6 marathons in a year?

ultraman1

HI all ,have planned to do the 6 irish marathons in 2009, except the burren challenge ,including the conneultra ,i,i have done 6 marathons inthe past 2+ years dublin ,longford ,dublin,conneultra,longford,dublin.Have any of you ever attempted this and if so any advice.am i bonkers.

--amadeus--

ultraman1 wrote: »

am i bonkers.

Yes.

However it is a cracking challenge - back when there were only 4 of them I thought about doing the same thing myself. From memory of teh schedules I think you should have a good few weeks recovery between all of them, it's not quite as intensive as a multi day ultra so there are more bonkers people out there (you know who you are)

The key will probably be injury prevention. Moderate, low intensity mileage to build aerobic fitness and treat each of teh marathons as a supported training run, no more than LSR pace, and you'll be fine, IMO.

cfitz

Well I've never run much further than 25k in one day so feel free to ignore this. I like to perform at my best in most races, so for me six marathons in a year would be very stupid. However, if you

A -- don't care about your times, or
B -- if you are talented and very durable and trying to collect a load of prize money

then you can do it. If you're good enough to do B then you probably don't need my advice. If you don't care about your times then all you need to do is get a good base and then run the marathons like training runs and take it nice and easy for a few weeks after each marathon.

Abhainn

ultraman 1, you may think your sane, I may not think you are sane but they will be many a person out there that's think you are nuts.

You've done 6 marathons in last 2 years so you know the story. No bother to you I'd say.

Ex Saw Doctors Johnny Donnelly has run something like 14 so far this year, and ran 4 in 5 weeks in the Autumn.
All in very respectable times too.

http://www.runjohnnyrun.ie/runjohnnyrun/diary.php

Best of luck, hopefully see you at the Ultra

TFBubendorfer

I know a guy who ran 13 marathons (or 50ks) in 12 weeks, and he's not superhuman himself, so it's definitely doable.

I don't think you're bonkers. I could be tempted to do something like that myself once I've stopped chasing personal bests.

Your biggest challenge might be not to be sick at the wrong moment in time.

Didn't Ray O'Connor, the Connemara race director, run 10 marathons in 10 days this year? Now that is one challenge!

plodder

Why not? If you build up to it right, I don't see the problem. In Dublin two years ago, I was passed by three guys who did three marathons in three days (the previous two were a lot tougher than Dublin as well).

gar_29

ultraman1 wrote: »

HI all ,have planned to do the 6 irish marathons in 2009, except the burren challenge ,including the conneultra ,i,i have done 6 marathons inthe past 2+ years dublin ,longford ,dublin,conneultra,longford,dublin.Have any of you ever attempted this and if so any advice.am i bonkers.

it'll be fine.

i used to train with one marathon a week, one half, plus a couple of 5 to 10k runs, sometimes a 60k run if the weather was nice.

then i had a baby (or more correctly, my girlfriend did) and it's kinda tricky to find the time!!!

you've done a fair few, your body will handle it grand.

Peckham

Didn't someone post here earlier in the year to say he was embarking on that challenge? I know he got the ones earlier in the year done, but can't remember if he was still on track for Dublin.

RacoonQueen

You're not bonkers at all. Where's the fun in taking things easy.

ultraman1

Had entered for the 10/10 but my daughters communion is scheduled for same day as the 10th marathon.

ultraman1

Abhainn wrote: »

ultraman 1, you may think your sane, I may not think you are sane but they will be many a person out there that's think you are nuts.

You've done 6 marathons in last 2 years so you know the story. No bother to you I'd say.

Ex Saw Doctors Johnny Donnelly has run something like 14 so far this year, and ran 4 in 5 weeks in the Autumn.
All in very respectable times too.

http://www.runjohnnyrun.ie/runjohnnyrun/diary.php

Best of luck, hopefully see you at the Ultra

yuoll see me towards the rear of the pack

Slogger Jogger

Not a mad challenge at all. Its each to their own when it comes to objectives like this. Theres runners who would say that more than 2 a year is mad. Depends I suppose on how competitive you want to be, in which case the less the better. If you're objectives are slightly less grandiose and if you get a decent base for the 1st one and space them out accordingly theres no reason why not. I did 5 in each of the last 2 years and my running bug is still intact.

belcarra

Peckham wrote: »

Didn't someone post here earlier in the year to say he was embarking on that challenge? I know he got the ones earlier in the year done, but can't remember if he was still on track for Dublin.

Hey Ultraman1, I was the person Peckham was referencing above (I think!!). I did the Dub marathon last year and then decided I needed a bigger challenge for this year so decided to do exactly as your challenge is: The six Irish marathons.
If you're looking for more info of how I got on then follow this link for my charity website where I raised €3500 on the back of the challenge: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/john_colemans_event/
Also I had a bit of a blog going to track my progress at http://jc-irishmarathonchallenge.blogspot.com but as you will see I failed to complete the blog! However the good news is that I completed the six of them eventually! You'll notice that I'm not at all quick (Finishes varied between 4:20 and 4:45) but it was well worth it. People are still coming up talking to me about the whole thing which makes it feel like it was a really unique thing which is kinda cool!
I say go for it! You're probably much quicker than me so it should prove very manageable for you. Keep us updated if you do!

John.

baza1976

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Yes.

However it is a cracking challenge - back when there were only 4 of them I thought about doing the same thing myself. From memory of teh schedules I think you should have a good few weeks recovery between all of them, it's not quite as intensive as a multi day ultra so there are more bonkers people out there (you know who you are)

The key will probably be injury prevention. Moderate, low intensity mileage to build aerobic fitness and treat each of teh marathons as a supported training run, no more than LSR pace, and you'll be fine, IMO.

I think there is less than a month between the belfast, newry and cork marathon... was a bit taken back by that myself ... It's like to think I could have a go at all the marathons in Ireland in 1 year....... ahhhh someday

belcarra

baza1976 wrote: »

I think there is less than a month between the belfast, newry and cork marathon... was a bit taken back by that myself ... It's like to think I could have a go at all the marathons in Ireland in 1 year....... ahhhh someday

The schedule last year was:
Connemarathon - April 6th
Belfast Marathon - May 5th
Newry Marathon - May 26th
Cork Marathon - June 2nd
Longord Marathon - August 24th
Dublin Marathon - October 26th

I actually did my PB in Cork having ran my slowest time in Newry the previous week!

Slogger Jogger

Well done Belcarra. There might be some method there to that madness. A few years ago I did a not so good Connemara marathon, followed 2 weeks later by what was at the time a PB for me in Paris.

By the way, the Wicklow Way 'ultra' is 11th April next. Ultra in difficulty if not distance perhaps. The distance is down as 44k, but that could go to 50k due to a possible enforced route change. If you ran that, that would surely count as a marathon

belcarra

Totally urelated to my past 12 months(!) but I was wondering if there was some organisation that could/would make special awards for completing all certified marathons held in Ireland in a given year??
This would be a really good challenge (& extra badge of honour seeing as once-off marathon participants are becoming so popular!)
Or even a special T-Shirt...!

Thoughts??

hunnymonster

something like the 50 states club?
http://www.50statesmarathonclub.com/50dc/index.html

Stupid_Private

This lad in my old club in London seems to be doing marathons every other week. I don't understand how he can afford them, why he doesn't concentrate on one or two with the times he's getting, and where he get's the time to do them all. In the last year I count 18 on his results page with most times under 3 hours, fastest 2:42, slowest 3:18. He did the same number of marathons in 2007, and roughly the same in 2006. His results are here

With this in mind, I think 6 marathons is definitely possible!

TheRoadRunner

Stupid_Private wrote: »

This lad in my old club in London seems to be doing marathons every other week. I don't understand how he can afford them, why he doesn't concentrate on one or two with the times he's getting, and where he get's the time to do them all. In the last year I count 18 on his results page with most times under 3 hours, fastest 2:42, slowest 3:18. He did the same number of marathons in 2007, and roughly the same in 2006. His results are here

With this in mind, I think 6 marathons is definitely possible!

That's amazing going.

Personally I think 6 marathons in a year is bonkers. But that is me I actually wouldn't physically be able for more than 2. I like to race them though so maybe if I ran a minute a mile slower it might be possible for me. Best of lucl with the challenge anyway

ultraman1

Done,,,not bad 4 some who needs liposuction

kevinkilbane

i did 4marathons this year, belfast, cork, longford and dublin.

it is not insane, id love to do it again, i think i will, but not 2010... as already pointed out above, if you are going for time then obviously 6 is not what you should be doing, only one or two in a 12 month period.

i really enjoyed myself, i had some year, but then again, in 2008 i tried to do the four, but i only did belfast and cork, missed longford and dublin, kinda annoyed to miss dublin as ive done dublin for 4years since 2004. but i turned it around in 2009.

my times were
Belfast 3.41
Cork 4.18
Longford 3.45
Dublin 3.35

i started well, i love the belfast marathon, but 4weeks later in cork, i really thought id get under 3.59. but it was such a hot day, ask anyone who did the cork marathon this year, crazy it was, struggled the last 10miles... i was blessed in longford with rain, and i got a decent time for me. and then dublin, never thought id be able to break 3.40...... also in 2008, my times were belast 3.52, and cork 3.58. and that was 4weeks too, very possible to get times close together.

but another great thing for me about this year was how much my running has improved and not just with the marathon, but i got a pb in every distance this year, delighted to break 20min for a 5km a few times and also to get a pb in a half marathon in tarmonbarry. my previous pb for HM was 1.58, got that down to 1.34. you will surprise yourself after all the hard training just what you will be able to achieve.

i ran over 1000 miles(but never planned to,just happened), changed a few things, my diet and rarely drank. my advise would be to take one at a time. i only entered a race when i was finished with the other, (dont think you could do that though, with a couple so close).


i had a thread for this, where i asked the same question, ill try and dig it up.


P.S. i did get injured, in the dublin marathon, i went over on my ankle, when i wasnt looking my foot landed on a bottle, it was a tough last 4mile. im kind of still injured, havent been able to get back running yet, good to put the feet up though.... but if i had a marathon in 4weeks or 3months, then no way. i was so lucky not to get injured during the year, hopefully youll be lucky too.

kevinkilbane

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055572807

groovyg

I don't think its bonkers - its well doable over a year and if you want to space them out, you should just pick six ones that you really want to do, if some are very close together you could use one as training for the other. If you look at the multiday events like Gobi, Atacama and the Mds the distance covered on those events are something like a marathon a day so at least if you space it out you will have a bit of time to recover. If you are pretty fit already and have a good level of endurance it shouldn't be an issue. Do you aim to do similiar times in all six or are you just aiming to get around?
I met an ultra runner Peter Ferris from the north at few different marathons over the last year - he seems to do a marathon every weekend!

geld

belcarra wrote: »

The schedule last year was:
Connemarathon - April 6th
Belfast Marathon - May 5th
Newry Marathon - May 26th
Cork Marathon - June 2nd
Longord Marathon - August 24th
Dublin Marathon - October 26th

...is there not seven marathons?? Dingle!! more work to do ultraman:D

Enduro

and the Mourne Way, and the causeway coast, and....

Its incredible the number of marathons that have started in Ireland in the last few years

belcarra

geld wrote: »

...is there not seven marathons?? Dingle!! more work to do ultraman:D

Dingle wasn't around at the time...

Enduro wrote: »

and the Mourne Way, and the causeway coast, and....

Its incredible the number of marathons that have started in Ireland in the last few years

...and the idea was to stick to road marathons...

Also add The Burren to all that and was there a full at the Mooathon this year?
Then of course there are the 14 Galway marathons as well...!

mithril

Of course its possible - Ultra runners run marathon equivalent distances back to back routinely. Whether its possible to get any performance improvement while doing this though is questionable.

The following combination used to be quite popular over the October bank holiday week-end but I think the first 2 events now clash:

Beachy Head Marathon - Saturday
Snowdonia Marathon - Sunday
Dublin Marathon - Monday