Really pleased to share Dan’s story of running a three hour marathon after losing fifty pounds! Inspiring stuff, Dan, thanks!

 Name

Dan Varga

Sex:

Male

Age (at the time of first BQ):

38

Height:

6’1’

Weight (at the time of first BQ):

183

At which marathon did you get your first BQ?

Utah Valley

Tell us a little about the race.

“I went out today with the goal of keeping my pace in the 6:40’s as long as I could in hopes of breaking 3:00 in my first official marathon. My split times were 6:49, 6:43, 6:43, 6:54, 6:49, 6:49, 7:12, 7:21 (stopped to get rocks out of shoe), 6:43, 6:41, 6:50, 6:37, 13 -6:40, 6:47, 6:52, 6:33, 6:33, 6:39, 6:40, 6:49, 6:45, 8:00 (emergency bathroom), 7:01, 6:55, 7:07, 1:41

I felt great until mile 23 when my heart rate finally got into the 170’s and suddenly I couldn’t keep my speed up anymore. My heartrate was basically in the 150’s until mile 22. I did get attacked by a bird twice by the golf course. I ran it’s wing into the back of my head as it dive bombed me. Scared me, maybe that is what drove my heart rate up and over the edge. That’s right, blame the bird.

Overall, I am very pleased, just wish I would have worn the gaiters and didn’t have my bowel issues and then I would have broken 3:00. There’s always St. George. It was great to run into my wasatch back team at the mouth of the canyon to provide some needed energy, and then my family and parents came and watched me go several times from there until the end.

I ended up 39th overall and 9th in my age group 35-39 I think it was broken down to. Not a bad first effort I would say. Look forward to doing some actual speed work and see what I can really do for St. George”

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

15 months

Did you run in college or high school?

No

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

1500

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

 

Approximately how many races did you run in that year?

3

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, 10 Miles a day, 3-4 days a week. A couple of speed miles. 10 miles easy, 10 miles hard on weekend long run.

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

No

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

no

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

Some Tempo Miles. 10 mile Speed Run. Occasional shorter races.

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

Miles. Lots of miles, slow, medium, some fast.
The 2 years I trained I used a heart rate monitor all the time to judge effort.
My first marathon I tried to run at a 155 or 160 heart rate for as long as possible, whatever that speed was. It eventually went up (mile 22), and the speed went down. Ran 3:01 my first marathon after losing 50 pounds and running 3-4 times a week for 15 months.