Couch Potato Starting Marathon Training - Anyone wanna join me???

marathonic

Hi,

I'm a 23 year old male and, in the past, have done absolutely no excercise. My work involves sitting in front of a computer screen all day and all I have done in the evenings is watch tv. I binge drink every weekend and am about 2 stone overweight for my height (5' 11" and 13 stone). Just thought I'd write about my current state of fitness so that, if successful with my plans, you can see where I have come from and any progress I have made.

I started going to the gym at the start of this week and done a 4.5K run on the threadmill on Tuesday and Wednesday and plan on doing a 5k run today (Friday). After the 4.5k runs, I have been absolutely knackered and breathless. I am also hoping to cut down the alcohol to one night a week.

My goal is to train for a marathon and complete the full 26.2 miles this December - either the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii or the California International Marathon in America. Both are held in the first couple of weeks in December.

The following is a training schedule I have come up with through research on the net:

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

I have adjusted mines slightly by removing 4 weeks from the mileage buildup schedule so that I have the training completed by December (I'm doing the December marathon so that I can go on a huge celebratory drinking session at Christmas )

I'll keep ya posted on how I'm doing. If anyone wants to join me in my goal, feel free. We won't be able to train together as I'm from Donegal but we can keep each other motivated, etc.

Thanks for now.

PeeJa

Best of luck with the training, but why America in Dec. If you are based in Donegal you will be training from the end of Sept - Dec when the hour has changed and it gets dark pretty early.
I have done the Dublin marathon 3 times at the end of Oct and even the last month of this is very difficult to fit in long runs before or after work to get home before dark. I have had to travel 10mile to the nearest big town to run round streets and bypass to overcome this problem.
Also the Belfast marathon is on this w/end and i ran a relay section in it with 4 mates, it is a great way of experiencing the atmosphere of a marathon (2 late for you to enter) and it introduced them to what i was always talking about.
Don't do too much at the start you could get pissed off, you have a long time to work at it, build the mileage up slowly YOU WILL HAVE ****TY DAYS!!
Anyway the very best of luck, it takes a hugh effort and fair play to anyone who takes it on.

Supercell

Hi Peeja,

I'm interested in running a marathon (its a life goal - like learn another language, learn how to drive a truck, run a marathon...!) and was wondering how long a timeframe you would recommend a complete novice, thats admittedly about 1 stone overweight currently, would take to get to the required fitness leval to run one safely and within a reasonable time?

I'm thinking this kind of distance is going to take about 10-12 months to be able to run safely and relatively comfortably from a comparatively unfit start?

PeeJa

It all depends on your previous training routines (I always played football), and found that about 4 months was enough. Enter in to a few shorter runs 10k and work it up but if you are a complete novice it could take a while. Don't worry about the weight, eat better food and train hard. you need to eat more (good food) when your training hard. I am 6ft1" and 15stone at the moment but i will lose the 1 stone i put on since the marathon now that i have started back into it(i know this sounds big but i am a large build)
The last thing i must say here is that i dont know anyone that has run a marathon comfortably!! HeHe

marathonic

Taking into account the comments above, I have had a rethink and will probably try progressing slowly through separate sub-goals as opposed to aiming for a marathon in December. This should mean that I won't get bored and just give up as easily. I'm thinking about doing a 10k at the end of next month and aiming for a half marathon in August/September and taking it from there.

The following is a basic breakdown of what I've done so far:

Date................... Distance
25-Apr-06........... 4.25K
26-Apr-06........... 4.25k
28-Apr-06........... 3.33k
03-May-06.......... 5K

I was completely wrecked after the first three sessions but the fourth wasn't too bad. I'm also considering starting some weight training as I don't wan't to end up with big muscly legs and a "big fat" upper body :eek:

Unfortunately, I didn't get any exercise done at the weekend cause I didn't have the willpower to give up the drink (another huge reason I am trying to do a marathon) but maybe this weekend!!!

marathonic

Just a quick update on my progress... The following are a list of my most recent runs... All of these have been on the open road as opposed to a Gym (there's a big difference because you have wind and have to make a consious effort to control your pace. However, it is much more enjoyable).

6-May-06 Tried 4.5k - Complete mess. Wanted to give up
8-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 3/4 course
10-May-06 Tried 5K - walked 5/8 course
12-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 26 mins)
15-May-06 Tried 5k - Walked 1/2 course with Danny (drinking binge weekend)
16-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 25 mins)
18-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 25 mins)
20-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/8 course (complete 24 mins)
22-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/6 course (complete 23 mins)

I should add that the above was all done at a faster pace than my threadmill training before (which was done at 9K per hour) and was also done on a course containing alot of hills.

Last week, I booked flights, accomodation and tickets to http://www.rnrhalf.com. Cost me E1,000 in total. That's me committed to running a half-marathon in September so there's no giving up now. I like the whole idea of American cheerleaders cheering me on at every mile.... it'll give me motivation to run another mile to see the next group of cheerleaders, and the next, and the next...

joejoem

marathonic wrote:

Just a quick update on my progress... The following are a list of my most recent runs... All of these have been on the open road as opposed to a Gym (there's a big difference because you have wind and have to make a consious effort to control your pace. However, it is much more enjoyable).

6-May-06 Tried 4.5k - Complete mess. Wanted to give up
8-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 3/4 course
10-May-06 Tried 5K - walked 5/8 course
12-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 26 mins)
15-May-06 Tried 5k - Walked 1/2 course with Danny (drinking binge weekend)
16-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 25 mins)
18-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/4 course (complete 25 mins)
20-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/8 course (complete 24 mins)
22-May-06 Tried 5k - walked 1/6 course (complete 23 mins)

I should add that the above was all done at a faster pace than my threadmill training before (which was done at 9K per hour) and was also done on a course containing alot of hills.

Last week, I booked flights, accomodation and tickets to http://www.rnrhalf.com. Cost me E1,000 in total. That's me committed to running a half-marathon in September so there's no giving up now. I like the whole idea of American cheerleaders cheering me on at every mile.... it'll give me motivation to run another mile to see the next group of cheerleaders, and the next, and the next...

Hey,

I am also training for a marathon, the New York, I was doing ok in training until about four weeks ago when shin splints hit. They are ok now, so I am back to training this weekend.


I would recomend doing the addidas runs through the summer as a build up. I have also paid my booking fee's n all!

Transform

Excellent joejoem!!!!

Doing it in New York also with 3 clients (who are not amazingly fit and will all finish in under 4hrs).

Doing it for the charity Croi (reasearch into Sudden Death Heart Failure) so keepit up and we run our long run saturdays at 8am from Cabinteely if anyone needs the company

All the best

joejoem

Transform wrote:

Excellent joejoem!!!!

Doing it in New York also with 3 clients (who are not amazingly fit and will all finish in under 4hrs).

Doing it for the charity Croi (reasearch into Sudden Death Heart Failure) so keepit up and we run our long run saturdays at 8am from Cabinteely if anyone needs the company

All the best

I may do, I live there anyway. I'm doing it for Beaumont hospital.


Doin it for the kids....

cousin_borat

Hey Transform, how long time wise is your long session? At the moment I'm running circa 9 minute mile pace for 1HR 30 on a saturday for long sessions.
During the week 3 40-60 minutes runs and then 20 minutes on the other two days. Sunday off.

Transform

What marathon are you doing?

Sounds like its too much

Look at Hal Higdon (google it) for a proper program

cousin_borat

Yeah, I was enjoying getting back into proper running and my new Asics for the last few weeks

I'm reducing the number of 40 minute runs to 2 per week, then 1 short session, cross training day and long run on a sat. I'm also going to reduce the pace of the long run slightly.

Running the Chicago marathon (Oct 22), I'm based in the US for the year and work in Chicago some of the time. It's a really good first marathon cos it's nice and flat. Hidgon is the training consultant for the Chicago marathon.

Transform

Excellent.

Whats your expected time?

cousin_borat

I'll be happy to finish in the first instance!! But between 3:30 and 3:45 is the training schedule I'm following. I'm following a schedule from JeffGalloway.com.
Between that and Higdons site there is lots of info.

Good luck with the training marathonic

marathonic

I ran just over 9 miles 2 weeks ago. Didn't time myself on that run. Felt ok after it. Then I went on the beer for two weekends with only minimal excercise between the two weeks - one 6 mile run and one 20k cycle.

I ran 6.5 mile on Tuesday and 7.6 mile yesterday (in 1hr 3 mins). I was totally wrecked after yesterdays run (more than the 9 mile run two weeks ago) - it's funny how much the beer messes with your routine.

Anyway, I've the half marathon in two weeks time which I should, hopefully complete in under 2 hours. I am thinking of doing the Dublin marathon in October. Would it be reasonable to expect to double my distance from 13.1 mile in September 3rd to 26.2 mile in October 30th?

Do any of you know if it's still possible to apply and, if so, when the closing date is?

PeeJa

Just got an email from the Dublin Marathon on Monday to tell me that registration has just opened, so no probs registering.

Find another excuse HaHa!

Check out Activeeurope.com for registration.

Transform

Cut out the beer and up your milage i.e. you need to follow a program and stop fluffing around with a run here and there.

Get a heart rate monitor and time you runs and distance. Log it all

FGR

In lieu of weight training you could always do the old classics ie. Press Ups and Sit ups. Not only do they benefit your arms but also your chest, upper and lower back.