Longford Marathon thread 30/8/09

zenmonk

Am running the Achill half marathon on 4th July and thought I would use my training to attempt a marathon in mid September but tbh the Mooathon and Dingle look quite dificult for a first timer so I might have a crack at this one in Longford. The DCM was my target but it is a bit away yet and I am worried about motivation for such a long build up.
At the moment I am up to 10 miles long run and will do 11 next week with the half mara the following week.
My plan is after the half in Achill is to do a 15 miler, a 17, 2 x 19 milers as my longer runs with 3 shorter ones per week. My prime goal is to finish as I am obsessed with doing a marathon. Is this insane?
Anyone else doing it? Any person ran it before? Comments please.

ManFromAtlantis

was thinking of doing it as prep for dub09 maybe the half dont know yet. i hear its fairly flat but have never run it before. a good few seem to do it prior to the dublin marathon.

RoyMcC

You could search for earlier threads which give a lot of information about this race.

You sound like you have a solid and do-able plan in place. The only alteration I would make is to push your longest run out to 22 or 23 - for psychological reasons mainly.

As you say it is often difficult to keep motivated for months on end. Longford is certainly flat and runner-friendly. It's also a bit quirky, mixing main road hard shoulder with quiet lanes along which everyone pops out with all manner of food and drink. But there are those on here who think it is too quiet and certainly you'll get no cheering crowds.

Best of luck, keep us in the loop.

colblimp

RoyMcC wrote: »

But there are those on here who think it is too quiet and certainly you'll get no cheering crowds.

That's the whole reason I've chosen Dublin as my first marathon - I reckon the crowds will help me round!

Peckham

zenmonk wrote: »

My plan is after the half in Achill is to do a 15 miler, a 17, 2 x 19 milers as my longer runs with 3 shorter ones per week.

I'd worry about this plan. In order to achieve this you're likely to be increasing the long run distance every week, whereas ideally you should have a recovery week every few weeks. For example, doing 19 milers two weekends in succession when you're not used to that kind of mileage is tough going and could make you prone to injury - many experienced marathoners wouldn't even try this strategy.

What's the rush? Why not hold off for Dublin and build the mileage a little bit more slowly, rather than rush into it and pick up an injury. Maybe do Longford Half to keep the motivation.

Also, if you haven't already done so, take a look at some of the structured training plans e.g. this one shows what I'm talking about above re building up long runs gradually and including recovery weeks.

RoyMcC

Actually having re-read the OP I've now changed my mind and agree with Mr Peckham. I had read your plan as having shorter long runs interspersed with the long efforts. It is a big ask to knock out those runs weekly if you haven't been there before and it may cost you.

If you're determined to do Longford then I'd build in a couple of 'shorter long runs' and arrive fresh at the starting post. You'll find the latter stages pretty gruelling though. If you want to really enjoy your first full mara then delay it.

zenmonk

yeah mabe i will hold on