Tell me not to do this.

I've been looking about for an event to do and thought 'maybe the Dublin marathon'. Then I looked at the date and figured I've been slacking too much to train for it. I looked at a couple of training plans just to see if I could start at week four or five of  sixteen week plan, but I'm not really there. One put up a big warning in red that I risked injury or death unless I'd started the programme in June, fair enough.

Then I tried the Smartcoach calcualtor. Try putting in 25 minute 5K, 6-10 miles per week currently, moderate training 13 weeks and see what comes out.

I say nothing against the calculator, but this is just a case of putting silly figures in and getting an unrealistic answer isn't it ?

 

 

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Comments

  • JindaleeJindalee ✭✭✭
    Short answer as requested: don't do it.



    If you have not trained properly you might want to give it a miss and look for a different event to do. Maybe a HM in 3 months time? You might be able to get round the marathon but I'm not sure how much fun it will be to do one when you have not trained enough and possibly risk injury.
  • Have you run a marathon before ? Would you be bothered with a run walk get you round or would you want to get a PB ?



    I'm sure you could do enough to get you round if you're in a 25 min 5k shape at the moment. As jindalee says - the race might not be pretty.
  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    why would you want to though?

  • Tim R2-T2Tim R2-T2 ✭✭✭

    What's the length of the longest run you can comfortably do?

    You would need 2-3 weeks taper and 3-5 20milers with maybe 2-3 weeks between. 

    So working back 11/8/5 weeks to 20milers. To give you a chance of getting anywhere near that you need to be doing 10-13 miles as your longest run already.

    You can get round with only 1 20miler in the bank. I think these 16 week plans are really just get you round plans.

     

  • Thanks for the answers. I have this terrible tendency to think I've found a way of getting more for less. I knew that my data would condemn me to an achey exhaustion and probable strain, but a part of me kept going "Go on, it might just work".

    After a year of running, I had got myself up to doing fifteen to sixteen mile runs a year ago and then strained a calf muscle, came back, broke my fibula and then got really ill over Chritmas.

    I'm back to running about nine miles pretty comfortably and am trying to keep my pace up on shorter runs because last year after about  year of training, I found I could increase my distance pretty steadily, but I kept getting slower each time.

    My aim for a marathon, if I ever get that far, is to run it and finish intact, preferably feeling like I haven't been stretched on the rack.

  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    My view is that even if there are good reasons for building up to a marathon from nothing in 13 weeks, 'I've been looking about for an event to do' probably isn't one of them.

  • Why not do it next year?

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Or do a spring marathon? That will give you enough time to train properly.
  • Very good advise above. Why not try a half marathon instead or do one on a later date? 

  • cj dold wrote (see)

     

    After a year of running, I had got myself up to doing fifteen to sixteen mile runs


    So not really much point aiming to get up to 26 miles in 13 weeks unless you are loking for a pretty unpleasant experience at the end of it. There's another thread not too far from here where they are discussing how many 20+ mile runs should be part of a marathon training plan.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    I'm afraid I come from a running background where taking on marathons were the preserve of athletes with about 10 years training behind them.

    Now its just another item on an idiots bucket list.

    🙂

  • RicF wrote (see)

    I'm afraid I come from a running background where taking on marathons were the preserve of athletes with about 10 years training behind them.

    Now its just another item on an idiots bucket list.

    Bit rude don't you think? The guy wants to give a go, who are you to call him an idiot? 

  • Ric.it might be on a bucket list.but so what......i ran 3 miles and decided that i would eneter a marathon..I did have 8 months to rain and enjoyed it..carried on running since and that was 8 years ago.......

    without the marathon to aim for I would probably have given up but instead i joined a club and have ran some wonderful races over the years......

    doesn't matter what is the reason for people to start running........as long as they do

  • JindaleeJindalee ✭✭✭
    I also don't think you need to have run for 10 years to do a marathon. I think it doesn't matter how long someone has been running for, but I think everyone should look at it realistically and train for the event properly to be able to enjoy it and to prevent injury.
  • skottyskotty ✭✭✭
    cougie wrote (see)
    Have you run a marathon before ? Would you be bothered with a run walk get you round or would you want to get a PB ?

    if they haven't run a marathon before it will be a PB anyway.

  • skottyskotty ✭✭✭
    Jindalee wrote (see)
    I also don't think you need to have run for 10 years to do a marathon. I think it doesn't matter how long someone has been running for, but I think everyone should look at it realistically and train for the event properly to be able to enjoy it and to prevent injury.

    i think RicF was referring more to clowns like that David fella that was on here before.

  • Fair comment RicF, btw, I think you meant "idiot's", possesive rather than plural. I'm aware that the popular marathons are the equivalent of the 'head of the river race' or some numpty snowploughing the Hahnenkamm in about half an hour.

    As I understand it, marathons were the preserve of decent runners so they only had to shut the route for three hours.If you were going to take more than 2:45 you got kicked off the course.

     

    When the course was opened up to the world and his wife we saw a plethora of training plans that suggeste that four months was sufficient to train for such an event. 

    Is there actually a training plan that reflects real experience for ab intio runners ?

    Stuff like:

    Q: How do I train for this year's Dublin marathon ?

    A: Start training last year.

    The general rule about not adding more than 10% a week seems to be ignored by most race training plans.

    Presumably at some point, the compound interest law kicks in and even a 10% addition would be an overstretch ?

    Ayways, I don't want to end up like a mate who 'ran' London in the early days. He didn't train worth a darn and got a time of something like 7 hours.

     

     

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Try a Hal Higdon plan I used a beginner one for my first marathon and it got me round in good shape.
  • Tim R2-T2Tim R2-T2 ✭✭✭

    The 10% rule is to stop your tendons and ligaments from lagging behind your aerobic system and muscles. They take about 3x as long to develop the strength. So 2days might see your muscles get stronger but 6days to see the same improvement in your ligaments. If you limit what you're doing to your muscles then you give everything else a chance. 

    By the time you've got to 10miles you're fairly safe to go 13, 15, 18, 20. On the day you're going 20-26 that's a 30% jump!

    Your Long Slow Runs are supposed to be SLOW. I think you need to understand a lot more about what the various types of training run are for before you attempt any training plan or the plan is useless. 

    I would try a year of half marathons first, get 5 or 6 of them under your belt. 

  • McFloozeMcFlooze ✭✭✭

    Target an autumn half and then a Spring full.  The Half should give you a taste for whether or not you really want to/feel ready for the full distance.  

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I dont understand the general obsession with marathons. The first question anyone asks me is if I have done one, the second when i say No, is are you planning to. The answer there is possibly. They then frown as if to say i am not a real runner. Of course i could 'run' a marathon if i wanted to, like most people, i would just have to do it a lot slower than i would want and risk injury.

    I have been running 3 years now and at the point where i can do 50 miles a week without hurting, however i think its better to nail the shorter distances. As Tim says, get comfortable doing halfs and race them properly first. It takes a few of those to really understand what you can do in terms of pacing etc. I just don't really see the point plodding around a marathon just because its the perceived mecca!

  • I ran for many years over all distances before  I decided to do a marathon which incidently was Dublin Golden pages Marathon in 1993. It was a two lap course

    finishing in O'connell street.  Nine months prior to the race start I decided to stop drinking alcohol and just train religously.  I gradually increased my milage until  by early October I  was up to 26 miles. On race day  I was raring to go!  

    Well i got caught up  with a group of runners going slightly faster than what i was ready for and by 15 miles i think i was crying .image  The last 11 miles were pretty dire but I carried on vowing never to run another marathon!  

      The point being, you really need to train properly over a good time period ( nine months plus  in my opinion.  )  if you want to go into a marathon with confidence.

    Then you need to stick to a race plan or you'll blow up. It's  a great learning curve and I wish you all the best .  

     

     

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

     

    Screamapillar wrote (see)
    RicF wrote (see)

    I'm afraid I come from a running background where taking on marathons were the preserve of athletes with about 10 years training behind them.

    Now its just another item on an idiots bucket list.

    Bit rude don't you think? The guy wants to give a go, who are you to call him an idiot? 

    I didn't. And bucket list item wasn't mentioned by the OP.

    I wouldn't encourage someone to partake in something like a marathon if they were not sufficiently trained for it. However, there are some on this forum who always do. What are their motives? 

    It seems that under the guise of lending support, they really want to see someone get hurt.

    Who am I?

    /members/images/493151/Gallery/southgold.png

     Thats me in green with a gold medal from last years Southern Road Relays.

    Two seconds faster than the guy on my left who has run every single London Marathon in under 3 hours.

    🙂

  • Tim R2-T2Tim R2-T2 ✭✭✭

    It really depends on your motives. Most people's motives are London. But that's a different kind of marathon. All the big city marathons are different to the small 500-600 entry races where you run 26.2miles practically alone. 

    So the overriding factor on whether you should enter a marathon is determined by your motives. Entering and running a marathon are easy. Getting to the start line without an injury isn't.

    Suffer and raise money is one motivation. And works for thousands. 

  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    Ric, I don't think most people on this thread are encouraging the OP to do the Dublin marathon in 13 weeks. Because it's a silly idea.

    cj dold: Don't do it. It's a silly idea. image

  • Maybe your post didn't come across very well then Ric but it sounded pretty flippant to me. 

    The OP sounds like one of the more sensible posters we've had on here recently to be honest  - he (or she) knows full well they aren't ready yet.

    And I'm still not sure why you need to question anybody's motives as to why they want to run a marathon. Even if it is something to tick off a list what harm does it do to anyone else?  

  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭

    That's not green, that's blue. 

  • literatinliteratin ✭✭✭

    let's compromise and call it teal.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭
    Screamapillar wrote (see)

    Maybe your post didn't come across very well then Ric but it sounded pretty flippant to me. 

    The OP sounds like one of the more sensible posters we've had on here recently to be honest  - he (or she) knows full well they aren't ready yet.

    And I'm still not sure why you need to question anybody's motives as to why they want to run a marathon. Even if it is something to tick off a list what harm does it do to anyone else?  

    Where did I question anybody's motives to run a marathon?

     

     

     

    🙂

  • Yep, it's a silly idea, thanks for talking me out of it.

    I tried entering 6 weeks into the calculator thing and it still gave me a plan. 10 miles max, then a couple of short runs and race. Possibly it ought to give link to a supplier of walking aids and a good psychiatrist.

    Stop press! I just tried it with 3 weeks. Too silly for words.

    Anyways, motive ? London ? I had quite enough of London as a motorcycle courier, although time as a cycle courier was fun (try it for a one week fitness plan).  Dublin features on my horizon because it's  fairly easy trip from here and I'm pretty sure of a place to kip.

    Ah well, back to training, if I can stop slacking off and doing stuff like this:

    http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=92C97F1B-07B5-28C2-5E574B5E149BFFE3

     

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