15% Better
Early on, leveling up in running is quite easy. You basically go from a zero-mile-a-week couch potato to a 30+ weekly mile “runner” in a fairly short amount of time. To those who have never trained endurance before, this seems monumental, inconceivable even.
It’s a big reason why so many first-time long distance race finishers are overcome with emotions upon crossing the finish line. This seemingly 100% increase (or more depending on where you count your starting point) is the first round of “free” gains you will receive in your journey.
The second round of “free” gains comes after your debut race. Following the general law of diminishing returns, this round will be a noticeable markdown from the 100% gain you made just by stepping in the arena.
Usually arriving sometime between your debut race and 2nd-4th race—depending on how smart you train (more on that later).
When this happens is really up to you. It depends on how much time you’re willing to put into your next training block, how much rest you take post your debut race, if you switch sports, and other general timeline factors.
But the one thing you *can* expect is to improve by around 15% from debut to your next “easy” PR.
The most common I see is someone finishing their first marathon in ~4:10, then dropping to ~3:30 (roughly 15% improvement) after a few solid training blocks. Note: this still takes effort and time, but will still generally be your last “free” (read large) gains. The only thing in your way is time/drive.
What determines your debut time **in my experience coaching** is your general background in athletics.
Three thing I’ve noticed:
If you ran in HS or College, expect ~2:45 or a bit lower. Don’t be alarmed non-runners, this group has a wide margin on the population as a whole, by about 10,000 miles total.
If you were just a general athlete, expect 3:30-4:00.
Ranking sports where past athletes perform better on debut race:
Soccer
Water Polo
Swimming
Rowing
Lacrosse
Rugby
Hockey
Basketball
Football
Baseball
Non-athletes (as in had no cardiovascular output for years—not in the coordination sense of the word), expect 4:00+.
If you do not have a history of aerobic or anaerobic output, to put it frank—you’re years behind. But don’t fear, we will catch you up. You’ll just have to dedicate a larger portion of your time.
If you find yourself in the last two groups, especially the non-athletes, I highly recommend doing everything you can to train yourself up prior to your “debut marathon”.
This can mean two things:
Widen your training period. I prefer beginners to have 12 months or more of running under their belt.
Don’t run a marathon until you’ve run every race from 5K to half marathon.
Note: this usually takes *at least* 12 months anyways.
The idea in these shorter races is to run them as fast as possible. While a marathon may feel like you “just hope to finish”, these shorter races should make you feel competitive. Ultimately, the gains made here spills over to the marathon distance. Leading to a faster debut.
The one thing that can lead to regression post debut race:
Humans tend to get lulled into a routine. If you ran on specific days for specific times in your first build, it will not work in your second or third.
Example - Average 6 hour week from training block of debut:
Monday - n/a
Tuesday - 1 hour
Wednesday - 1 hour
Thursday - 1 hour
Friday - n/a
Saturday - 1 hour
Sunday - 2 hours
While this will work for beginners, and miles can be stacked accordingly in here, it will not work over a long time frame and into your future races.
Extra days or time *has* to be added—simply adding more miles per week in the same time frame is not enough to get faster for longer.
Example - Average 7-8 hour week post debut:
Monday - n/a
Tuesday - 1:15
Wednesday - 1:30 hour
Thursday - 45 minutes
Friday - 1:15 hour
Saturday - 1 hour
Sunday - 2 hours
With a few minor additions, we’re able to easily find 7 hours and 45 minutes of running. At this point, a 60-90 minute should feel short to you. The best part is, the mileage doesn’t have to increase at the same rate as your weekly time total (covered extensively by me in past articles).
This should lay the framework for the work that needs to be done. It requires going “all in”, as you may not have the time for aesthetic cross training you used to in the past.
Laying out your goals
If your go
If your eventual goal is, say a Boston qualifying time, you *need* to factor in your expected debut time before even starting. Realistically plot yourself where you’d end up if you trained normally in a 4-6 month period based on your athletic background (see above sections).
From there, do the math on what you think your normal debut time would be, and then improve that number by 15%. If that equals a Boston Qualifying standard, great job. If it does not, it’s time to get to work.
Here’s where faster for shorter will help you. Master the actual art of racing and PRing shorter races. Get your body used to turning your legs over to hit the necessary BQ splits. Adapting your body to pace early allows you to have to “learn” one less thing down the road. In other words, turn yourself into a better athlete, then add slow volume!
From there we can work on turning you into a long distance endurance athlete.
**Again I used a BQ as a common goal for many amateurs, this isn’t the case for everyone.**
Planning out your journey
Expect that you will burnout, want to try another sport, add weight back on, or just simply take some time off. This is human nature. Bake this into the model in your head of your timeline and add in an extra year or two to whatever your original goal was.
There will be side quests. Triathlons will appear. Mile PRs are to be had. Trail races available. Everything is on the table, and is probably even healthier for you to switch it up at times.
But whatever you decide, always keep weekly hours of activity in the forefront of your mind and know that volume is transferable. If you want to cycle and swim 6 hours a week on top of running, understand this might just help you down the road in future marathon training.
Hell, burning your credit card, quitting your job, and hiking the Appalachian trail would probably help land you a new PR.
Whatever your goal is, join us!
-BTR