2 Marathons in a Month

mr.wiggle

Hi, I'm looking to run two marathons (being my first ones), with a three week gap between them. I'm training away for a sub4 time over the past 12 months so hopefully I'll be fit enough when the time comes.
Any advise on what I should be thinking of doing in that 3 week 'rest' period?
Simply resting or keeping the training miles up?

Thanks, Mr.W.

RayCun

have a look at this

pointer28

Or look at this http://www.facebook.com/32Marathons

Pisco Sour

2 marathons in a month. Why? What is there to be gained by doing the 2nd one. You obviously aren't going to go faster in the 2nd one with just 3 weeks rest. Drop one of them.

ThePiedPiper

I really don't think this is a great idea Mr Wiggle. A debut marathon is a huge shock to the system for most people, especially if you're to try and run a good time. I know there are plenty of people here who do marathons close together, but I would suggest that they did not do this for their debut marathon, and do not do it if they're aiming for a good time. What's the rush anyway? You've your whole life to run marathons.

RayCun

It can work if the first is your goal marathon and the second is a sight-seeing trip - if you got an entry for New York or something, and didn't want to pass it up. But there's no point in having a target time for the second race, you should expect a lot of walking breaks.

macinalli

I did this in 2009, ran Dingle followed by Dublin about 4 weeks later. I hadn't intended to, but was disappointed with how I did in Dingle and wanted to get some sort of return from my training. Made sense at the time, but in the cold light of day it was a bad idea. It is possible to double up on marathons, but I think to do this you need to be an experienced runner with a lot of miles in your legs. If this is your first marathon, then I think you're in for a shock. If you race to your potential in the first race, then you will be in pieces afterwards and you won't have the time to recover and be ready to race again in 3 weeks. If for personal reasons you want to do the 2nd race, then do it; but you should be realistic in your expectations from that race.

mr.wiggle

Thanks for the replys all, looks like I have some serious thinking to do.
I supppose its that I have the idea in my head that I can do it, that has me thinking of it; along with maybe a (misguided?) sense that it would be a great acheivement for me to complete the two.
The second would be the Cork City Marathon, as its on my doorstep.

Rather than register for the CCM, I'll do what some have suggested and see what the body tells me after the first.


Raycun/Pointer..very interesting reading, thanks.


Rgds, Mr.W~

belcarra

+1 to what Macinalli said. I have a similar story and can only reiterate everything he says.

You could do the relay in Cork instead or if you really wanted to do the full then just try and get a few short runs (<6 miles) in between races. These should just be recovery/easy runs designed to merely keep the legs moving. Essentially you will be in taper the whole time so no long runs.

Beware though, I did a marathon 2 weeks after New York marathon in November and had pretty decent mileage done in training yet I blew up spectacularly in the second marathon from mile 19 onwards. I didn't mind too much though (after the race - during the race it was torture!!) 'cos NYC was my priority, so Philadelphia was more of a masocitic exercise!!:D

Murta

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51153/Marathon-Multiple-Marathons-Training-Program

Covers 2,4,6 & 8 weeks between marathons