Pre marathon training

noler123

Hi folks.
Have tried searching boards and google and cant find anything useful so hopefully someone here might be able to give me some advice. Running about 18 months so relatively new and clueless

My plan is to do the Dublin marathon in October, not too pushed about time but under 3:45 would be great. I did the Wexford half marathon last weekend in 1:33. Wasn't really following a running programme just going by stuff I picked up on here. A typical week was:
Monday boxercise, Tuesday 10k tempo run, Wednesday easy 5k, Thursday 8k hill run, Friday rest, Saturday long run built up to 20k, Sunday rest.
My question is where do I go from here? Thinking of using the hal higdon intermediate 2 plan which is only 18 weeks long so ive nearly 2 months till I start that. Should I continue on the way I was and keep my lsr at 20k, would I benefit by increasing that weekly by a couple of kilometres until I start the programme or should I decrease it because ill get burned out?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

PVincent

Well the first thing that you need to be aware of , is running 1.33 is far from clueless. It tells us that you have been doing something right, or else you have a bit of potential, or more likely both . Your best bet at the moment is to get down to your local club and get running real athletic sessions that will test your ability and add greatly to your fitness and strength. The club will sort you out with a schedule. Don't get too hooked on a marathon time but with a half time like that you will be well capable of looking at a training schedule closer to 3.15., if you serious about a marathon.

noler123

Thanks for the reply PVincent.
Not really in a position to join a club at the moment due to other commitments. Have looked into it though and Tallaght and Lucan aren't too far so hopefully will join one of them at some stage. Just wondering is it better to have more miles done before starting the programme or should I be taking it easy between now and then.

gaswoman

Be sure to seek good nutritional advice, that kind of training is hard on the body and you can deplete nutrients in a short time. Good luck!

noler123

Thanks gaswoman. From reading the stickies on the nutrition and diet forum Im eating farily well for the amount of exercise I do. Usually go out once a week which is the problem but plan on giving that up or at least limiting it to once a month when I start the marathon training!

yaboya1

noler123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply PVincent.
Not really in a position to join a club at the moment due to other commitments. Have looked into it though and Tallaght and Lucan aren't too far so hopefully will join one of them at some stage. Just wondering is it better to have more miles done before starting the programme or should I be taking it easy between now and then.

I would say the bigger base of miles you have under your belt, the better.
Definitely won't do you any harm anyway.

noler123

Yeah I suppose so. Im probably overthinking it to be honest. Thanks for the reply yaboya1

adrian522

Why don't you follow a 10K plan or part of one to take you up to late June early July and then jump into a marathon plan.

That's essentially what I'm doing, though the plan I'm following is not 10K specific it has some speed work in there.

Best of luck. Start a training log too so I can read what you are doing and copy you!

noler123

Was thinking about that but would rather not drop the mileage. Might do part of one though and keep up the lsr at the weekend though. Want to get my 10k time down so now is probably as good a time as any to do it! Which plan are you following?
Wouldn't have the patience to do a log but if you decide to do one ill be following closely

menoscemo

noler123 wrote: »

Was thinking about that but would rather not drop the mileage. Might do part of one though and keep up the lsr at the weekend though. Want to get my 10k time down so now is probably as good a time as any to do it! Which plan are you following?
Wouldn't have the patience to do a log but if you decide to do one ill be following closely

You don't have to drop the mileage just because you are following a 10k plan.
Just avoid beginner plans that assume you can't already cover the distance. Advanced 10k plans would go up to 100 miles+ per week (have a look at Krusty_Clowns log; he covers 100 miles a week at times and is training for 5k).

You should keep your long run up to 13-16 miles and just concentrate on 5-10k paced training during the week (tempos and/or intervals) with plenty of easy runs too. There is no reason why you can't cover 40-50 mpw when doing 10k training and that would be a great base for marathon training.

noler123

Have read parts of Krustys log but he must be a machine! Cant see myself managing 100 miles a week anytime soon. Should be able to manage 40-50 though so ill find some sort of plan for that. Blew up in my first half and ended up running/walking after about 17k and put it down to not having enough miles done, paced myself much better in Wexford and had done more half marathon distance runs so was more comfortable doing it. Just want to avoid the same thing happening in the marathon. Thanks menoscemo

Tigerandahalf

I'm not long running either. I did 1.35 in the half in Connemara. I felt comfortable doing it. The big thing was that I had a few months of very consistent running/training behind me. I wasn't doing huge miles, maybe 50km a week but I would do a LSR of 20km -25km each weekend. This toughened my body up for the distance involved. I am hoping to build upto a marathon as well but I don't want to suffer doing it either, by that I mean if I haven't done close to marathon distance in training I feel I'm going to suffer in the race and thus I want to build up my long runs. I think I will do another half next. As we approach the warmer summer months I'd be less inclined to do a marathon so I might hold off til the autumn and just concentrate on distances upto half marathon and try to have a good solid base under me. Best of luck with the running anyway.

noler123

1:35 in Connemara is a great time. Was looking into doing the marathon there this year but would have been rushing it. Maybe next year! Think ill train for a 10k in July then get into the marathon training. Plan on doing the Flatline half in Athlone in September so ill be well into training at that stage. Might revisit the idea of joining a club in a couple of months because it seems to be the way to go. Best of luck with it Tigerandahalf.

SamforMayo

noler123 wrote: »

1:35 in Connemara is a great time. Was looking into doing the marathon there this year but would have been rushing it. Maybe next year! Think ill train for a 10k in July then get into the marathon training. Plan on doing the Flatline half in Athlone in September so ill be well into training at that stage. Might revisit the idea of joining a club in a couple of months because it seems to be the way to go. Best of luck with it Tigerandahalf.

The 20 miler in Athlone is a great run for marathon prep, its at the beginning of October. I cant advise on anything else, you are too fast for me. Good luck

noler123

Thanks SamforMayo ill keep it in mind. Did the half last year and really enjoyed it despite it not going to plan! Flat, well organised and cheap as chips

yaboya1

noler123 wrote: »

Thanks SamforMayo ill keep it in mind. Did the half last year and really enjoyed it despite it not going to plan! Flat, well organised and cheap as chips

The 3/4 Marathon is definitely not flat.
I can assure you of that! :eek:

noler123

Might have to give that a miss so

Tigerandahalf

That seems like a very good prep race for a marathon. There are very few races out there like it.

noler123

Had a look at it there and im seriously considering signing up now. I presume its not too close to the actual marathon to be doing a race like it? Just over 3 weeks in between. Had a look at the thread from 2012(doesn't seem to be a thread for last year?) and it gets great reviews.

SamforMayo

yaboya1 wrote: »

The 3/4 Marathon is definitely not flat.
I can assure you of that! :eek:

Its definitely a tough run but it gave me great confidence going into DCM and it gave me a chance to practice taking gels etc in a race environment.

noler123 wrote: »

Had a look at it there and im seriously considering signing up now. I presume its not too close to the actual marathon to be doing a race like it? Just over 3 weeks in between. Had a look at the thread from 2012(doesn't seem to be a thread for last year?) and it gets great reviews.

No it was perfect timing really, I think it was my last 20 miler before DCM.

noler123

Must start looking into Gels soon. Ill dig out the "To gel or not to gel" thread! Yep think ill definitely do this so. They ask people not to wear headphones though and i havent done any training or races yet without them so hope i dont get too bored!

Toblerone1978

noler123 wrote: »

Had a look at it there and im seriously considering signing up now. I presume its not too close to the actual marathon to be doing a race like it? Just over 3 weeks in between. Had a look at the thread from 2012(doesn't seem to be a thread for last year?) and it gets great reviews.

Noler, well done on your 1/2 marathon time, it's a very good time, really good for your first go. I'd go into a bookshop and get one of those books about marathon training with training plans. As well as explaining the type of training you should be doing, it will be full of advice how to conduct yourself elsewhere to help your marathon time (rest, nutrition, stretching, etc). Although you can't be doing too much wrong to do that time either!

From advice I got from very experience + knowledgeable runners on this forum, I would definitely not do this race. It's fine to cover this distance in a training run 3 weeks out but a race over this distance would take too much out of you so near the marathon - a race is a different animal to a training run. Save it for the big day would be my advice and give it a miss.

yaboya1

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

That seems like a very good prep race for a marathon. There are very few races out there like it.

noler123 wrote: »

Had a look at it there and im seriously considering signing up now. I presume its not too close to the actual marathon to be doing a race like it? Just over 3 weeks in between. Had a look at the thread from 2012(doesn't seem to be a thread for last year?) and it gets great reviews.

SamforMayo wrote: »

Its definitely a tough run but it gave me great confidence going into DCM and it gave me a chance to practice taking gels etc in a race environment.


No it was perfect timing really, I think it was my last 20 miler before DCM.

I'm not knocking the race at all. I thought it was a great event. It's a very tough course though and you may not recover fully in time for the marathon if you run it, especially as it's only 3 weeks out from the DCM this year.

noler123

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

Noler, well done on your 1/2 marathon time, it's a very good time, really good for your first go. I'd go into a bookshop and get one of those books about marathon training with training plans. As well as explaining the type of training you should be doing, it will be full of advice how to conduct yourself elsewhere to help your marathon time (rest, nutrition, stretching, etc). Although you can't be doing too much wrong to do that time either!

It was my second half so not quite a beginner Did the flatline half in September. Yep had planned on getting some sort of book about it. Any recommendations?

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

From advice I got from very experience + knowledgeable runners on this forum, I would definitely not do this race. It's fine to cover this distance in a training run 3 weeks out but a race over this distance would take too much out of you so near the marathon - a race is a different animal to a training run. Save it for the big day would be my advice and give it a miss.

That's what I was thinking alright. Wouldn't mind doing it as my lsr but think id find it hard to pace myself that well in a race! Sure plenty of time between now and then so no need to sign up for anything yet. Thanks for the replys

yaboya1

noler123 wrote: »

Yep had planned on getting some sort of book about it. Any recommendations?

Advanced Marathoning by Pfitzinger & Douglas

Toblerone1978

noler123 wrote: »

Yep had planned on getting some sort of book about it. Any recommendations?

I used the book in the link below for my last marathon and I was very happy with the results. It was my first time to follow a structured training plan - it's good for the body to mix it up a bit, not do the same training every week. A lot of people on this forum consider Advanced Marathon by P&D as their running bible, which I intend to use for my next marathon.

http://amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_box_?k=The+Complete+Long+Distance+Runner%27s+Manual%3A+A+Unique+Training+Guide+for+Long+Distance+Runners+of+All&x=0&y=0

noler123

Think ill go with Advanced Marathoning. Thanks for all the advice folks