the humidity is suffocating at times. Right now we are in the summer and my 5 am morning runs are done in temperatures of 28 degrees or hotter. Its hard to hydrate for my long runs but all this warm weather training should make race day feel like a breeze!

Countdown has begun

Having already achieved a good base layer of fitness I have just embarked on my 14 week training program over which period I should run over 450 miles in searing heat all in the name of breaking 3 hours.

I am running 3 times a week varying the training between fast marathon pace runs, interval training and long endurance runs.

Week 2 of the training schedule is done. I survived. I just came back from a 1.43 hour run. It involved a slow run for the first 90 minutes (8.45 minute miles) followed by 2 miles at sub 3 hour marathon pace (6.40 minute miles). Unfortunately this is the easy part, each week I will be adding miles.

Let the fun begin. Let's see if I can break 3 hours or the training breaks me.

Wish me luck!