Marathon training :(

tiny_clanger

Having had a really positive start to marathon training, I'm now having a nightmare!

So my marathon is on April 9, first go at this distance. I'm following Galloway run/walk

I found it easy to get up to the half distance, did my first half last August, then ran that distance pretty regularly since then. However, since Christmas, I've had issue after issue and I'm worried I'm falling behind.

I got up to 27K long runs at the beginning of December, then fell out of the door taking the bins out and sprained my ankle. Stupidly, rather than resting, I did a 10K on it the next day (the usual story, paid for the race, didn't want to miss it). Cracking 10K, new PB but I obviously did something to the ankle because after that running any further than 8-10K was a struggle. Took a few days off over Xmas as the ankle was getting worse and I was struggling to go over 5K on it. Just as the ankle was feeling better, I came down with a chesty cough and managed 10K, then had to have another 4 days off to recover from coughing.

Now I'm back to 18k, but set off on my weekly long run (20K) yesterday, fell at 4k and have skinned my knees, so going to need a day or so off to recover. Luckily it doesn't feel like I've done anything muscular, but I've got a nasty case of road rash on both knees and, judging by the colour and swelling, narrowly escaped a broken elbow. I'm hoping to parkrun tomorrow, but at the moment, my knees are so sore I can barely bend them, so not sure parkrun will be realistic.

Help!! I feel like I should be running much closer to 25-30k by now. Am I well behind in my training, or is this just first marathon nerves? Shall I just keep plodding on with weekly long runs until taper?

Any reassurance would be great, the stress is really kicking in now!!! I can't believe how hard I've found it going beyond the half distance!

workout_junkee

You have plenty of time with your base. Take time off to heal. You don't want to have to drop out because you did not listen to your body. I would cross train for a week and try again. If it still hurts give it more time.

_nikkiwolf_

I ran my first marathon a few month ago, so I understand your nervousness completely!
Still, if you were running 27km in December and your last long run was 18km, I think you should be perfectly fine for a marathon on April 9.

What kind of training plan are you following? The long run isn't everything, of course, your other weekly runs also play an important role.
But just looking at the distance of the weekly long run you asked about:

Let's say you increase your long run distance by 2km each week, and every fourth week you schedule an easy week to rest&recover.
If you wanted to do your 20km run yesterday, Thursday is your typical long run day?
In that case, you could to something like next Thursday 20km (assuming you are recovered from your fall by then). The four Thursdays in February you'd do : 22km, 18, 24, 26, and in March: 28km, 24, 30, 32km (on March 23). That would get you up to 32km/20mi, which is the longest distance most training plans for a first marathon include, and still give you 2.5 weeks of tapering after that.

deannalfisher

you have plenty of time - I know it doesn't seem like it, but 10-11 weeks is enough for solid training assuming you rest and recover correctly

tiny_clanger

Thanks! Nikki, that sounds so doable when you put it like that! I've been following Jeff Galloway, but his plan takes you to 30 miles increasing the long run by 5K every 2 weeks, and I'm too behind now with injuries to get to that. If I switch to long runs once a week, with my usual runs in between, that feels very doable. It would be nice to get to 23 miles, before taper, but I can live with it if I don't.

Just so annoyed about the knees. And it's one of those stupid injuries that hurts far more than it *should* do.

BeeerRunner

What mileage does your training plan say your long runs should be? If you've run that distance or are close to that distance, you should be fine.

I skinned my knees horribly doing a superman fall last summer. It happened on a Wednesday, I didn't run Thursday, ran Friday (slow with short mileage) and I was fine. Did my normal runs over the weekend.

dn0pes

I understand the fear. I signed up for the LA Marathon in March. Ran a half in Pasadena Sunday. My next long run on Monday is scheduled to be 19 miles. Getting the mileage, but the training and the time required for a full marathon is daunting to say the least. Good luck.

tiny_clanger

Well, it's been a week and I still don't have fully working knees - the skin is really tight and scabbed, so not really bending properly. I've managed a very slow 5K run (it was icy as well) and a faster 10K bike ride, so going for a longer run at the weekend and see how I get on. Then back to it next week. Shouldn't have lost too much general fitness I don't think, it's just been thing after thing since end of December.

Katy_V

Try not to worry TC, life happens to us all! I have an April 9 marathon coming up too, and I was only doing half-marathon distances before coming down with pneumonia in December. It was mild, thankfully, but I was pretty wiped out so have only been back out running again this month. Maybe have a look at some other plans, but 18K at this stage building up to 32K sounds pretty good to me - plenty of people (me included) never run over 20 miles training for a first marathon.