Is it too late to start training for marathon

dekbhoy

Right guys am relatively fit cardio wise as am involved in endurance sport and on average prob jog twice a week (about 12kms in total)
I know its not much but would it be too late to begin training for the dublin city marathon and how many kilometres would i need to cover per week . hoping to complete marathon in or around 4.5 hours.

chris2bhoy

hiya like you wondering if its too late to start training for marathon proberly wudnt aim for 4.5 hours wondering if you have done any marathon or half marathon before? theres a half marathon in dingle saturday thinking of trying it

Emer911

You should try asking this over on the ART thread. There'll be LOADS of much more qualified people on there that can give you the advice you need.

In my humble opinion, if you're at a good level of fitness and can currently run 10+ miles at a steady pace, you could probably jump into the middle of a marathon training plan and get enough done to get you around comfortably.

If you're not yet comfortable at that distance I'd probably leave the DCM this year. Maybe pick a marathon in early 2012 and give it a proper go?

...but do go ask this question on the ART thread!

The Guvnor

The marathon is when mid to late october or something?

Is it too late - depends on two things:

1. Your goals
2. Your starting point

I've known people to just turn up on the day and give it a go and do well - closer to three hours than four etc.

However they were competitive rowers so despite not doing training for the marathon they were already in shape.

I think most of us could manage the marathon without much training BUT and it is a massive BUT at what cost to our body.

4hrs30 is what about 10m20 per mile - sounds doable from behind the pc this morning - might be a different story 15 miles in on a chilly October!:D

Best of luck with it but don't overtrain in the run up.

Bloody Nipples

I would say way, way, WAAAAY too late.

You have absolutely zip experience at long-distance and even the most experienced runner wouldn't try and ramp up the mileage from 14-15 miles per week to a marathon distance in less than two months and expect to do it in 4.5 hours.

You have no long runs done, no mileage under your belt. Seriously don't even consider it.

EDIT: Just saw where you mentioned your already involved in an endurance sport. I was assuming you were coming at it from basically nothing. Assuming you have the cardio to get you around, I'd still tell you to be very very wary of your legs tolerance to running 26.2 all in one go. It's something you build up to gradually and convention is that first time runners build up to it over the course of 6 months to a year. I've run 4 marathons with a PB of 3.15 and while I've scaled it back recently, I can still do sub 20 minute 5ks so while cardio wise I'm still there I wouldn't consider trying to go from running about the same mileage as yourself to doing Dublin.

kennyb3

Way too late if you dont want to get injured imho. Takes a good while for your ligeaments, tendons and muscles to get used to the pounding.

Your likely to get an overuse injury by either a) building up mileage too sharply in trying to get ready b) if you dont get mileage built up then prob on the day.

Im not saying its impossible and maybe you are one of the lucky ones with excellent biomechanics and injury resistance but in all likelihood you ll end up paying a visit or two to your physio/sports therapist

Micilin Muc

I'm in week 10/18 of my training plan for the Dublin City Marathon and have ran two half-marathon distances so far this year and will run the third this weekend.

Even with that amount of training, I still got injured from the increase in weekly mileage and know of a few other people in the same boat as me.

The likelihood of injuring yourself is very high, probably 80/90%. Start training for lesser distances first and build up the mileage slowly and sensibly. Do the Marathon next year and you'll enjoy the whole experience a lot more.

dekbhoy

thanks for opinions guys , general gist seems to be to maybe wait for next year, cardio wise im confident but the pounding of the joints over the long distance might prove too much , gonna run to dun laoghaire from city centre and back(around 10 miles) next time out then see how i feel, assuming thats ok will gradually keep going further out.