Has anybody done a Marathon? 27 April 2017 at 11:49AM in Sports & fitness MoneySaving 18 replies 9.6K views

BrookesAndrew

Hello everybody,

Has anybody here done a marathon? I have a marathon near me in October this year and I was wondering how long it takes to train for a marathon. I am 21 years old, run around 10-15 miles a week. Longest run I have done is 7.5 miles which took me just under an hour. 5k PB is 22:09 and 10k PB is 48:51. Is it likely that I could be able to do a marathon by October?

Any help on this would be great, thanks!

indesisiv

Short answer is yes you could do it in that time. Most training plans I have seen are 16-17 week plans which is miles longer than you have. And you are already running a bit anyway. Simple thing is up your weekly mileage and do a longer run at least once a week.

I have my first marathon in June and am about to start training seriously for it (Didn't realise it was only 8 weeks away :eek::eek:). Just need to have a think about what training i need to be doing lol

BrookesAndrew

indesisiv wrote: »

Short answer is yes you could do it in that time. Most training plans I have seen are 16-17 week plans which is miles longer than you have. And you are already running a bit anyway. Simple thing is up your weekly mileage and do a longer run at least once a week.

I have my first marathon in June and am about to start training seriously for it (Didn't realise it was only 8 weeks away :eek::eek:). Just need to have a think about what training i need to be doing lol

Thank you for your response. Yeah I am going to do just that. Good luck with your marathon in June, let me know your time, would be interested to know :beer:

indesisiv

BrookesAndrew wrote: »

Thank you for your response. Yeah I am going to do just that. Good luck with your marathon in June, let me know your time, would be interested to know :beer:

Mine isn't really going to be a brilliant time as it is off road with just over 3000 feet of ascent in it. But hoping to do in the region of 3hrs 30 for it. Depends on training for the next month or so and how much it takes it out of me on the big climb at mile 15. :rotfl:

I am currently running around 40-50 miles a week with the longest mostly of around half marathon length. But mostly at a gentle pace just to build up mileage. Going to start pushing more marathon pace in my training runs.

See what happens. Part of the reason I am doing an off road marathon is that I don't want to have the pressure of chasing a time like I would on a road race. I want to enjoy the scenery a bit and hopefully enjoy it.

Good luck with your training and enjoy it.

Calleja

Agree, you definitely have the time to do an October marathon. In fact, even if you said you had never run before, 6 months is plenty of time for the training! But you have the baseline fitness, so you are already ahead.


I would suggest looking at some marathon training plans and seeing which ones suit you best, based on how much time you have to train (3, 4, 5 times a week?) and what you are trying to achieve (a certain time? although for the first one, I would say just aim to complete it). I like the 16 week plans as they ease you in gently (if you are a regular runner, the first few weeks may be less than you normally do anyway!), but you can get shorter ones which suit some people, as the training can be quite intense and they feel less burnt out during the shorter ones. My first marathon, I stuck to the plan religiously. The second one, I struggled to fit in the mid week runs but made sure that I stuck to the scheduled long runs and they are the most important, as they get you used to being on your feet for long distances.


Don't forget to enjoy it! I know a lot of people out there who are too hard on themselves for the training and end up hating the race. My times may not be amazing, but I've appreciated each experience and still want to do another one!

warriorsq

I don't do official marathons because of the amount of people but do the distance once or twice a month as ultra training out my front door and back. I've helped a fair few people from my club with marathon training and I always say don't make your longest run 20 miles like most plans suggest but 24ish. Plans go on the understanding that the event/crowd will carry you the extra 6.2 miles on the day and this isn't always the case. I do 3:15 - 3:20 out my door and from speaking to experienced marathon runners with even better times they all do longer than 20 miles so I'm not the only one who suggests this!

BrookesAndrew

warriorsq wrote: »

I don't do official marathons because of the amount of people but do the distance once or twice a month as ultra training out my front door and back. I've helped a fair few people from my club with marathon training and I always say don't make your longest run 20 miles like most plans suggest but 24ish. Plans go on the understanding that the event/crowd will carry you the extra 6.2 miles on the day and this isn't always the case. I do 3:15 - 3:20 out my door and from speaking to experienced marathon runners with even better times they all do longer than 20 miles so I'm not the only one who suggests this!

Thank you for the advise. I had looked a few plans up and saw that the longest run you do is 20 miles and I wouldn't feel that confident doing the race when I know I still have to find another 10k after doing 20 miles!

andygb

BrookesAndrew wrote: »

Thank you for the advise. I had looked a few plans up and saw that the longest run you do is 20 miles and I wouldn't feel that confident doing the race when I know I still have to find another 10k after doing 20 miles!

I have run four marathons in the past, but never ran over twelve miles in training. My best was around the 3hr mark, but my first, achieved without any specific training was 4hr 40m.
With your background I think you can comfortably complete a marathon, although the word "comfortable" may be a bit optimistic, because no marathon can be described as "comfortable".
Best of luck.

indesisiv

warriorsq wrote: »

I don't do official marathons because of the amount of people but do the distance once or twice a month as ultra training out my front door and back. ... . Plans go on the understanding that the event/crowd will carry you the extra 6.2 miles on the day and this isn't always the case.

The crowd won't be carrying me on my marathon, like you I don't do people so have entered one that is off road (Hate road races) and currently has 60 entries :j People seem to be put off by the 3000 feet of climbing for some reason.

BrookesAndrew wrote: »

Thank you for the advise. I had looked a few plans up and saw that the longest run you do is 20 miles and I wouldn't feel that confident doing the race when I know I still have to find another 10k after doing 20 miles!

I think I will probably aim to go up to around 23 as my longest run. I know that no matter what run I am doing once I get down to 5k to go it mentally becomes a lot easier and I know I will make it.

In training you will have the required time on your feet already as you won't be running your long runs as fast as your marathon. So you can do less miles and still be running for the time it will actually take you for your marathon.

donglemouse

plans vary in terms of longest run between 18-23 depending which you follow, it's not the be all and end all the total amount of miles you do per week also has a bearing on preparation (you need enough to get you prepared but not so much it wrecks you and injury occurs)

time is also important quite a few plans state the longest run should be capped at 3 hours as running any longer in training is counter productive i.e. recovery time needed exceeds the gains

17-18 weeks is long enough to do a training plan

as other have noted typically long runs are 30-60 second slower than your target marathon pace - depending which plan you follow, albeit some plans have a section of the long run done at marathon pace e.g. 18 miles with 10 at target pace

my suggestion would take it easy 17-18 weeks of training is a long time and you want to be on the starting line free of injury - better slightly under prepared but injury free than the alternative

Adly812

I'm a PT, teach 5 Pilates a week. Do about 75 min of mixed cardio training x4 a week,so I have a good base of aerobic fitness and a strong core. My longest run was 45 min prior to my marathon. I completed it in 3hrs40 min. I am a firm believer that there are more injuries sidelining runners in training, than completing the run... Save your legs and knees. Build your aerobic fitness X training, and just run the marathon. You need stronger mental ability than physical to do a marathon.