Name: Samuel Dever

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ): 25

Height (at the time of first BQ): 6’4″

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 144

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

Tell us a little about the race. 4 min positive split, ran solo after mile 8. Slowest mile was only 6:45 while the quickest was just under 6. Wore shoes that were too light and felt that restricted my ability to run quick later in the race.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? 9 years

Did you run in college or high school? Yes

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ? 14,000

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ? 3,200

Approximately how many races did you run in that year? 29

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 trained for the mile over the summer while increasing my mileage, I averaged 80MPW for 12 weeks before the race, 7 of which were 90MPW. I tried to do two workouts and a long run each week. Did not sweat it if I missed one any given week. Typically track repeats tuesday, tempo thursday and LR over the weekend. I had 5 or so specific workouts that I wanted to hit in the 3-8 weeks from race range.

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

Did cross training play a role in your training? If so, how? No, I basically only ran, an occasional swim and occasional core/pushups.

Did speed work play a role in your training? If so, how? Yes I did speed work often

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ? Get a quicker 5k-10k time before rushing into the marathon. Put in the miles. I found that longrun workouts (20mi @ MP+20s/mi) and longer repeats(3x3mi, 4x2mi @ HM) gave me the most confidence come race day.