half to full marathon

Mikey101

just looking for some advice if possible please?

New to running but ran Waterford half marathon last week. Had previously done a 5km and 10 mile race since I started a few months ago

Now I would like to take the jump and do a full marathon in June but I have no idea how much training needs to be done/miles etc.

I have a good six months until the race and for the half marathon I was running 3/4 times a week (2/3 shorter runs of 4/6 miles and then a longer one of 8/10 miles).

Can anyone point me in the direction of a plan or advise me how to adjust my training so that a full marathon is achievable??

PaulieYifter

Good man. You could use one of Hal's plans for your first. Have a look here http://www.halhigdon.com and choose one that suits - maybe the intermediate one. Have a read through the novice log on here too. There's lots of plans out there but Hal's should get you to the start line injury free and ready to complete your 1st.

adrian522

Maybe try the boards plan from the novices thread? Have read of the first 2 posts of that thread anyway, review the 2 plans, but maybe the boards plan would be most suitable.

The plans are 18 week plans so you have plenty of time before starting one. Try to keep up running 3 to 4 times a week in the meantime so you have a good base of fitness before starting the plan and you will be in great shape come June.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057204941

Mikey101

great stuff, thanks both. relatively new to Boards too so apologies if this type of thing is a frequently answered query. will deffo check out the suggestions above, get a head start on the training

RubyK

Well done on completing the half at the weekend. If you can keep your training going as you are, with a long run around 11-13 miles, you will have a great base starting in to a marathon plan. Have a look at halhigdon plans online.

If you are based in/around Waterford, there will be group runs for people training for the marathon, leaving Supervalu (Tramore Rd) on Sunday mornings at 9.00am, I'd imagine this will start around February, but keep an eye of Waterford AC and Waterford Viking Marathon websites/facebook pages. This might help if you want some company, and if the miles are not exactly what is on your plan, you can add on at the end.

HTH

Mikey101

good advice RubyK, I did find it tough going running solo towards the end when the miles increased. Ill find both groups on facebook and follow their activity! Thanks..

emerald007

What are your 5km, 10mile and 1/2 times?

ger664

I think you should park the marathon training for another 6 months. Try getting your mileage up to near 40-45 miles per week and 5-6 days running. Keep doing 5K/10K & 10 miles races. If you get to that level then you will be in a better position to get through the training demands required for a marathon.

Mikey101

not particularly fast emerald007, was just trying to concentrate on getting through the miles at the moment... generally sustain 8 minute mile up to about 10 miles but the half marathon went to over 8.5 - came in just under 1.51.

thanks for the advice ger664, i suppose I could always just do the half marathon in June instead of the full if its a bit of a stretch.

I'm planning a marathon early in June too. Which means starting the Hal Higdon Programme the very last week of January. I'm the same as yourself, new to running and taking the jump from half marathon to marathon.

Hal Higdon has been recommended to me many much more experienced than me, however I plan to get up to 22 miles rather than 20 before the race.

I'll be reading through the DCM2014 novice thread to get lots of tips too

Slow_Runner

ger664 wrote: »

I think you should park the marathon training for another 6 months. Try getting your mileage up to near 40-45 miles per week and 5-6 days running. Keep doing 5K/10K & 10 miles races. If you get to that level then you will be in a better position to get through the training demands required for a marathon.

Building up to 40-45 miles can be a bit much and could lead to a higher risk of injury. Most novice plans peak at 30-40 miles which is plenty for a first marathon (as always this depends on the person, their fitness starting off as well as their goals). For the average person building to 40-45 mpw for base building would take a couple of years to achieve (haven't got there myself and I've been running for 4 years).

Unless of course you are talking about 40-45 miles peak marathon phase then I'm talking sh*te:D

ger664

Slow_Runner wrote: »

Building up to 40-45 miles can be a bit much and could lead to a higher risk of injury. Most novice plans peak at 30-40 miles which is plenty for a first marathon (as always this depends on the person, their fitness starting off as well as their goals). For the average person building to 40-45 mpw for base building would take a couple of years to achieve (haven't got there myself and I've been running for 4 years).

Unless of course you are talking about 40-45 miles peak marathon phase then I'm talking sh*te:D

Most Novice Training Plans work of 3-4 days running and only really aimed to get you to a point where you can get the distance done. As you stated depends on their fitness starting off. A lot of casual runners go couch -> 5K -> 10K -> half -> Full which is who these novice plans are aimed at. Slowly getting up to 6/7 days running before starting the marathon plan or even a half for that matter will reach 40-45 MPW peak for OP, this may be more or less depending on your ability or lack off. I wouldnt get too hung up on milegae but the key part here is the getting a consistent number of days running. This will leave a runner in a stronger position where they should be able to tackle a more intermediate plan and give the race a better crack then just getting round.

This approach does no doubt carry a risk of injury but IMHO it less of a risk then doing a plan where the long runs are 50% of the weekly mileage. Also you cannot just constantly be increasing your mileage/distance. Sometimes taking a step back/recovery week/period will yield better gains/returns in the long run.

This post gives an idea of how progression/increase in training can be adapted.

Slow_Runner

+1 on this. To give it a proper go and develop you need to consistently be doing 40-45 mpw which would be at least 12 month slow progression with step back weeks.
As the OP is looking at 6 months time I would say "just get around" plan - however why not do yourself justice and push out the goal as you really need a good base to tackle the marathon properly - if it was me I would wait another 12 months but easier said than done:D
Also would highly recommend DCM as your first marathon, loads of support on the course and brilliant atmosphere plus you have the novice thread here to refer to.
Either way keep it simple and enjoy it!

okedoke

I'm toying with the idea of running the Dublin Marathon this year. I started running around 2 years ago. Last year I ran a few 5ks and 10ks and a half marathon. Other things got in the way of running for the last few months but starting to get out for runs again now. I would probably use one of the Hal Higdon novice plans - my question is ...
the plans are 18 weeks in duration (so would start around the end of July). If I was running as normal for the next few months (just leisure runs) - I would be doing saturday runs of maybe 10 miles / 12 miles by the time I was starting the plan. Do you step back to 8 miles (which is the first long run in the plan) and build up as per the plan or would you skip a few weeks of the plan and slot in at the week that corresponded to your current long run?

adrian522

I'd start the plan as normal, though keep an eye out for the 2015 mentored novices thread, there is a boards plan that takes it's basis from the HH plan but is a little more advanced and may be more suitable for you.

plan is here (from last year):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgZJb81V05sKdDVtWmFhbXoyRG9TdU9lTXB5S05PZlE&usp=drive_web#gid=1

okedoke

thanks Adrian - thats useful. I'll keep building a base at the moment and my initial plan is a few 5/10 ks and the Cork half marathon again - I'll make a decision after that whether to go for the full in dublin. If I do I'll join the novices group. Sounds like it would be great motivation.