Planning thoughts

MeanderingMammal

So this years plan has gone a bit awry. I'd intent was a trail half in May, another in July, either half or marathon in August and marathon in October. Early in the year I picked up a chest infection that hammered my training, so slightly disappointing outcomes at a 10K and HM in May. I've got another HM in two weeks and thinking HMs in August and October are more achievable at the moment.

My October time was 2:27, albeit for 14 miles, so at the moment 5 hours plus for the marathon on similar, by which I mean hilly, terrain.

The races sell out early, generally only 200-400 in each event, so I'm wanting to book the first ones shortly to avoid missing out.

I suppose I'm wanting to sanity check my thoughts at the moment.

Late March - Larmer Tree - Options are HM, 20M or Marathon - Thinking Marathon, which would be my first one. This year it was wet and cool.
Early May - The Ox Races - Options are Saturday daylight 10K, dark 10K, Sunday HM, Marathon and 60K. Thinking dark 10K and HM. I did this HM earlier in the year.
End Jun - The Giants Head - Options are 10K and Marathon. Thinking Marathon
Mid July - The Dorset Invader - Options are HM and Marathon on Saturday and thinking HM. Risky as it's only 3 weeks after the GHM so I'm thinking HM is more realistic. I'm doing this HM in two weeks time.
Mid August - Bad Cow Weekend - Options are a Saturday Marathon, Saturday 10K, Sunday Marathon and Sunday HM. Thinking about at least the HM, possibly the 10K as well
Early October - Clarendon - Options are HM and Marathon. Undecided but I'll have done the HM twice so the Marathon would be nice.

I'm keen to do something at all of those. They're all pretty brutal, to put it in perspective the GHM Winner last weekend was 3hrs 41m.

Anyway, a bit of a ramble, but thoughts would be much appreciated.

lporter229

So you have not yet done a full marathon? I would be really hesitant to schedule an additional marathon until you recover from your first. I know some people run a lot of marathons, but you may really be in for a surprise on the recovery period. I know for me, I would not schedule marathons within 6 months of each other unless I was just planning to take one really lightly. I pushed pretty hard on my January marathon and recovery was a b*tch. I was planning to do another in May, but I decided against it. I am waiting until October. That's just me, but until you know how you recover, you might just want to wait. For the record, recovery from a HM is not a problem for me, but the full is a totally different beast.

MeanderingMammal

I'm torn between the Larmer and the GHM as my first marathon. I marshalled at the GHM, at the 21 mile Lovestation, and it has a short field of 400. But March is generally a bit cooler and wetter than June in Dorset, which probably makes the Larmer Tree a more sensible event for the first marathon.

Equally the Larmer is more technical than the GHM.