Name

Matt

Sex:

Male

Age (at the time of first BQ):

31

Height:

6 feet

Weight (at the time of first BQ):

168 lbs

At which marathon did you get your first BQ?

Rock n Roll New Orleans

Tell us a little about the race.

Perfect weather. 48 F at start. Felt great. Ran disciplined the first 16, and started pushing the pace mile 17. Negative split by 2.5 minutes.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ?

19 years

Did you run in college or high school?

Yes

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ?

22,000

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ?

2,027

Approximately how many races did you run in that year?

20

Did you follow a canned program? If so, which one? If not, can you give us an idea of what your training philosophy was?

No. I did fairly hard long runs (a few w.up miles, then the remainder within 5-10% of GMP). Track or tempo once/week (occasionally both). Go really slow on easy days.

Did you run with a running club or utilize a coach?

Yes

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how?

Not really.

Did speed work play a role or specific workouts play a role in your training? If so, how?

Yes. I was on the track almost every week, mostly for the camaraderie (it’s not necessarily the best marathon training).

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ?

I’m reading Pfitzinger now, and I’ve changed my training program to look a lot more like his. Big fan so far. So, what he says.

In any case, looking back at the 15-20 weeks before my BQ marathon, I didn’t do anything particularly suited to marathon training … *other than* my rather hard long runs. IMHO, and in Pfitz’s, that’s 100% the most important thing to get right.