DCM or not?

HazelBee

Just looking for some opinions. Completing a marathon has been on my bucket list for a few years now and I'd ideally love Dublin to be my first.

Here's my dilemma, I just had a baby in January and although I ran up until 5 months pregnant, I am only back training six weeks. I'm feeling good though and am comfortably running 13 miles a week at the moment, over 4 days, my long run being 5 miles and strength train on 2 other days. I ran a 26 min 5km race last week.

I've previously ran 2 half marathons, the most recent being around this time last year in 2.02. My 10k pb is 51.11.

So my question is, should I focus on bettering my shorter distance times for this year? Is it too soon to consider training for my first marathon?

Dubgal72

Hi and fair play for getting back running, took me years :eek: If you want to do it properly, I'd build a base first and focus on 2016 for the marathon. It sounds like you have been running for a while but without any more detailed info, I wouldn't say your current weekly mileage is a solid enough base.
I'm definitely not an expert, all I have is personal experience from last year...let's just say it went a bit wrong and a solid endurance base was definitely a factor!
Have a look at the training logs section, maybe even start one yourself?
The mantises novices threads are a great read too, can someone link to these please, can't at the mo...
Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

barryoneill50

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=90266006
There ya go....

kit3

Well done on getting back out there so soon - not easy with a young baby. My tuppence worth - DCM is a great marathon, brilliant atmosphere & I would definitely recommend it as your first one. You will only ever have one first marathon. I would spend this year building & go for it in 2016. Think you will have a much better experience if you do. The first year of a baby's life can be full on & (if your is anything like my 3 were) sleep could be hard to come by. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Halloween Jack

Sorry to hijack, but what do people consider a decent base for marathon training, ie: what should I be running now to be ok in most people opinion to be ok to start?

menoscemo

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Sorry to hijack, but what do people consider a decent base for marathon training, ie: what should I be running now to be ok in most people opinion to be ok to start?

That's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question.
But If I was advising a newish runner I'd want them to be regularly averaging at least 100 miles per month over an extended period (at least 6 months) before even considering training for a Marathon.
Any less and I just can't see how they would do themselves justice over 26.2 miles. Even with 600 miles between January and June you'd be fairly light on the miles and wouldn't be in a position to pick an aggressive goal.

Now if have been running regularly for years and/or competing for years at a different sport you might get away with slightly less of a recent base given that you'd have built up an aerobic base of sorts over years. Even then though you'd be at high risk of injury as you build up the running miles in a Marathon programme.

Halloween Jack

menoscemo wrote: »

That's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question.
But If I was advising a newish runner I'd want them to be regularly averaging at least 100 miles per month over an extended period (at least 6 months) before even considering training for a Marathon.
Any less and I just can't see how they would do themselves justice over 26.2 miles. Even with 600 miles between January and June you'd be fairly light on the miles and wouldn't be in a position to pick an aggressive goal.

Now if have been running regularly for years and/or competing for years at a different sport you might get away with slightly less of a recent base given that you'd have built up an aerobic base of sorts over years. Even then though you'd be at high risk of injury as you build up the running miles in a Marathon programme.

Much obliged, some food for thought there. Been running with intermittent regularity for around 3 years, tend to get injured frequently when trying to up mileage. So I'll have to think carefully about it...

HazelBee

Ah, I suppose it's wishful thinking on my part and I know myself i'll have to leave it for now. I think I like the idea of starting a training log. i'm going for a lactate threshold test later in the month so i might start logging from then when I have a proper trainign plan in place. I'll focus on getting under a 2 hour half and under the 50 mins on my 10km. I've never done any proper speed training so it will be interesting to see how my running develops with a more focused plan.
You'd think a new baby would keep me busy enough but I always need a goal to keep life interesting!

orubiru

HazelBee wrote: »

Ah, I suppose it's wishful thinking on my part and I know myself i'll have to leave it for now. I think I like the idea of starting a training log. i'm going for a lactate threshold test later in the month so i might start logging from then when I have a proper trainign plan in place. I'll focus on getting under a 2 hour half and under the 50 mins on my 10km. I've never done any proper speed training so it will be interesting to see how my running develops with a more focused plan.
You'd think a new baby would keep me busy enough but I always need a goal to keep life interesting!

I don't think you should give up, to be honest.

At your current level it isn't too much of an ask to be ready for DCM and then you can work on improving your times in future marathons.

One of my big regrets was that I always thought along the lines of not wanting to do my first marathon until I was ready to get what I considered to be a great time. More than 3 years of working on pace and doing shorter races and building up to finally doing a marathon and about 2 months out from the big day I started having trouble with my thigh. Ended up having a really disappointing day.

My advice to anyone would be if you want to do a marathon then follow a sensible training plan and try to get your first marathon done as soon as you possibly can. DCM 2015 is definitely a reasonable goal for you, in my opinion. Then, no matter what time you get, you can train to improve that time in subsequent marathons.

If you just want to "do" one marathon and thats it then I'd still say just do it as soon as is reasonably possible as its easy to train and train and train for years and then be brought down by illness or injury or just circumstances on marathon day.

Once you have your finishing time for your first marathon then you've got a new goal to aim for right there and you have the experience to go after that goal. I think you should go for it!

orubiru

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Sorry to hijack, but what do people consider a decent base for marathon training, ie: what should I be running now to be ok in most people opinion to be ok to start?

I'd say if you can run 4 miles comfortably 4 times per week then you are definitely good to start increasing the mileage and aiming for a marathon 18 weeks away.

Sure, you will not get the best possible time but I would consider completing the first marathon as the first step to getting better, more impressive, times in future marathons.

I wouldn't get too caught up in waiting until you are ready to get the best possible time. I get the desire to do the best first marathon that you possibly can but to be honest I'd always advise that people get the first one completed and out of the way and then think "OK, I can improve on that".

ooter

You've plenty of time to do it op,I was out of action for over a year through injury,only started back running in December 2013 and I ran DCM 2014,up to starting the hal higdon novice 1 programme in June of 2014 the highest weekly mileage I'd done was 15 miles,and that was only 3 x 5 mile runs a week,no long runs of any description,the furthest I'd ever ran was 10k.
You're way ahead of that,best of luck if you decide to do it.

Halloween Jack

orubiru wrote: »

I'd say if you can run 4 miles comfortably 4 times per week then you are definitely good to start increasing the mileage and aiming for a marathon 18 weeks away.

Sure, you will not get the best possible time but I would consider completing the first marathon as the first step to getting better, more impressive, times in future marathons.

I wouldn't get too caught up in waiting until you are ready to get the best possible time. I get the desire to do the best first marathon that you possibly can but to be honest I'd always advise that people get the first one completed and out of the way and then think "OK, I can improve on that".

That's good to know, currently running 4 times a week, around 20 miles between them and doing a fair bit of swimming, about 2 hrs a week, find it loosens me up after running.

HazelBee

Thanks everyone. You've all given me some food for thought.

In relation to the time thing, I'm always competitive with myself so i'd probably do one marathon and then have to do another to better it. I wouldn't intend on doing just one marathon, I just haven't gotten around to the first one yet!

I'll ask for some advice on the subject at my fitness test and in the meantime I'll keep on running!

average_runner

Halloween Jack wrote: »

That's good to know, currently running 4 times a week, around 20 miles between them and doing a fair bit of swimming, about 2 hrs a week, find it loosens me up after running.

Halloween Jack,

I would not recommend this approach for you considering your getting injuries quite often on mileage increase.


I would follow meno advice, aim for a half maybe and stick to the 10% rule also

QuinDixie

HazelBee wrote: »

Just looking for some opinions. Completing a marathon has been on my bucket list for a few years now and I'd ideally love Dublin to be my first.

Here's my dilemma, I just had a baby in January and although I ran up until 5 months pregnant, I am only back training six weeks. I'm feeling good though and am comfortably running 13 miles a week at the moment, over 4 days, my long run being 5 miles and strength train on 2 other days. I ran a 26 min 5km race last week.

I've previously ran 2 half marathons, the most recent being around this time last year in 2.02. My 10k pb is 51.11.

So my question is, should I focus on bettering my shorter distance times for this year? Is it too soon to consider training for my first marathon?

You have 6 months to train for it, you have loads of time. Just pick a good plan, train for a half Marathon starting now, do one in august/september.
Than continue training on towards the marathon.
just build the training nice and easy, aim to just run the marathon, enjoy it and finish it.

Halloween Jack

average_runner wrote: »

Halloween Jack,

I would not recommend this approach for you considering your getting injuries quite often on mileage increase.


I would following meno advice, aim for a half maybe and stick to the 10% rule also

Thanks for the advice, did the dublin half last year, but inevitably had problems injury wise in the build up. Managed to complete it without any difficulty but my training had been disrupted and meant I was a good deal slower than I wanted to be on the day. Having been to two physios over the last few years, both seem to be of the opinion that my posture and lack of flexibility are my issues, so in a sense I know what I have to do to be injury free, but maybe the full marathon might be beyond me this year.

average_runner

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, did the dublin half last year, but inevitably had problems injury wise in the build up. Managed to complete it without any difficulty but my training had been disrupted and meant I was a good deal slower than I wanted to be on the day. Having been to two physios over the last few years, both seem to be of the opinion that my posture and lack of flexibility are my issues, so in a sense I know what I have to do to be injury free, but maybe the full marathon might be beyond me this year.

Might be an idea to concentrate on the posture and flexibility first, get a good program and build from there