I NEED ADVICE

Hi,

I'm a first time marathon runner and I'm training hard hard hard :)

At the moment i'm following a training plan which is alll about doing lots of little runs... The most i've run at the minute is 8 miles and i was planning on doing an extra mile a week so before the marathon, i will have ran about 17/18 miles. Is this ok? Or do i need to up my mileage instead of these little runs?

Any advise would be much appreciated!!!!!

Emma x

Hi Emma - O.K......most training plans have you go up to 20 or 22 miles before you run a marathon and I say most, not all. Those longer runs tend to be at weekends but you can do them when you like obvs to fit in with your life. If you are following the pattern and doing them at w.ends, then you will generally do a variety or runs during the week. My experience is of Garmin training plans and I never exceeded 10 miles in any one run during the week. The training during the week also included some speed work - actually - quite a lot of speed work, interval training and I also liked to incorporate some hills...just as I like hills. 

Are you using a tried and tested plan ?? If so, which one ?? Everyone has different ways to go about things but I for one got a good plan - well, it was good for me - when I did my first marathon at London 2008, and I stuck to it. It had me running 5 days a week with a Long Slow Run at the weekend and as I said before, no more than 22 miles and that was only twice and in March when the training peaked.

You haven't said how many times a week you are running and what length those runs are and what intensity as that will depend on your mileage as well.

I for one would be quite wary of not at least getting to 20 miles, if only for a mind thing as that is something that cannot be underestimate...the mind plays funny tricks on you when you are tired and in those last few miles. If you have a couple of 20's tucked under your belt, you will hopefully be able to draw on that knowledge to get you through the last few miles.

Hope that helps.

Hi Nunuzela,

Thansk for getting back to me!

i was followng a Well Child (my chosen charity) training plan. But now after speaking to yourself and a few others, i've come up with my own little plan, which just adapts on thier plan.

I've put the plan below, let me know what you think???

Thanks so much :)

R - meaning REST

interval - meaning INTERVAL TRAINING

and the first weekend run should say 10 miles not 8 - 10

x

Three quick thoughts

you need a taper period of three weeks or so where you recover before mmarathon

many plans have every third or fourth week with a lower lsr  to help you recover

if you are doing your lsr on Sunday then Mondays mileage is too high IMO. 

O.K.......the runs you are doing in the week are o.k IMO but as Keith said, you need to do a 3 week taper. You are doing 2 x 20's but they are too close to the big day.  You just need to up the ante abit sooner and 'shift' your LSR's back a few weeks. You really should have the Monday after your LSR as a rest day so just move it all on a day and have Monday rest, Tues run, Weds rest, Thurs run, Fri interval, Sat rest then LSR on Sunday.

So - I would do your Sunday LSR's something like this -

10 FEB      8 M

17 FEB      10 M

24 FEB      12 M

3 MAR       16 M

10 MAR     18 M

17 MAR     20 M

24 MAR     19 M

31 MAR     15 M

7 APR       8 - 10 M

15 APR     MARATHON

Most important thing is the taper. It feels weird at the time to not be running so much but you need to do it to give your body time to settle down and recover before the big day.

I hope that helps and I have just kind of cobbled it together from my own experience and kind of trying to suss out what you are looking to do yourself.

Good luck and feel free to completely ignore me....you won't be the first.....lol. 

I definitley won't ignore you! you've been very helpful!!! i've changed my plan now :)

For the last week before the marathon, so Monday - Saturday what would you suggest?

Thanks,
Emma

Excellent - well I would probably just keep ticking over. Rest Monday, gentle 6 miler Tuesday, rest Weds, gentle 4 miler Thurs and maybe a 3 miler on Friday. Also recommend you try to squeeze some massages into your routine. Some plans have another small run on the Saturday but I've never done that. You might not have any problems, but just one every 4 weeks is good to get into those tiring muscles. Not essential, and they can be expensive, even if you get one the week before but early in the week so you can recover.

It all seems a lot to me for a first timer - do you really need all those runs of 18 or more miles? You've only done 8 so far so don't underestimate how tiring long runs can be. Personally I would do something like 18, 15, 20 followed by a 3 or 4 week taper. That will be more than most manage. Even less would be fine.

I would drop at least half of those interval sessions too, unless you are very good at not getting injured.

Some people like to keep running in the last week before the race. My preference is to do one short easy run midweek and that's it. But I would only be running 2/3 times a week anyway. Depends on the type of runner you are.

If you do follow this plan (why are you making up a plan if you are a first timer by the way?) be prepared to drop it back a bit if it's too much. Don't let your ego force it through.

Rob has a point actually - drop an interval session every week and just do a 5-6 miler. Apart from that, i do think you need to get a couple of 18 plus milers under your belt or it will all be too shocking on the day.

Also fair point made by Rob, don't get carried away and force the issue. Take care of your body as you will be asking a lot of it.

Am not so sure tho that a first timer cannot not be expected to do much. You have obvs made the decision to do a marathon and that won't happen if you don't put in the hard work...and it is hard work. Marathon running is not easy and you will need to be prepared - there is no getting away from that BUT no-one is forcing you to do it so you must really want to do it and the hard work will pay off, if you use common sense along with a well thought out plan. 

Thanks both, really helpful!!

Yeah but I was more helpful than Rob wasn't I ? He's rubbish he is.

More waffley you mean 

Yeah but interesting waffle. 

I think you should stop messing around with your own plan and google Hal Higdon Novice 1. We are in week 6 at the moment if you just want to pick the plan straight up.

Even if you then tailor it to fit your own lifestyle you are at least taking a very well proven programme as the starting point.

Seconded.  Would definitely recommend Hal.  Got me through my first and used by many others with great success.

But he never opens the pod bay doors does he???!?

What are you wibbling about Robo?

Thanks everyone!