Lowering my marathon time...

Quoted message said:

Hey all...

I ran my 2nd marathon in St. Louis about a month ago, my first being
Chicago. Due to poor training and a slight injury during the first
race I finished in 4 hrs 20 min. I was more dedicated in training for
St. Louis and finished in 3 hrs 19 min and some change. I monitored my
times for my longer runs but never did any speed workouts and being in
college I didn't train all out.

I will be running Chicago again this fall and I'd like to knock off at
least 9 minutes in order to qualify for Boston. Since training doesn't
officially start until late June I've been doing a long run each week
(between 13 and 15 miles)

How much mileage are you doing now ? What were your mielage and long runs
like in the 12 weeks leading up to your last marathon ?

Quoted message said:

and have been doing at least one speed
workout a week of 6 or 7 miles which I run between a 6:20 and 6:35
minute pace.

Do you mean, you run 6-7 miles at a constant pace for your speed workouts ?

Quoted message said:

Is this the right way to increase my overall speed? And
as the weeks go by should I increase mileage for my speed workouts?

Probably not. Long runs at a constant pace aren't all that effective.

You probably should do some reading on speed workouts. A good distance
for a tempo run (hard steady paced run, what you seem to be doing) is about
5k-5miles.

Other good speed workouts:

(1) interval work adding up to about 3 miles, such as 4x1200m, 6x800m, or 3xmile.
(2) Hill reps: find a steep hill about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long, and run up it at a
good pace about 6 times.

Might help to get a good book on training if you're serious. Would recommend
Glover's book (competitive runners handbook) and the Jack Daniels book (Daniels'
Running Formula).

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Dan Stumpus said:

Limit it to a few informal brisk surges once or twice a week until then
so that speedwork won't be a shock. Please note that It is so easy
to injure yourself by going just a bit too hard too soon...

My experience agrees with Dan's advice. I think you can also restate
the same info with different emphasis to good effect, something like:

So that speedwork doesn't become an injury-provoking shock,
it's a very good idea to precede it with weeks of strides and/or
other similar low volume, short distance, high speed running.
Some advocate injecting a couple sets of strides per week
into your runs nearly year-round.