Marathon Virgin needs advice !

Carra23

Hi

I intend on running my first marathon this year in Dublin. I am not a regular runner but play soccer regularly so I am reasonably fit and feel like I can do this aslong as I stick to 20 week training programme that is advised on most beginner websites. I have some questions which may seem silly but need to ask. The roads around where I live are country roads with no street lighting and I would not be comfortable training on these roads at night when dark or earley moning so just wondering where people in a similar situation train ? Also from reading training programmes online the 1st five weeks seem to be run 1 day rest the next untill around week 6 , its advised to run then rest then run 3 in a row then rest then 1 long run at the end of the week. I am wondering how important the rest day is while training ,I had devised my programme so I would run on a Monday,Wednesday, Friday and long run on Sunday. My rest days should be Tue,Thurs & Sat but with playing soccer I should be training on Tues & Thurs. So I suppose my question is do I have to sacrifice soccer so I can rest during my training programme ?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks

RoyMcC

Hi Carra33,
It might not make you popular but you need to lose the soccer. You simply cannot be less than dedicated if you are serious about training for, and completing, a marathon. The training simply can't be compromised in my view.

The rest days are there for a very good reason and they are to allow your body to recover and rebuild so that you are ready for you next session. Don't be tempted.

Training in the dark - possible with a headlamp but still a bit scary on unlit roads. Try and make the most of daylight hours, morning and evening. Shouldn't be a problem for the next few months.

Let us know how you're getting on.

tunguska

RoyMcC wrote: »

Hi Carra33,
It might not make you popular but you need to lose the soccer. You simply cannot be less than dedicated if you are serious about training for, and completing, a marathon. The training simply can't be compromised in my view.

You dont have to ditch the football Carra33. I played football and ran my first marathon last year, did a 3hrs 02mins. So you absolutley can keep playing, you just gotta make sure you get your running training in aswell as the football. You'll have to establish your own balance but like I said you can do both. Good luck mate.

Irisheyes753

Hey there...

I´m in the exact same prediciment as you hun..... I´ve been doing kickboxing for the past year and a half and was training three nights per week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and I was adament that I wasn´t giving it up "just" so I could run a marathon. I absolutely love my kickboxing training and the camaraderie in the club.....

A friend who is a personal instructor in the army (and has run 5 marathons) designed my program for me and he kept telling me that I´d have to sacrifice my kickboxing and I kept telling him that I wasn´t leaving regardless!!!! A little stubborn, maybe!! Until I got to about week 4-5 of my program when I was running maybe 5/6 miles per session and I just psysically couldn´t carry on with both, as my kickboxing sesssions normally fell on one or more of my rest days!! I had to make the hard decision to leave until after October - believe me, it was very difficult for me to do and a tear or two was shed... but I just had to remember Shauna Byrne, who´s memory I´m am running in and trying to raise money for the Make a Wish foundation and then it made the decision easier.

Good luck with whatever decision you make xx

Carra23

Sorry it's taken a few days to get back waiting to move to new house and forums are barred in work. Thanks for the advise , I was afraid someone would come back advising to give up the soccer ! That's not an option unfortunately I love it too much. I am determined to run the Marathon this year and I will choose my rest days now as Monday & Wednesday when I have no football training. I train for football Tues & Thurs so on these days I will do my marathon training before work. I am really looking forward to doing this it's a weird feeling fear & excitement ! ! ! Thanks again for the advise

CatFromHue

im no expert on the subject but when i was training for a marathon last year i read up on it. the book metioned cross training and maybe subsituting one of your short runs for a different type of exercise i.e. football!
if your playing football for an hour you're going to be running a bit.
but as i said im no expert, ive only run 1 marathon

ogriofa

Hellooo,
Im wayyy out of my league here Im sure but...
There's different types of fitness & I reckon you have to train differntly for that fitness.
I played pretty competitive soccer at schoolboy level. They had us running shuttle runs (suicides for the americans out there). We got laps of the pitch if we acted the mick. One of my trainers said that they give us shuttles because that's the type of fitness they want us to have > start & stop, start & stop.
While your fitness levels are up, what are your stamina levels like?

Also, if the weather keeps up, and you're looking for something different, try running on the loose sand on the beach > ripper for stamina!!!

Good luck

RoyMcC

Carra23 wrote: »

Sorry it's taken a few days to get back waiting to move to new house and forums are barred in work. Thanks for the advise , I was afraid someone would come back advising to give up the soccer ! That's not an option unfortunately I love it too much. I am determined to run the Marathon this year and I will choose my rest days now as Monday & Wednesday when I have no football training. I train for football Tues & Thurs so on these days I will do my marathon training before work. I am really looking forward to doing this it's a weird feeling fear & excitement ! ! ! Thanks again for the advise

Ow, that's a plan I guess Carra23. But though you're undoubtedly young and very fit (unlike some of us ) it's a compromise. And compromises usually mean that nothing is done very well.

If you are going to do your four/six/eight mile runs before work then you'll be struggling later with your soccer training, with the best will in the world. You might be able to go through the motions I guess, but it'll be on tired legs. Are you expecting to play competitive matches during this period?

As was suggested by the two previous posters you might, I suppose, substitute one shorter run with one training session.

And of course one kick on the ankle could affect or even finish your training programme.

Anyway it's your call and I hope you succeed and prove me wrong. In any event it would be great if you could report back regularly here, maybe via the training log sub-section?

Odysseus

Carra23, I think its doable with your football. I have been training in MA for a while but I have done a few marathons and ultras whilst doing MA training two to three times a week. I generally get by on two short and one long run a week. You will certainly get around on the day I would guess. The thing is it may effect your time on the day, but then again if you just want to finish in a fairly descent time i.e. under 4 hours it would be doable.

On the country roads things I just won't run on them in the dark, they can be dodgy enough up by me in daylight. As said above you just have to make the most of the daylight. Compromise was also metion to this I would add the ability to adapt. As you progress with your training things will arise which will affect it and you just have to adapt to the situation and make the most out of it.

Just keep checking in here with you questions as they arise and I'm sure you will get through it. Best of luck with it.

Carra23

ogriofa wrote: »

Hellooo,
Im wayyy out of my league here Im sure but...
There's different types of fitness & I reckon you have to train differntly for that fitness.
I played pretty competitive soccer at schoolboy level. They had us running shuttle runs (suicides for the americans out there). We got laps of the pitch if we acted the mick. One of my trainers said that they give us shuttles because that's the type of fitness they want us to have > start & stop, start & stop.
While your fitness levels are up, what are your stamina levels like?

Also, if the weather keeps up, and you're looking for something different, try running on the loose sand on the beach > ripper for stamina!!!

Good luck

I am not sure whatmy stamina is like as I have never run long distance before in school I was a sprinter 100m and relay. I can last 90 mins of football no bother , I understand thats not a good guide to my stamina levels but the training for the marathon will improve my stamina I'm sure

Carra23

RoyMcC wrote: »

Ow, that's a plan I guess Carra23. But though you're undoubtedly young and very fit (unlike some of us ) it's a compromise. And compromises usually mean that nothing is done very well.

If you are going to do your four/six/eight mile runs before work then you'll be struggling later with your soccer training, with the best will in the world. You might be able to go through the motions I guess, but it'll be on tired legs. Are you expecting to play competitive matches during this period?

As was suggested by the two previous posters you might, I suppose, substitute one shorter run with one training session.

And of course one kick on the ankle could affect or even finish your training programme.

Anyway it's your call and I hope you succeed and prove me wrong. In any event it would be great if you could report back regularly here, maybe via the training log sub-section?

All the matches I will play will be competitive league cup etc. but it's not a great standard I play at out training isn't too intense. After reading the advise on here I will sacrifice one football training session so maybe just train on Thursdays and play match Sundays. I havn't seen the training log sub-section but will check it out and keep you all posted. I will be starting my training with a 3 mile run Tuesday morning .Thanks again for the advise

Carra23

Ok I've set up a training log called carra23 training log surprise surprise ! If anyones interested you know where to find it