Marathon target time

[WinOutdoors]

A friend has made enormous progress in his running and had a stated target of 3:30 for London this year.

He is also a huge user of SM, numerous posts everyday about every aspect of his life. One of those people who appears to have a perfect life, but you wonder who he's trying to convince.

Anyway, he did 3:30:52 which is an amazing time. However, he's posted everywhere about how thrilled he is to have "smashed" 3:30. Which he didn't. It's a great time and I'm sure he would have got it in another race, London isn't a place for PBs for the masses because of the congestion, but actually he missed his target!

It doesn't matter in the scheme of things, and if it makes him happy etc, but it is weirdly annoying 😆

Well I run, not marathons but halves, and when I got 2 hours 40 seconds once, I have to say I told people I did it in "2 hours" when asked. I had my own personal target of sub 2 hours and managed to do another at 1:58 and 8 seconds. Again when asked I told people "1 hour 58" and missed off the 8 seconds.

I think you're being pedantic.

No runner I know does that. I often round up but a lot wouldn’t do that either. Seconds count when getting a PB whatever the distance.

I’m a much slower runner than most so no one is thinking “Wow, that is fast!” at my time but everyone I told celebrated my sense of achievement with me, when I got my Parkrun PB under 34 minutes (by 2 seconds!) having hovered at 34 mins plus a few seconds for ages.

😆 brilliant!

Ditto…Every second counts!

I think 99.9% of runners I know are pedantic and proudly so.

Records matter to the second. Otherwise races wouldn't be timed to the second.

Yes but this runner isn't trying for a world record, it's for his own personal achievements! He still ran in 3 hours 30 minutes.

No he hasn't! They're personal records, still records. If it's not important why tell anyone at all?

He obviously classes his time as having smashed it. Stop being bitchy.

I disagree, and it's his own record. Like I said when I ran a half in 2 hours 40 seconds, it was still 2 hours. It wasn't sub 2 hours, which is where it matters (but that would've been a lie either way). If the guy was trying to get sub 3 hours 30 then yes he's missed that. But he didn't miss "3 hours 30 minutes". The pacers are for each time milestone. If you want a 3 hour 30 minute marathon, you stick with that pacer and that's what you'll get.

Well I am a runner but I must be a bizarrely non pedantic one. I just think of my times in minutes - I wouldn't if I was an elite runner I'm sure because a fraction of a second could mean the difference between winning and coming second. If its the difference between coming 48th or 49th at Park run then - for me anyway - it feels a bit Meh.

anyone who runs and to whom times are important, knows he didn't get it

Some people run & don't care.
DS is peeved that someone got "course record" for a PkRun when DS is convinced they were 3 seconds slower. Something like that, the precision matters, but as for someone's random PB not super special place in marathon event ...

This discussion is like anglers arguing over just how big was the fish that someone caught. Was it 6 lbs or 5lbs 12 oz? Are you SURE? If you aren't competing, then you can't care.

It's just a bit embarrassing really isn't it. He didn't "smash" 3:30 and 3:30 isn't fast for a bloke anyway (unless say he's a v60, which would be a real achievement).

So I'd just nod, smile, and let him carry on making himself look like a prat.

Hmm I know what you mean. He didn’t smash 3.30. But I think when you get to marathons and half marathons it’s a bit long winded to say the seconds too (to the general public who don’t care). So if someone asked him he would say a 3.30 marathon.

I tend to round up so I’m not cheating. My half marathon time is 1.44.46 but if asked I’d say 1.45.

I guess he didn’t want to round up to 3.31 as that would be disappointing for him.

5ks/10ks I would add the seconds too as very significant in these races. Agree if you are a runner what he’s done is annoying but I can see for his friends/ non runners the seconds don’t count. Non of my friends who did the London marathon told me their time with the seconds added on and I’m sure they all rounded down!Completely agree he has not run a sub 3.30 though - even if it was 3.30.01!

OK, technically he didn't, but as you mentioned, you lose at least 5 minutes at the start due to congestion!

You don't necessarily lose anything at the start due to congestion! I ran one of my fastest miles in the first mile on Sunday. And you are already running by the time you cross the timing mat, so if anything you gain a couple of seconds.

I also couldn't tell you the times of any of my races to the second. I know the hrs and minutes, but seconds... life's too short to remember that detail! (unless you're an elite runner where seconds REALLY matter).

I would say he ran 3.30. I did it in 4.16 and some seconds, but I have no idea how many. My last marathon was 4.20 and some seconds, so I'm going with a 4 minute PB.

I would agree with a PP who reckons his Strava (or whatever he uses) says he ran 26.2 miles in sub 3.30. Mine said 4.13. But it's the official time that counts (particularly in London where things go haywire in Canary Wharf, so all bets are off really).

I think you need to let go, it's not a big deal.

I think this is a very spiteful post and I think you are being very mean!

He set a goal and got it! Don't be such a nasty person!

I think you are being incredibly mean! And the person who said its not fast anyway - of course it is! Just because he's not an 'elite' pace its still a bloody good time.

I don't think it's spiteful, mean or nasty to call out that someone had made a misleading claim for a time that they didn't quite get.

3:30:52 is still an amazing time, but I bet no one is more annoyed about him getting that instead of his targeted 3:30, than himself!

OMG - he's stopping the watch for a rest and posting just the run time?! That's mad. He'll be exposed if/when he does an actual timed race with a chip!

Runners will be telling him get back out there and knock 53 seconds off so he can say he ran a sub 3:30 marathon. Those 52 seconds are annoying.

I would be thinking the same and honestly anyone who is a serious runner would too. It is very amateur. Everyone knows 'sub' means under so even 3.30 on the nose is not sub. However, I would just smile and congratulate. It is still a good achievement and you never know how people feel inprivate. He may be upset he didn't smash it and be seeking social media validation. Most are. At the end of the day, you gain nothing from upsetting anyone else. My advice: get yourself a running best friend who you moan about this stuff to in private,that's what I do. Elapsed times, watches on the wrong wrist, dodgy gps, overtraining, crazy fast "easy runs" etc.

If he was aiming for 3:30 then I would say anything within 3:30:00-3:30:59 counts. If he was aiming for a sub 3:30 then he didn’t hit that goal. If he felt he smashed it then he did because with running you’re ( usually ) only competing with yourself !

A couple other considerations. Was his 3:30:52 time the gun time or his chip time? And secondly, in marathon, especially bigger ones, you end up running further then 42.2kms so was he maybe considering that when talking about his goal. As in maybe he did in fact hit a sub 3:30 at 42.2kms?

This is all straw clutching. He is of course entitled to say and think what he likes, but to most runners who are interested in times, 'smashing' a goal time means finishing UNDER the your goal time by a certain margin.
If the goal was 3hr 30 then I'd say 3hr 25 was smashing it, 3hr 30 was spot on (and noteworthy in itself for running bang on the goal).

Telling people you got sub whatever because you've taken into account the extra distance due to weaving looks a bit desperate TBH, the sort of thing you'd tell your running mates on a long run, rather than broadcast on SM.

I'm a competitive runner. My running mates will know there is a difference between me saying "I was the first FV50" and "I won the first FV50 prize". It matters because runners (at least in my circle) are amazingly supportive of each other, regardless of the goals they are trying to achieve, but they need to be genuine.