Name: SR

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ): 45

Height (at the time of first BQ):  6’0

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 195

At which marathon did you get your first BQ? Phoenix Marathon

Tell us a little about the race. Goal was to run even pace of 7:35 in first half and 7:37 in second half to take advantage of the net drop in altitude. Got to 20 miles feeling great and my last 10k was my fastest.

Ended up running 7:36 average which was my goal pace.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? 6 Years

Did you run in college or high school? No

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ? 5500

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ? 6 Years

Approximately how many races did you run in that year? 2

Did you follow a canned program? If so, which one? If not, can you give us an idea of what your training philosophy was? Yes Hanson’s modified with more mileage and fast finish long runs.

Did you run with a running club or utilize a coach? No

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how? Some cross training with several dry needling sessions that really helped out when my bad hamstring or calves got tight.

Did speed work play a role in your training? If so, how? Mixture of 400, 800, and mile repeats once a week.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ? I made a huge leap in endurance when I started running easy runs easy. Until I made that change, I was blowing up around mile 20. My tempo run paces were identical or a few seconds slower than past training periods.