two marathons in a year

sideshowbob321

Just about to run the DCM after a spring marathon in April. This will be my 5th in 3 years but haven't done two in a year until now. My PB from April was 3.31 and I’d like to try get near this or better it at thw DCM. Body okay thank fook with no major injuries *quickly touches wood.... I know it's down to the individual, experience and essentially pace but do most marathoners tend to run two per year? I'm going to apply for Berlin and will decide after the DCM if I'll look at a Spring 26.2

Zebra3

Nothing wrong with two a year.

Loads will do a spring and an Autumn marathon.

TFBubendorfer

Two a year is fairly standard for a lot of marathon runners.

Some do more, some do less, and we can talk until the cows come home which is the "right" approach.

ultrapercy

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Two a year is fairly standard for a lot of marathon runners.

Some do more, some do less, and we can talk until the cows come home which is the "right" approach.

Isnt talking until the cows come home a good thing? On a discussion forum.

average_runner

ultrapercy wrote: »

Isnt talking until the cows come home a good thing? On a discussion forum.

Depends how long it takes the cows to come home!!!!

tHE vAGGABOND

My two fastest marathon times have come in the "second" marathon in each of 2011 and 2012 - it so happens that in both I had issues in the first marathon of the year - so they basically served as a massive base of training to build from...

[But I am 100% sure others might have done brilliantly in April etc etc]

TFBubendorfer

ultrapercy wrote: »

Isnt talking until the cows come home a good thing? On a discussion forum.

Sure! Let's talk!

Most Kenyans will do 2 a year, one in spring, one in the autumn, and that's the pattern a lot of runners follow, both on the elite end as well as the fun runners.

However, the Hanson's training group in the states restricts their runners to 3 marathons over 2 years at most, and less for some.

On the other end of the scale is Yuki Kawauchi who runs more than a marathon per month.

Ironically, this year's women's Boston marathon was won by Desi Linden from the Hanson's group and the men's by Yuki Kawauchi, so both approaches can yield a major marathon win!

RayCun

Some people go from marathon cycle to marathon cycle to marathon cycle, and it seems pretty monotonous. And it seems like it would be more effective to change your training around every now and then and work on getting faster over short distances for a while, then going back to marathon training to try to extend that speed.

I've trained for two marathons this year, and I'm looking forward to a focus on shorter distances for a while, racing more, having more targets instead of one big one. But then I also wanted a change after two years of just one marathon a year. Maybe it just really comes down to what is going to motivate you to get out and train.

(for professionals it's a different story. The money is in marathons)

sideshowbob321

I'll see how the DCM goes and probably more importantly my application for a Berlin before making a decision re Spring
The experience and improvements which each marathon I've ran to date is encouraging me to continue to look at two a year.
BUT I know that this will likely peak and the increased mileage and inevitable wear and tear will result in some disruptions in a two per year plan !

TFBubendorfer

Inevitable wear and tear from 2 marathons a year?

There are plenty of runners running 2000 or 3000 miles per year, for year after year after year, without any noticeable wear and tear. The human body isn't like a car where the various parts will wear off after a certain mileage. It repairs itself and adapts.

RayCun

If you only run one marathon next year, or no marathons next year, that doesn't mean you should run less