Unfit to 3.30 marathon

Dubs1990

So finally decided to bite the bullet and post here. As the title goes, I am fairly unfit compared to 2 years ago, I have signed up for the Dublin marathon as I feel I will need this time to sort myself out(I also want to do this in 3.30). A bit about myself.

26 years old, was mad into my he'll and backs and adventure racing 2 years ago, completed killarney 75k, did the WAR series, about 7 he'll and backs.I raced these all at 80kg

So now I have bought a house and had a baby so went completely downhill since then. I now weight 100kg at 5ft 9 and am very unfit.

I completed the Raheny 5mile in 39minutes and am starting to get stuck back into healthy eating. Howth is my playground and if anybody sees me I'm the bald guy with a German Shepherd .

My plan for now is..
3 runs a week 1 tempo run, 1 speed session and 1 slow long run, and 2 strength training days this is up till June until I start a 18 week programme

I hope to do daily updates on training and eating and hopefully this will keep me on track even if it's just to myself ......

healy1835

Best of luck with it mate. You have a lot of achievements on the CV there, so getting back into a training routine should be no problem to you at all. You have a nice period now to get a good base in and get closer to your fighting weight before the marathon block starts. Are you planning on following any programme in particular for DCM?

Dubs1990

healy1835 wrote: »

Best of luck with it mate. You have a lot of achievements on the CV there, so getting back into a training routine should be no problem to you at all. You have a nice period now to get a good base in and get closer to your fighting weight before the marathon block starts. Are you planning on following any programme in particular for DCM?

Thanks very much! I was planning on following one of the hal higdon plans, but to be honest I dont know what one to do as I want to run a 3.30 marathon, I don't want to do a plan that is to advanced but not also pick one that won't let me reach that goal!

healy1835

I'd say maybe step back a bit from nailing down a target time just yet. See how the next few months go, set a couple of smaller targets eg. 5k or 10k times, and then start your Marathon block with a time in mind, but not necessarily set in stone. From my own first marathon experience my goal time fluctuated throughout the training and I only really settled on a time after I ran a half marathon a month out.....

Dubs1990

healy1835 wrote: »

I'd say maybe step back a bit from nailing down a target time just yet. See how the next few months go, set a couple of smaller targets eg. 5k or 10k times, and then start your Marathon block with a time in mind, but not necessarily set in stone. From my own first marathon experience my goal time fluctuated throughout the training and I only really settled on a time after I ran a half marathon a month out.....

Great advice thank you, it's going to be a learning curve for sure , one thing I've found is I've never had a structured plan for training, would you advice joining a club,? Or at my level am I better of doing my own thing??

Kennyg71

Join the marathon mentored novice thread in May, when it gets going and
you will get great support and knowledge, just keep fit and injury free till
then. It will be in main A/R thread. Best luck with it.

Annie get your Run

+1 to what Kennyg said, also yes to joining a club! Dublin Bay Runners are near you, contact them and have a chat

Dubs1990

First time out running today since starting this log, with been sick and on the night shifts my body is all over the place!

4km - avg 4.47 pace
100x4 sprints

Felt awful so cut the run short. Got bloods done during the week and my iron count is very low. I'm taking floridex now to try and get that back up. Also trying out the fat adaptation for running so wondering if it's a combination of things that has me feeling drained!!!!

Murph_D

Dubs1990 wrote: »

Also trying out the fat adaptation for running so wondering if it's a combination of things that has me feeling drained!!!!

How exactly? Running on empty, or running at the right pace for fat burning adaptation?

Kennyg71

I would work on getting iorn levels right for now, that will have you wiped as it is
and just get couple small easy runs in, forget about sprinting till you have few weeks of weeks base under your belt, then figure rest out.

Singer

Dubs1990 wrote: »

First time out running today since starting this log, with been sick and on the night shifts my body is all over the place!

4km - avg 4.47 pace
100x4 sprints

Felt awful so cut the run short. Got bloods done during the week and my iron count is very low. I'm taking floridex now to try and get that back up. Also trying out the fat adaptation for running so wondering if it's a combination of things that has me feeling drained!!!!

You haven't run in a month, so lashed out 4k at 3:21 marathon pace (including the sprints?), and you're fat adapting?

If you're even half serious about doing a marathon you need to slow down and run a lot more (building up over time). I'm not sure what you're at with the fat adaption - this is a relatively advanced technique that's worth looking at when you're no longer a novice runner (maybe the purists disagree, but I wouldn't particularly recommend anybody tries it who's not already running 4 or 5 times a week for a few months). Most of your running should be very comfortable, and that means not being hungry, thirsty or out of breath. Try running regularly and easy a few times a week!

Dubs1990

Singer wrote: »

You haven't run in a month, so lashed out 4k at 3:21 marathon pace (including the sprints?), and you're fat adapting?

If you're even half serious about doing a marathon you need to slow down and run a lot more (building up over time). I'm not sure what you're at with the fat adaption - this is a relatively advanced technique that's worth looking at when you're no longer a novice runner (maybe the purists disagree, but I wouldn't particularly recommend anybody tries it who's not already running 4 or 5 times a week for a few months). Most of your running should be very comfortable, and that means not being hungry, thirsty or out of breath. Try running regularly and easy a few times a week!

Thanks for the sound advice, I'm going to drop the fat adaptation, I'm lucky to be making silly mistakes now and not in 12 weeks time.

I should keep running to the basics and build a solid foundation, in terms of running a few days a week, how many kilometres should I be working up to?

Dubs1990

Murph_D wrote: »

How exactly? Running on empty, or running at the right pace for fat burning adaptation?

I'm running fasted mainly in the mornings, but then I would eat carbs after my run. Following a high fat diet moderate protein.

I'm going to eat as I used to and see if the energy levels improve, at the moment I'm finding it hard to get the motivation to even get going!

Singer

Dubs1990 wrote: »

Thanks for the sound advice, I'm going to drop the fat adaptation, I'm lucky to be making silly mistakes now and not in 12 weeks time.

I should keep running to the basics and build a solid foundation, in terms of running a few days a week, how many kilometres should I be working up to?

I dunno, 42?

If you want to follow a plan, the Hal Higdon novice plans look good: http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51127/15K-10-mile-Novice-Training-Program

Mostly you need to be getting out regularly, while slowly increasing the distances. Once a week you should do a longer run, but the consistency during the rest of week is as important. In the summer you will need to be running 4-5 times a week at least. The sooner you can be doing that the better, but you need to not break yourself in the meantime.

HigginsJ

Singer wrote: »

Mostly you need to be getting out regularly, while slowly increasing the distances. Once a week you should do a longer run, but the consistency during the rest of week is as important. In the summer you will need to be running 4-5 times a week at least. The sooner you can be doing that the better, but you need to not break yourself in the meantime.

I think you need a very decent base as well before even considering approaching marathon training. I have found the step up from last year to marathon training to be fairly tough on the body.

I would say that you would want to be running bear minimum of 3 times a week and about 20km in total before even considering going near a marathon plan.

I would put the 3:30 marathon out of your head for the time being and get to running consistently and once you are there maybe run a couple of races and work a marathon target off of that.

Younganne

The secret to success in any training program is consistency so for now just concentrate on getting out 3 /4 times a week for short easy runs.

As you get more consistent and getting the healthy eating right, the weight will come off. Keep a diary of your training and your eating and take your measurements as its not always about what it says on the scales.

Some of the best runs are the ones you don't want to do so get out the door on the days you have planned and you will feel energized after your run.

Hal higdon has good Spring training plans for building a base so take a look.

Best of luck with the log & the training. Never be shy about asking questions, someone will always have the answers for you.

Dubs1990

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions guys, much appreciated, a few plans to look at for a solid base, running to work looks like it could be on the cards to get the training in Aswell, now to start eating well 😂 I'm starting this at 100kg at 5ft 9. My racing weight 2 years ago doing AR was 80kg......but even then my training plans were all over the place (I'm not even sure I had one!!!!!!!

laurie88

Dubs1990 wrote: »

, now to start eating well 😂 I'm starting this at 100kg at 5ft 9. My racing weight 2 years ago doing AR was 80kg......but even then my training plans were all over the place (I'm not even sure I had one!!!!!!!

Get that nutrition right first I would imagine
you sound like you'll get there, even if you're all over the place

Dubs1990

This is how the rest of the week looked for me.

Wednesday. 6k @ 5.45-6.00km pace.
Thursday. 15k cycle ( commute to work).
Friday . 6 k @ 5.45-6.00km pace, bodyweight workout - pull ups, dips, push up variations, plank, lunges
Sunday: 7k @ 5.45-6k pace.

Felt great slowing the pace right down, legs didn't feel tired in the mornings. And on these runs I felt I could keep going.

Back eating a solid nutrition plan and I have noticed the bloatness gone right down.

Dubs1990

Monday 5k - 5.45 pace

Tuesday - I couldn't head out got the worst headache I've ever experienced, don't know if it was down to not eating enough or trying to cut down on caffeine.

Wednesday 7k - 6.00 pace
Thursday 7k - 5.45 pace / bodyweight workout
Friday -off
Sat-6k
Sunday -10k @ 5.45-6.00 pace.

Instead of cycling to work I'm going to run two of the days so I can up the km's, it will be 7k each way.

Legs felt tired and heavy after the week of running suppose this will only get better as the training progresses. Feeling good in general. A few hiccups during the week with eating. Need to sort this and get the weight down!!!!!!!

Dubs1990

Not much running happening with been on the night shifts for the week. 60km on the bike commuting to work and 2 body weight workouts, I hope to get out on Saturday and Sunday for a run!

HATE the night shifts mess the body up something terrible!!

demon83

Fair play, I hope you achieve it, my PB is 3:33 so I am also looking to break 3:30 this year.

Dubs1990

Sat 8.2k - felt good went a bit faster for a km or two made me huff and puff a bit 😊.

Sun 5.6k- had to cut this a bit shorter as I was told we were heading out! Lucky to even get out with it been a day for all the mammys!