How to run a 3 hour marathon is a question many competitive marathoners ask.
Your current personal best could be 3:45, 5:02, 3:03 or 4:01. The key aspect of taking huge chunks of time off your marathon time is practicing the pace you want to race at.
How to run a marathon under 3 hours takes commitment, not mere interest. You have hold 6:50 per mile or 4:15 per kilometer 26 consecutive times with no rest.
This does take some talent but I don't particular buy into the talent myth. I didn't have much talent and I was able to break 2:20:00 for the marathon. Sure, the first thing most runners think when they read that is “you have to have some kind of talent to do that”. My best mile as a freshman in high school was “only” a 5:09.
What I had and still rely on is more heart and drive than the size of Texas. I wouldn't wish the preparation I put myself through the past 26 years (at the time of this writing) on anybody.
If it was raining I was training. If there was a blizzard outside I was training. I grew up in Ohio and we got plenty of those. I was utterly fanatical about pushing my body to its limits (if there is a such thing).
The Sub 3 Hour Marathon Pro Course
I'm building a course on how to run a 3 hour marathon that will be launching soon. It is not going to be a cookie-cutter training schedule you can purchase online. I do have 16-week marathon training schedules for sale here at RunDreamAchieve that are set up to assist you in breaking 3 hours for the marathon.
The Sub 3 Hour Marathon Pro course is going to be a step up. I'l be covering literally everything that I know of how to run a marathon under 3 hours.
If you want to sign up early and receive a 30 percent discount on the launch price simply fill out the information below to get on the list.
How To Run A Marathon In 3 Hours
One of the best things you can do in preparing to run a 3 hr marathon is to alter the paces you are running your long run at.
Remember, this is about quality not quantity.
There are plenty of runners out there putting in big mileage weeks and missing the time barrier.
It is about strategic planning and working your plan. It is about what you are doing the other hours of your 24-hour day that counts.
I just read about a man that attempted to break the 3 hour marathon 41 times and finally did it running 2:58:47. That is some tenacity right there.
You have to have that type of commitment. Interest alone will not do it. If you have some talent and think you can rely on that without putting in the heavy work you are fooling yourself, respectfully.
What I want with the Sub 3 Hour Marathon Pro course is to help runners side step the pain points other runners are facing. I'll be covering the exact same training philosophies that helped me lower my marathon best from 2:43:36 to 2:19:35.
Additionally, I'll be going into detail what some of the world's top coaches and elite marathoners taught me. Two of which are Olympians. A 2:11:35 marathoner and a 2:10:01 marathoner.
Running a sub 3 hour marathon requires more quality miles rather than quantity. 3 hour marathon pace demands respect and to hold it for 26.2 miles you had best plan well.
How Many Miles Per Week?
A sub 3 marathon doesn't require heavy mileage. I had to learn my own lesson about high mileage. I got up to 140 and 142 miles per week (my two highest weeks).
It left me tired, irritable and fatigued.
How to run a 3 hour marathon involves being able to balance both the hard effort and recover in time for the next. It cannot be rushed. I wish it was an easier process but the truth is it takes some time, effort and a great deal of patience to dip under 3 hours for the distance.
High mileage is not the answer. Quality mileage coupled with an equal amount of focus on recovery is. The more time you can spend at or below 6:50 per mile or 4:15 per kilometer pace the better. Practice at the pace in which you want to compete at.
There are no rest periods in the marathon as you are already very well aware. The idea is to train to make sub 3 hour marathon pace feel easier, more manageable. How to run a 3 hour marathon involves precision training, not just running easy mileage everyday.
Run Under 3 Hours
You don't want to get to mile 10 in the marathon feeling like crap. It is normal to feel like that at mile 22 to the finish line. If you preparing properly and follow the strategies I'll be teaching in the Sub 3 Hour Marathon Pro course you will be able to handle any pace changes your competition will try to throw at you.
How to run a 3 hour marathon is going to be thoroughly investigated with this course. I've broke the 3 hour marathon 12 times, sub-2:20 once, sub-2:30 twice, sub-2:33 four times and sub-2:40 eight times. This is an event that I know well and can help you break 3 hours in.
There are many changes I had to make to run a 2:19 marathon. It took absolute commitment, not a mere interest. If you are seeking how to run a marathon in 3 hours or less it already tells me you are fully committed to this sport.
I have zero doubt you will be able to do it. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have a specific question. Let me know what has been your biggest pain point in the marathon distance.
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