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  Michael L, what were you weekly miles and how did these compare to what 
  you did previously?

  The best part about the M2 program was I never counted miles.  It 
  was a very refreshing change.  Let me do the math though.  Besides 
  race week, I don’t think I ran more than 30-33 miles in any week.  
  Just looking at my log, over the entire 12 weeks, I averaged 190 
  minutes of running a week and an additional 30 minutes of non-running 
  workouts.  Taking into account all of the interval work, I bet I 
  averaged between 7:15-8:00 minute miles, so 23-26 miles a week (I 
  just did the math 3 times to double check; it still does not seem 
  possible). 

 

  My 1st marathons, a 4:02 on the same course in 2003, I followed a 
  very traditional heavy mile program:

  http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_mile.html

  http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html

  It was a 36 week program that had me running many more miles.  5 weeks 
  were over 40 miles in the week and three 20 plus mile runs.  Keeping in
  mind that I was running at a slower pace, this was extremely hard on my 
  body and I saw very little improvement along the way.  And mentally, it
  was very hard to stay focused (I found myself getting bored with “logging 
  miles.”)

  My second marathon, a 3:51 16 weeks ago, I followed a similar program 
  that was even heavier on the miles.  The problem this time was right 
  when I felt like I was hitting a decent stride, my body broke down and 
  I had a bad foot injury from over usage.  Instead of running the last 
  4 weeks of the program, most of my time was spent trying to heal just 
  so I could run the marathon.                
 

  How long have you been a runner?

  In high school and college I was a tennis player.  Any running I did was 
  usually speed work or around 3 miles.  The first two marathons I did I 
  ran as something to do, but not very focused on time.  After my June 
  marathon I wanted to try and train more serious but was lost with all 
  of the different methods.  So I would say that I have been a “hack” 
  runner since 2003, but working with you is the first time I have 
  actually trained correctly for a faster speed.   

  How many marathons had you run previously?

  This was my third.  Twin Cities in 2003, 4:02 Grandma’s Marathon, 
  June 2006: 3:51

  Twin Cities in 2006, 3:18,    

  Another good data point is I ran a 1:40 half marathon on August 5th.  
  According to some time charts I have looked at, that would have put 
  me at a 3:30 marathon.  
  
  Somehow I gained 12 minutes in the last 7 weeks with the training.  

  Let me know how else I can help.  

  Thanks again.

  Mike Lippold