Name: Matt

Sex: Male

Age (at the time of first BQ): 42

Height: 6′ 2″

Weight (at the time of first BQ): 173

At which marathon did you get your first BQ? Tacoma City Marathon

Tell us a little about the race. A true test of grit. A very hilly first half. Tactical errors made in the first half will contribute to a horrible second half slog. After bonking hard in 2018 on this course, I made it my personal mission in life to take my revenge out on this course in 2019.

How long had you been running when you ran your first BQ? I’ve been training and running marathons since 2011. Did not entertain the thought of BQ until 2016.

Did you run in college or high school? No

What was your approximate lifetime mileage at the time of your first BQ? 23,000

How many miles did you run in the year before your first BQ? 3,500

Approximately how many races did you run in that year? 5

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, A mixture of Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20, Pfitz, and Hansons. I ran my easy days EASY, and my hard days HARD. A lot of tempo and lactate threshold work and strategic marathon paces mixed inside of my 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? No. A mile spent cross training, is a mile I could have spent building volume by running.

Did speed work play a role in your training? If so, how? Absolutely. Once a week I did 800 to 1200 meter intervals. These sucked. They need to. Also, once a week I did tempo/lactate threshold work, around 20% of weekly volume.

Any other thoughts you would like to share with those of working towards a BQ? If you’re serious about getting a BQ but you keep missing the mark do an honest self evaluation. If you need to clean up your nutrition and drop some weight, do it. If you are neglecting sleep, don’t. If you have time to add more weekly miles, do so. If you are frightened of some of the more advanced speed work, don’t be. Have a nutrition plan for race day and practice it during some of your longer and difficult long runs. Marathons suck, don’t make them suck more by coming to the start line under-fueled and unprepared.