Re: Marathon Training
I'll just address a few things:
1. Longest distance to run during training: while there is some debate on this, most people are now saying that running 26 or more is not necessary during training (mainly influenced by Hal's philosophy). I would say you do not need to.
2. Don't do speedwork for your first marathon training, especially with only 20 weeks to train. For beginning or average runners, speedwork is best left for the off-season when you are building your base. If you try to cram that in now you will probably just injure yourself.
3. The best advice here was the one about your starting pace. It is beyond easy to go out at a much higher pace than you are capable of sustaining, thinking "hey, this is easy!" and then crashing around mile 15. If you start at your pace, it will feel painfully slow. It is crucial that you start at your goal pace (assuming you are capable of meeting your goal, of course).
4. LOL @ "different marathon lengths." One of the funniest things I have read in a while.
Good luck, you can break 4 hours, just stay on a training schedule and do NOT try to cram in too much training as you get closer to the race and start freaking out.
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