London 09, Amateur Attempt 2

ditpoker

Background:

I'm a 25 year old having a second attempt at a marathon. I applied for London 08 not really expecting to be accepted, myself and two friends both applied but I was the only one who got a place. I started training, and training... and, made the error of always trying to beat a previous time. As I built up my mileage I realised by body was not ready for the step up so quickly, but would force myself through it. I genuinely believe this lead to injuring my knee. Sadly, I was forced to drop out of the London 08 Marathon, but leaves me with a place on London 09, taking place on April 26th.

The Football Conundrum:

I am a footballer first and foremost. Whether it be wise or not, I will continue to play football, as it is my first love and something I have done 2-3 times a week since I was 7. I have used Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan as my training schedule, with some minor modifications to take into account my work and football schedule. The mileage will remain the same. One driving force behind my desire to do a marathon, is that I want the marathon training to make me a fitter/better football player. I am aware of the risk of injury from football, and I go into this marathon madness fully aware that I could get to April 20th and wreck my ankle a week before. I HOPE this doesnt happen!

This Training Log:

Training officially starts on December 22nd. I'm not quite sure what I will use this log for - I don't want to use this as a forum for me to say "I did 3 miles today", "I did 4 miles today". I can imagine I will suffer with motivation at times and equally I will probably look the odd pat on the back when I do a run, so will try and keep the post relatively interesting, if not only for me, but also anyone who chooses to read it.

My Ambitions:

1: Make the starting line.
2: Make the finishing line.
3. Stay injury free, especially with my knee.
4. If I can do all three of the above, I will look to complete the marathon in 262 minutes, or at a pace of 10minute miles. That would bring me home in less that 4hrs and 30mins. Not record breaking by any means, but I am hugely aware that I damaged my knee by being too competitive with myself and constantly trying to beat my own times and improve instantly.

Now then, where are my runners...

shels4ever

ditpoker wrote: »

Background:

I'm a 25 year old having a second attempt at a marathon. I applied for London 08 not really expecting to be accepted, myself and two friends both applied but I was the only one who got a place. I started training, and training... and, made the error of always trying to beat a previous time. As I built up my mileage I realised by body was not ready for the step up so quickly, but would force myself through it. I genuinely believe this lead to injuring my knee. Sadly, I was forced to drop out of the London 08 Marathon, but leaves me with a place on London 09, taking place on April 26th.

The Football Conundrum:

I am a footballer first and foremost. Whether it be wise or not, I will continue to play football, as it is my first love and something I have done 2-3 times a week since I was 7. I have used Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan as my training schedule, with some minor modifications to take into account my work and football schedule. The mileage will remain the same. One driving force behind my desire to do a marathon, is that I want the marathon training to make me a fitter/better football player. I am aware of the risk of injury from football, and I go into this marathon madness fully aware that I could get to April 20th and wreck my ankle a week before. I HOPE this doesnt happen!

This Training Log:

Training officially starts on December 22nd. I'm not quite sure what I will use this log for - I don't want to use this as a forum for me to say "I did 3 miles today", "I did 4 miles today". I can imagine I will suffer with motivation at times and equally I will probably look the odd pat on the back when I do a run, so will try and keep the post relatively interesting, if not only for me, but also anyone who chooses to read it.

My Ambitions:

1: Make the starting line.
2: Make the finishing line.
3. Stay injury free, especially with my knee.
4. If I can do all three of the above, I will look to complete the marathon in 262 minutes, or at a pace of 10minute miles. That would bring me home in less that 4hrs and 30mins. Not record breaking by any means, but I am hugely aware that I damaged my knee by being too competitive with myself and constantly trying to beat my own times and improve instantly.

Now then, where are my runners...

Hi there, just a little bit of advise here. You are going to stick with the football but i would advise that 4 week before the marathon you take a break from it.
I went to chicago in 99 and 3 week befor picked up a hamstring strain that almost stopped me from finishing and i missed my target time by an age. If you going to invest a lot of time and effort into London then it would be wise make sure over the last few weeks something silly doens happen.

Best of luck

Krusty_Clown

Hey ditpoker, best of luck with the new training plan. It'll be quite a challenge to play footy three times a week, and follow a marathon training plan. Good running..

TheRoadRunner

Hi ditpoker

I'm doing London myself so hopefully I'll see you with a smile at the finish

I totally understand your football conundrum but if you are really going to invest hundreds of miles training in your marathon attempt maybe you should consider running a marathon in September (like Berlin for example).

I think you are going to find it very hard to run your long runs (20 miles+) and train for football at the same time. It's definitely not impossible but it is hard enough training for a marathon without taking another sport seriously at the same time.

Personally I don't think marathon training compliments soccer either. Sure you will gain aerobic fitness through soccer but the running component is totally different for what is required for a marathon. Soccer players are more like 400 meter runners than marathon runners in my opinion.

I trained a couple of old school mates 3 years ago for the Dublin marathon. Both were soccer players. One eased back on his soccer commitments while the other didn't. The guy who eased back ended up 30 minutes ahead of the other guy. What was significant was the guy who eased back was always considered a poor runner and the other lad and all his friends (me included) expected to hammer him.

Sorry if this sounds so negative, it isn't meant to be. I just hope you realise how hard it is going to be to train during your football season. The benefit of running an Autumn marathon instead of a Spring one should be seriously considered. This would give you the chance to concentrate on your running during the Summer months when your soccer commitments aren't as great. Reading your post I think you realise this and the potential for injury.

Either way best of luck and hopefully you can get some good constructive advice here.

ditpoker

Thanks for the replies and some interesting ideas there very much worth considering.

Regarding taking a break in the weeks before the marathon, alot of this will be dictated by how my team is performing. I we are doing well/badly and results matter I will have to maintain a decent focus on the football as it comes toward the business end of the season. If (as I suspect) we are in the middle of the table with no major goals left to play for I will tone the football down in preparation for the marathon.

I think one of the best/most interesting ideas is to consider a run like Berlin in september, I'll also look at August options and obviously Dublin in Oct. My fitness usually takes a hammering over the summer from a lack of activity in the football break and think this is probably a better/smarter plan.

Given that for some reason I have a romantic notion of the London Marathon from watching BBC coverage, it was always the London Marathon I had in my thoughts. As I put more effort into training the focus is very much on doing a marathon and completing it; be it London or wherever. At the moment I have a place in London 09 so will be "attempting" it. But (in the likely event) should injury strike or football or something else make London unrealistic I think shifting focus from May-August/Sept to a different Marathon would be excellent.

I know most of tomorrow will be spent googling Berlin 09 and some other Aug/Sept marathons!!!

(also, the 18 week hal-higdon plan starts tomorrow, monday 22nd... with a rest day! LOL!)

ditpoker

Wednesday 24th - struggling to get out of the pyjamas at 5pm! was out last night, being christmas eve-eve, did my 3 miles yesterday, and i know i have to do my 3 miles today but both body and mind are feeling a bit reluctant. AND back to the future is on tv, this is going to be tough!