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2010 London Marathon - too fat?
Hi Everyone,
Just wondering if it would be at all possible to lose weight (I'm a 44 year old female, 5'6" tall, weighing 15st 8lbs), and train to run the London Marathon in a year. (I know, I must be mad!). I walked and ran the Bupa London 10000 race last year and have entered it again this year in May. If I started training now would it actually be feasible to train for the London Marathon next year or is there no way I would have enough time? Not sure if I should try to apply. If it's possible, any advice on training and nutrition would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Yes, I'm sure you'd be able to do it with 12 months of training.
Apply away (once the site is working)!
Thanks danielp and pinguPongu,
I'm even more inspired now!
Of course you can you just got to stick with it.
I started running Feb 08 and was 14.5 stone, I have now run two marathons and lost 2.5 stone in the process
Still a couple of stone to go though.
Hi Fatars,
Go for it. I watched London this year and there were people of all shapes and sizes. Giving yourself an amazing goal will also motivate you to keep going! Best of luck and let us know how your going.
Hi Tommy, I spotted you at Mudchute, but too embarrassed to come over. I too have a couple of stones to lose. Do you think we could do it before Beachy? Watching London made me realise just how hard a marathon is, and I really dont want to be carrying this much weight up those hills.
Hi Tommygun2 and hopetofinish,
Thanks for your encouragement,
and well done Tommy! I'm going out for a run tomorrow, and I am tempted 
to try to enter the ballot for the LM now, - if it will let me!
Definitely fatars - anything is possible if you want it bad enough. But change your nickname NOW! They say that if you think like a thin person, you will become a thin person!!
Good luck!
Thanks Sore Toes - likewise, if you think you have sore toes, you probably will have!!
Thanks Squall88_uk, I have actually managed to enter the ballot and now I'm thinking 'what have I done?!!'
Do you think I should actually diet to lose the weight first, with exercise at the gym and on the treadmill, then in 6 months start an actual road running programme, or should I just eat healthily and start on the road straight away, or diet and start on the road straight away ? I don't want to injure my knees with too much weight, but if I leave the road training until I'm light enough to pound the roads, there might not be enough time left.
Any advice is welcome as to an ideal training plan for me.
Thanks again for all the encouragement from everyone.
training advice is tricky on the basis that you haven't said how much running you do. How far, how often (speed is not important as long as you are running not walking). Are you a beginner or a long term jogger...?
The normal starter advice is...
- Get proper shoes (from a running shop not a high street outlet).
- Don't attempt to run every day - go for alternate days - rest is as important as training.
- Don't try to bust a blood vessel every time you run - train slow/race fast(er). Running at a controlled (ie lower) heart rate optimises fat burning.
- Key to training over a year is injury prevention. Consider X-training (swimming, bike, etc), regular sports massage say monthly if you can afford it as this will identifymuscle problems if you start to have them.
- Be proud of what you are doing and ignore everyone else.
- Involve friends and family... mara training takes a fair bit of time out of the diary - particularly as you start to run longer runs.
- Enjoy the fact that you can eat well as you are starting to burn cals hotte/quicker
- Don't forget to enjoy it.
- Write youself a schedule and keep a diary - how far, how long, how did you feel etc. Also note the mileages of your shoes - they are like tyres - they do wear out. Typical shoes will last up to 500 miles (each brand is different).
- Plan some races along the way - 10mile, half mara, etc.
Good luckGreat advice from PSC. If you believe you can do it you will.
I started back running in Dec. after years of very little excercise. It is tough but I've lost weight, feel more confident, i've bought new clothes with lots of bright colours when I would mainly wear blacks and other dark colours. Best of all I've got a hot tush and feel sexier!!
You will lose weight but remember to eat properly and enough. You need fuel to function. Plus don't overdo the training.
Get your name in the ballot quick and hopefully we'll see you on the start line. That's if I get a place too!!
Good luck and enjoy!!
Thanks PSC for a lot of helpful advice.
I would say that, yes, I am a beginner, although I trained last year with a walk run programme every other day and managed to walk and run the Bupa London 10000. At that stage I could run 20 mins non stop on a treadmill at a jogging pace. I lost a stone in weight, and decided to enter this 10k again this coming May. However, I haven't started training as early this year, so getting back into running has been hard.
I would love to be able to complete the London Marathon, even if I walked and ran it, just because it would be a great challenge for me, a great atmosphere and hopefully raise some money for a good cause. I realise though that if I don't give it 100% I'd end up falling by the wayside. So, as long as I have time as, basically a fat beginner, is there a way of going about it, for me, that you'd recommend? I don't want to get injured, so would I be better starting again initially on the treadmill to cushion the impact and lose the weight, then in 6 months or so building up the road mileage, or would it be too late by then?
Thanks again.
Thanks LadySpark,
Well done for keeping going and losing the weight - you've inspired me!
I did enter the ballot this morning and now I'm thinking I must be mad!! Although I really would like to train for this properly assuming there is time.
Good luck with your training!
HI fatars,
I've jsut entered too - am a returning runner but right back at the beginning in terms of being able to actually run! I did the British 10k 4 years ago, followed by the great north run, but since then, very very little. At the time I did say I wanted to do the marathon before I was 40 - well that will be in January, so I'm not going to quite achieve that, but I've entered the ballot in the hope that by the time I get a place - be it this year, next year or whenever, I might be fit enough to run it!
I've lost a stone and a half this year too - and it has made my feeble attempts at starting running again so much easier. I'm going to give it a good shot again at getting back into regular training and running.
So - good luck! We must be slightly loony!
I started running last November using the C25K prgramme which I found fantastic! If you stick at it, you WILL be running 5K after 9 weeks.
Searching for marathon training programmes, I found a pre-marathon training programme, which starts at 3 mile runs:
http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_mile.html
This lasts 19 weeks, followed by a 17 week marathon training programme:
http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html
9+19+17 = 45 weeks, which leaves you with 7 extra weeks in hand for illness and such like. You can lose an awful lot of weight in a year and running is excellent exercise.
Fatars, I'm 44 on Thursday and with advancing years comes lunacy by the bucket load!!
Thanks Julie for the training programmes, I'll have a look at those, and scilab well done for the weight loss and good luck.
Ladyspark, I'll be 45 in June, so I wanted to try for the LM before my 50's!
Thanks to everyone for all the advice given - it has really raised my hopes of succeeding. I'll maybe start a blog of my progress if I get time.
Hi Fatars
I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement because I'm in a similar boat (although my boat is a lot heavier!) I ran the great manchester 10k for the first time in 2004 and I weighed 21stone 7lbs at that point. I jogged/shuffled all the way and felt great when I finished, even though it was in a time of 1hr 38 mins!!
Last year I ran that same race again weighing 15st 9lbs and I did it in a time of 1hr 15mins. Since last year I'm ashamed to say I gave up the running and put a lot of weight back on. But I'm running that race again in three weeks and although it'll be very slow again, I'm happy to be at least giving it a go. And I think thats my point really...that you have to give these things a go - if its not the fastest time in the world, who cares! You'll lose weight along the way and feel absolutely fantastic by the end of it. It is my dream to run the FLM one day to and I'm never giving up on that, no matter what I weigh!
Don't diet. Just eat healthier food and with your training the weight should fall off.
Thanks guys, yes I think I will just try to watch what I eat mainly in terms of portion sizes, but still eat healthily. I won't diet as such. I'm starting my training again today - I've still got the Bupa London 10,000 looming not far away, so as you say Metalhead, I too will probably shuffle and jog my way round and hopefully finish it a bit quicker than last years time of 1hr 32.