marathon advice

avfc1874

hi i plan on running a marathon next yr, was thinking of dublin, and was thinking of doing the kildare half marathon end of april (17 wks from next sunday). but i've this little voice in my head telling me to go for the full marathon in april. i've done a few 10k fun runs this yr. i usually run 3-4 days a week averaging 7-10 k on my shorter runs and my longer run on a saturday is 13-16k furthest ive ran without stopping is 20k. does anyone have any advice wether i should go for the full marathon, and if yes know of a good training program. thanks

ThePiedPiper

avfc1874, I think you should stick to the original plan of the half in April, then build up to the marathon next October. You'll run a much better and comfortable marathon in October. The longer you can build a base of training from before starting marathon-specific training, the better chance you'll have of getting through marathon training and the race injury-free.

Saying that, if you do decide to go for the end of April marathon, your best bet would be looking at a Hal Higdon Novice plan or similar and getting straight into a plan.

avfc1874

RunForestRun wrote: »

avfc1874, I think you should stick to the original plan of the half in April, then build up to the marathon next October. You'll run a much better and comfortable marathon in October. The longer you can build a base of training from before starting marathon-specific training, the better chance you'll have of getting through marathon training and the race injury-free.

Saying that, if you do decide to go for the end of April marathon, your best bet would be looking at a Hal Higdon Novice plan or similar and getting straight into a plan.

yea, you may be right, think i'll do the half, i can always do a marathon mid summer

tHE vAGGABOND

Set my half PB in Kildare in April last year, really well organised race and a good course, will likely end up doing it again myself tbh - so Im going back to do it again, so cant offer it anymore recommendation than that really

john mayo 10

kinda in the same boat as urself.Tempted to do the full marathon but gonna do a half in may.Have you any training plan set for urself?

Itziger

To the two lads thinking about Half vs Full.

My story: When I started running about 6 or 7 years ago, I trained towards a Relay leg in a marathon. Best idea ever. You have team support, "You're not dropping out of this, ya bollix" and the distance isn't off-putting. So after 6 months, I did the 10k in 50 minutes. Quite happy I was. Then I decided that the next year - 12 months later! - I'd do the Half of the same race. I did 1.36 for that and was chuffed. But that was after 18 months running/training. Obviously, we're all different but I've always advised people to look at the long term. What's the rush? I was 42 when I started running and I'm still chipping away at the times in all events from 5k to marathon. I'm hoping to pb in 2014 as well at the tender age of 49.

Would I still be doing this if I'd run a half after a few months training? Perhaps. Would I still be doing this if I'd run a Marathon after a few months training. I doubt it. The advantages of 'easy does it' are plain to see.

ThePiedPiper

Interesting perspective from Itziger. My own is slightly different, but you'll probably learn the same lesson. I kept myself relatively fit (always able to knock out 6-8 miles) up until I was 23. Started training for DCM 2005 in July that year. Did fairly ok in it, but absolutely buckled my knee, couldn't walk properly, never mind run, for 2 months. Started building myself up again from about April 2006 for DCM that year, when I was much better prepared, and recovered properly, never really looking back since.

Itziger

RunForestRun wrote: »

Interesting perspective from Itziger. My own is slightly different, but you'll probably learn the same lesson. I kept myself relatively fit (always able to knock out 6-8 miles) up until I was 23. Started training for DCM 2005 in July that year. Did fairly ok in it, but absolutely buckled my knee, couldn't walk properly, never mind run, for 2 months. Started building myself up again from about April 2006 for DCM that year, when I was much better prepared, and recovered properly, never really looking back since.

Our major difference RFR, would be the short (25 year) break I took from running and almost all other sports besides a game of squash or football now and then. So you can imagine the level of fitness I was at when I started back at age 42. I remember one day I came in the door from a run and I was panting like a lunatic. The Missus shouts down from upstairs, "What d'ya say?". I hadn't said anything.