How many marathons in a year?

colblimp

I've never done a marathon before, Dublin this year will be my first. After running in the Cork relay last Monday, I have to say I felt a bit of a cheat 'only' running 12.3 miles. I therefore want to start running a few marathons every year. How many marathons could I feasibly run every year?

kevinkilbane

colblimp wrote: »

I've never done a marathon before, Dublin this year will be my first. After running in the Cork relay last Monday, I have to say I felt a bit of a cheat 'only' running 12.3 miles. I therefore want to start running a few marathons every year. How many marathons could I feasibly run every year?

probably the best advise you can get is to see what you feel like after the first, then start to think about the future. i wouldnt go rushing into anymore marathons too quick. and dont bother to think about them until dublin is over.
but maybe im wrong, i dont know anything about your backround. but just see how you get on in dublin, see how you felt especially in the latter stages of it, how it felt to cross the finish line, and see how your recovery is.
ive done 8 now, and the most ive done ina year is 3. dublin/belfast/cork. october/may/june. wasnt in the same year obviously, but in bout 8months, ya know. not easy. alot of time, alot of training.
but i enjoy it, and if your lucky enough to be able to do them, and enjoy them then have a think in november.
i wouldnt know how many anyone should do. most people say two in 12month period is enough, which is probably the smart option. i thought id get given out to when i asked this question a few weeks ago


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

colblimp

Hmmm, it's interesting to see you did one mara in May and then another in June, how did that go? Did the mara in May affect your performance in June? How tired were you after both of them?

I'm thinking it would be possible to do six a year, surely two months recovery is enough?

Thanks for your comments.

trotter_inc

I was just going to start a thread similar to this

I also ran Cork and it was my first, finished 60th with a time of 3 hrs 14 min.

Quads are a little sore this week, but after the buzz of Cork I'm thinking about the next one already. Would love to give Dublin a shot, seeing as Cork was so hot I would be hoping to knock some time of 3 hrs 14 min as it would be cooler in Dublin in October.

Dublin should be achievable for me, right? It's on October 26th.

Woddle

I think it's easy to get carried away with your plans especially after feeling the buzz that was Cork. I ran 3 in 9 weeks last year, having got carried away with myself. Now I did pb in every single one but I bombed a few months later in Paris and my excuse (I had plenty ) is that my body was finally saying fcuk you and refused to perform. I think the answer is simple. You have a choice quantity or quality, it's that simple and if you want quality, I in my limited knowledge reckon 1 or 2 a year.

--amadeus--

Yea Woddle is bang on the nail. There are people who's main ambition is to joining the 100 club. For those guys marathons every week might not be that unusual. Likewise in extreme events like the MdS you'll do the equivalent of 5 1/2 marathons in a week.

But there is a world of difference between running (or even doing) a marathon and racing it. Lots of people who know what they are talking about say that 1 a year is plenty, personally I tend to do 2 (Spring / Autumn) but it's an individual thing.

mrak

just echoing again what the lads are saying - last year I pushed hard for a marathon on both the training and the race itself and afterwards I still had a few goals so I kept the training going for the XC, etc. In the past 2 months everything has gone south with injury, form, etc to the point where I can hardly run and this also happened to another friend of mine who's body totally gave up on him when he continued to ramp training after a hard dublin. Unless you're very well put together the marathon is a dangerous beast to be respected if you're going to race them hard. If your goal is to complete marathon distances and you're not worried about time then jogging 6 a year is fine. If you are on for setting a good pb I'd go with 1 a year or 2 max.

TFBubendorfer

Most experienced people advice to run no more than 2 marathons a year - generally one in spring and on in the autumn. For a beginner, do not plan further ahead than your first marathon. Chances are the only thought going through your head at the end is "never again!" (been there, done that).

I definitely would not recommend doing more than 2 a year until you have plenty of experience. And as has been pointed out, running a marathon is not the same as racing one. If you're going for time, two a year is plenty. If you just want to finish them, you can do more - but not until after you've done a few already.

hunnymonster

TBF, I agree running for quality limited you to a couple a year, but I'm not sure running for finishes/fun needs to be limited until you gain more experience. Dublin 04 was my first marathon and Dublin 05 was my 8th. I do accept that I fortunate not to suffer injuries and I guess that's what you're hinting at when you say gain experience (and miles in the legs) first? For sure it's the sensible approach you advocate, but I just don't want to put limitations on people unnecessarily. Sensible isn't always the most fun

trotter_inc

Great advice guys, thanks.

I guess I take my time recovering from Cork and see how the next 2 months go before deciding on Dublin.

TFBubendorfer

hunnymonster wrote: »

TBF, I agree running for quality limited you to a couple a year, but I'm not sure running for finishes/fun needs to be limited until you gain more experience. Dublin 04 was my first marathon and Dublin 05 was my 8th. I do accept that I fortunate not to suffer injuries and I guess that's what you're hinting at when you say gain experience (and miles in the legs) first? For sure it's the sensible approach you advocate, but I just don't want to put limitations on people unnecessarily. Sensible isn't always the most fun

Hunnymonster, you are different from the rest of us.