Great running!
My point though is that you weren’t the average 30min+ parkrunner getting to sub18 on 3/wk?
No. My first parkrun was a 21.30. Turned out that fitness was fitness and a lifetime of being active served me well.
This is just speculation, let me be clear, but the Norwegians discussed running a max of 40 miles per week and doing 2:30 at Kona. Now I’m the first to admit that we shouldn’t try to train like the pros, but in the marathon world that would break people’s brains where it is pretty accepted theory that mileage and times have a linear, indirect relationship (low mileage, slow times; high mileage, fast times). Hal Higdon, whose plans call for a pretty traditional approach, states it explicitly - certain mileages lead to certain times. FastTalk podcast recently released an episode with an athlete that wins 70.3’s on large swim/bike volume and just two runs/week. The whole Niels van der Poel discussion also probably comes in here as well. It seems to be a thing now that building fitness on a bike, then taking that and adding run specificity can be successful.
Just food for thought. I’m excited to try it. It seems that a big limiter for long-course triathletes is running injuries. Maybe this approach would improve that 
Welp, I avoided this (running) as long as possible, but this weekend I blew my tire off the rear wheel twice in one CX race. I had the awesome experience of running almost the full course since the blow outs where on opposite sides of the pits.
I officially need to add running into my training. Based on this thread (thank you all) my plan is to add in a 20 minute walk every day, and on days when my legs don’t hurt I’ll run 1 minute, Walk 4 (repeat 4x). On days my legs / back / etc. do hurt, I’ll just walk the full 20.
If anyone cares, I was running the stock alloy Roval’s that came on the 2018 Crux with tubeless PDX tires. I’ve already bought a new set of 303s with Challenge Limus tires and raced again on Sunday without blowing the tire off.
Yep - Simon Lessing was triple world triathlon champ and a sub 30 min 10k runner with a 45min long run…but he did 30 hours of swim/bike training though!
Ah ha. So muscular damage was very much my limiter on this weekends marathon. I felt afterwards that I’ll need to put more miles in before the next one so that my aerobic engine can become the limiter.
Yeah, I agree. I think that running economy and durability are such a huge part of running a fast marathon and they can’t really be substituted for.
While some athletes with a history of running can quickly move biking or skiing fitness into running, I think it’s likely that they would be a faster runner if they put in big miles on their feet. As far as I’m aware, there are basically zero elite level marathoners who don’t at least touch 100 mpw at some point during their build.
“That was 40 km at race pace and obviously, you’re tired afterwards”
wish me luck you all… I just landed in CO and going for a run tomorrow morning!
It will be interesting to see how it goes. From sea level to 6k feet elevation…what could go wrong!
i beg to defer… a 2:36 is impressive no matter what. Yes, there are people who are much faster running.
Let put it this way, 400 people out of 40,000 finishers of the chicago marathon finished in 2:40 or better.
Thats a very tiny fraction of runners… i bet those guys would probably hit 2:20s on a stand alone marathon.
It’s all about specificity. Back in the day Mark Allen ran away from Christian Bustos at Hawaii even though the latter had a marathon pb of 2:19 which was quicker than “The Grip” - it was just that the efficiency of Allen over the Iron distance and his ability to peak at Kona was incredible. The Norwegians (and to be fair the likes of Luke Van Lierde, Dave Scott et al) were or are much the same.
Sure… I get you point, but most running pros don’t have to bike 112 grueling miles on the HI heat before doing a sub 2.15. most of them would not do a 2.20 on similar running conditions and IM athletes run.
In the same vein, I would be willing to bet 1 dollar that there is no IM pro who can sun a 2.10, but I am sure some can drop a 2.20 or better on ideal conditions.
A marathon and the 26 miles after a IM are two totally different things. It’s not fair to compare.
Blu claims that.
But yes, these are two completely different things. I can’t remember who I am quoting here but “the only similarity is the 26.2 miles”. They are different events.
Idk about Blu.
There is a huge difference between 2.36 and 2.20.
I would say Blu on ideal conditions probably can do a 2,25 or so… He is heavy. Probably running at close to peak capabilities.
It’s easy to get lost in the weeds on forums, but just to point out that Blu can run a 2:30 (or maybe a 2:20) on 40 miles/week breaks the conventional model of running training. That’s exciting for the rest of us IMHO - you don’t have to be doing high mileage to have fast times, which is a huge deal due to the high risk of running-related injuries in amateurs and people doing high volume training in other disciplines simultaneously. Comparing pro runner to pro triathlete times misses the point. There is no question that a Kenyan pro runner doing 110 miles/week is going to smoke a pro triathlete.
Also, in general, if you think 2:30 is anything other than blazing fast, more power to you - I wouldn’t change a thing you’re doing lol
I mean he does 40 miles per week…
But also.
Blummenfelt trains every day, usually three sessions a day, for 1,300 hours in total last year alone. During training camps he can burn through 8,000 calories a day easily – meaning just eating enough is a significant challenge in itself.
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/kristian-blummenfelt-interview-triathlon-ironman-sub7
Exactly. Yes 2:20 is a fast time for a sub elite runner, but it’s an open question if this is the fastest time that Blummenfelt could run on this amount of total volume if his only goal was running a fast marathon.
It’s likely that he would run a faster marathon if he was 100 percent focused on running. For anyone looking to run a fast marathon, run volume is king. It’s worth noting that almost zero pro runners do significant cross training during their major builds.
Getting back on the BarryP wagon…
After a few months off of it prepping for my half marathon, i’m going to get back to the 6 days easy running schedule… Won’t increase mileage much until Jan, just want to keep some mileage going.
I just don’t want to lose the fitness i built over this season. Aiming for end of april half marathon as my first 2023 race so i have a few months of diddling in base fitness before i start a proper plan for it. Aiming for sub 2:00 (last one was almost 2:20…but i burned myself out in the first half) so hopefully the added base work will make it easier. Also ideally will be a good 10lbs lighter by the time i start the plan, if all goes well till January!
wth?! Anyway, I don’t what he’d run standalone in cooler conditions, but the difference in Ironman marathon vs standalone marathon is not all that much for the pointy end pro triathletes when compared to the average Joe(l) 
The problem that I see with Blu running a world level marathon is his weight. Speed is not linear as you know. Running 15 minutes quicker is running about 35 seconds per mile faster. And that’s is a huge difference and something that will take a lot of energy. The heavier you are the harder it is to do.
Can he do it? Yes I think he can. He would need to train differently and would probably need to lose weight to get there.