Races during marathon training - how many is safe?

lipi

Am doing my first marathon in Dingle in 9 weeks and my training is going well. Had a little set back yesterday in that I ran the Irishmultimarathon half and was hoping for a PB but the conditions ruled that out. However I really want to knock some time off my PB which is still from my first half (Connemara hills and yesterday's wind have been holding me back ever since then).

So would it be ok to run another half race in 3 weeks (I'm due a 12 mile LSR that weekend) and then the 10 miler in the park 2 weeks before Dingle (due a 12 mile LSR on that day)? I've had no injuries so far and am in pretty good shape after yesterday although my back aches from bending forward when battling through the wind.

Thanks

Sosa

Personally i would not do more than 3 in a 12 week program.
Some people dont do any,but i like to race.
I did a 5m in the first couple of weeks to see where i was,then a half 5 weeks out and another 5m 2 weeks before for the last blow out.
Any more than that and you are really impeding on your training imo.

TFBubendorfer

I'd say doing the half is okay but I would think twice before running a 10 miler 2 weeks before a marathon. You are likely to leave your marathon time on the 10-mile course, and is that really worth it?

Plus, I would not taper for the half and instead just train through it.

lipi

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Plus, I would not taper for the half and instead just train through it.

Can you elaborate on this as I don't understand what you mean?

seanynova

i did 4 races in a 14week programme...
race 1 was 10k @3weeks
race 2 was half @7weeks
race 3 was 10m @9weeks
race 4 was half @11weeks

it was way too many IMO, should have done more long runs at PMP and it would have helped a lot more.

im doing another 15week programme now and i might only race once, if any...concentrating on longer runs at LT and PMP.

good luck with it

TFBubendorfer

lipi wrote: »

Can you elaborate on this as I don't understand what you mean?

If the half marathon were your top-priority race, you would take it much easier for at least one week before the race to ensure you are at your best for the race. That's the taper.

But since you want to concentrate on Dingle instead, I suggest you keep up the normal training volume (maybe take it easy the last 2 or 3 days before the half marathon), otherwise you would be sacrificing too much marathon training time for the sake of a lower priority race.

ecoli

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

If the half marathon were your top-priority race, you would take it much easier for at least one week before the race to ensure you are at your best for the race. That's the taper.

But since you want to concentrate on Dingle instead, I suggest you keep up the normal training volume (maybe take it easy the last 2 or 3 days before the half marathon), otherwise you would be sacrificing too much marathon training time for the sake of a lower priority race.

+1 on this. Looking back on my own logs i did quite a few races coming off heavy mileage weeks. You cant chase times every race you do in a training plan otherwise you sacrifice atleast half a weeks quality training per race this is going to take away from your marathon. The ideal situation should be 1 or 2 races going into well rested chasing times the rest should be taking as training sessions rather than races in themselves.

lipi

I get you now TFBubendorfer, that makes plenty of sense.

So I'll do the half in 3 weeks and then I have 6 weeks until the race where I will just concentrate on my marathon training.

Thanks so much for the advice.