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2 marathons in 2 months
Running Rodent
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in Training
I'm planning to run the Edinburgh marathon in July, but i reckoned that if I am going to get myself marathon-fit I might as well make the most of it and tackle another one while I'm at it. The Lochaber marathon is 7 weeks earlier, so I would have 7 clear weeks to recover. Am I being over optimistic in thinking I can do both? I've done one marathon before (London), currently running 20-25 miles a week, planning to increase gradually after Christmas to 40 miles a week including long runs of 20 miles.
Any advice welcome.
Any advice welcome.
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I could turn the first one into a half, but I dont,want to
Some more comitted runners suggest there's no great problem in theory - I hope to be more committed than in my previous training - but this will no doubt be offsett to some extent by pushing myself harder on the actual days
if your nearly up to regular 20 milers by Jan, have your first target in Mayish, you should be fine RR, I would imagine
....though other futher thoughts from more experienced runners most welcome
At Dublin I spent a lot of time socialising (but not drinking, honest) before the race, got very anxious as well, and at 18 miles didn't hit a wall but suddenly felt very tired and had to slow down. The two people I was with finished in 3.40 but I was 13 mins slower.
I took a week off and took it fairly easy on the second week as well until the weekend when I ran a steady 18 miler. This gave me the confidence to be brave in Lisbon when I got there. The next three weeks before Lisbon I again took fairly easy, but did 12 on the Sunday 2 weeks before the race and another 10 at easy pace the Sunday before.
Got to Lisbon, socialised very little before the race - even spent the Saturday afternoon in bed dozing for 4 or 5 hours to make sure I got lots of rest.
Set off at 3.30 pace and finished in 3.38, feeling really good. Again, had another week off and have taken the last two weeks fairly easily, and ran for 2 hours yesterday in very mucky weather, probably about 14 or 15 miles.
I think you have to make sure you do get plenty of long runs in, whilst not neglecting the other areas of a marathon schedule, and maybe set your targets a little lower than if you were just doing one marathon on it's own.
I nearly had the same dilemma as BGAl as I'll be seeing him in Connemara and had entered FLM. However I was rejected so I can relax and do a second one a few weeks later again.
In the past on a couple of occasions I've run two marathons on consecutive Sundays and been fine, but it does take a lot longer to recover, and as IW says, you are much more susceptible to illness afterwards as well, coz your resistance will be low.
Finally, to really put things in perspective, have a look at the 100 Marathon Club at
http://homepages.tesco.net/~roger.biggs/home.html
(sorry, can't do links from here). These people do marathons every weekend for weeks on end!!
If you decide to be brave - best of luck - let us all know how you get on - and BGAl, see you in Galway!
Happy Christmas!!
Cos im tempted by blackpool, but am in FLM
He is (was?) world record ultramarathoner and did 1000 miles in 11 days ie 3 marathons/day ...
and says he felt better at the end than at the start!
is it possible??????/
whats your schedule for training
(my first marathon took me 6 hours)
he also got 26 novices round the NYM with only 9 weeks training
if you like, Benz, i'll send you the book after christmas - i'm flicking through it now, and will have to read it again - all positive life-coaching kind of stuff but not too over-the-top
tell me the name of the book
Which marathons?
When are you doing it?
Must check my on call
Well done mate, I don't care if you don't make it this is the sort of spirit that made Britain great!!
on events
it sounds like fun
Thanks to those who've given encouraging replies - the answer appears to be 'nothing ventured, nothing gained', so I'll give them both a go and see what happens.
Not sure I'm quite ready for any of the ultra stuff though - perhaps next year (or once my sanity has finally evaporated)