The Full Marathon... Am I Ready?

Undertow

Hey folks. I am in the middle of training for the marathon at the moment. I've been running 8-10km distances for the past couple of years pretty frequently, and embarked on the 18 week marathon training program set by Hal Higdon 13 weeks ago. I have basically made it this far feeling pretty good. I missed training on week 10 though. I'm now in week 13 and seem to have a problem with my shin, which has kept me off training for most of week so far. The furthest I've ran so far is 26km at a pace of about 5min30.

Do people think that the marathon is still doable for me in another 5 weeks, despite the couple of minor set backs? This will be my first full marathon, and I'm getting pretty anxious about it. Bear in mind that its a flat course.

Thanks in advance for your help folks.

macinalli

IMO you're a bit behind but it's hard to say too much from the limited info. You'll probably need to take the last 2 weeks easy, which means that you've only 3 weeks of hard training left. Given that you've an issue with your shin, that makes these 3 weeks pretty tricky.

At this stage there's not too much you can gain in the remaining time. I'd say that your best bet is to make sure that you're fit on race day and just go out and enjoy the experience.

Out of interest, have you run any half's before? Also, what time were you targeting?

Undertow

I have ran 1 half before. Over the training period I have ran over 20km 3 times too. I feel relatively comfortable running this distance, although I found the 26km a couple of weeks ago really tough! I was hoping to run the marathon under 4 hours if possible. I know this will be a tough task but this will be my target!

Thanks for advice!

macinalli

Ok, a common mistake for 1st time marathon runners is to do the long runs too fast. You've done your longest runs at 5.30/km pace, which is about 8.45 mile pace. A 4hr marathon is 9.09 pace. The general rule is that you should be doing your long runs at about 10% slower than your planned race pace - 10 min/mile or 6.15/km for you.

This is most likely the reason that you've gotten injured. For the last few weeks you should make sure to get that pace down....

Undertow

Thats a fair point Macinalli- cheers! In order to come in under 4 hours I thought my pace had to be 5min42 per km, and there's no doubt thats whats driving me to keep up the pace! I reckon a week to 10 days rest should be enough to recover fully- its just a niggling injury! Bit like mild shin splints on one leg.

jamesbere

I might add on to this, I have a 20 mile run planned 3 weeks before the cork marathon, thats not leaving it too late to be doing a long run.

rom

I presume its this one. I used one of these plans for my first marathon also and didn't do it right also.

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137/Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program

Like all first timers they look at the table and don't read the text that is associated with it as its actually more important than the table

Run Slow: Normally I recommend that runners do their long runs anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds or more per mile slower than their marathon pace. The problem with offering this advice to first-time novice runners, however, is that you probably don't know what your marathon pace is, because you've never run a marathon before! Don't worry. Simply do your long runs at a comfortable pace, one that allows you to converse with your training partners, at least during the beginning of the run.

Read the text for the plan a few times and then ask yourself are you really following the plan correctly.

dintbo

jamesbere wrote: »

I might add on to this, I have a 20 mile run planned 3 weeks before the cork marathon, thats not leaving it too late to be doing a long run.

I'd reckon that's just about right. I'll be doing something similar.

Undertow

Yeah I think I seem to have made that mistake. Do you think its possible to run it under 4 hours still, despite missing out on 3-4 weeks of that training schedule?

rom wrote: »

I presume its this one. I used one of these plans for my first marathon also and didn't do it right also.

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137/Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program

Like all first timers they look at the table and don't read the text that is associated with it as its actually more important than the table

Run Slow: Normally I recommend that runners do their long runs anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds or more per mile slower than their marathon pace. The problem with offering this advice to first-time novice runners, however, is that you probably don't know what your marathon pace is, because you've never run a marathon before! Don't worry. Simply do your long runs at a comfortable pace, one that allows you to converse with your training partners, at least during the beginning of the run.

Read the text for the plan a few times and then ask yourself are you really following the plan correctly.

ger664

Undertow wrote: »

Yeah I think I seem to have made that mistake. Do you think its possible to run it under 4 hours still, despite missing out on 3-4 weeks of that training schedule?

It is very hard to answer that question without a lot more information.

How long have you been running ?
Is this your first Marathon ?
What Hal-Hidgon plan is it ?
Have you ran a 10K/10M/half marathon in that cycle ?
If so what time was it ?

Undertow

How long have you been running ? A couple of years! About 8-9 months of every year.
Is this your first Marathon ? Yep!
What Hal-Hidgon plan is it ? The link is posted above!
Have you ran a 10K/10M/half marathon in that cycle ? Ran 10km on a weekly basis and tend to run it in about 51-54mins.
If so what time was it ?

ger664 wrote: »

It is very hard to answer that question without a lot more information.

How long have you been running ? A couple of years! About 8-9 months of every year.
Is this your first Marathon ? Yep!
What Hal-Hidgon plan is it ? The link is posted above!
Have you ran a 10K/10M/half marathon in that cycle ? Ran 10km on a weekly basis and tend to run it in about 51-54mins.
If so what time was it ?

ger664

I will assume that that 10K is a training run. This would possibly translate to 48-49 mins in a race situation. That would translate into a sub 4 but it would be touch and go given you only have one 20 mile in the cycle and will miss some training. I would suggest go out at 4:15 and enjoy the experience as much as you can. You will only every run your first marathon once.

Undertow

Hahaha! Thats true Ger, well I suppose all I can do is give it my best shot and see what happens eh. Im starting to realise tat it could be a massive task to do it under 4 hours but I'll give it a bash. As someone else said to me maybe I should just go and enjoy it and see what happens. Dont worry about the time so much! Thats all well and good, but I know deep down I'll be disappointed with myself if I dont do it under 4 hours! Ran the half marathon in Auckland 18 months ago in 1hr55 so you never know.