Race decision help

rybo

I’m in the process of training for a marathon and plan to run a couple “tune up” races. I’m not sure which to choose for this situation.

There is a 5 & 10 mile race on the same day.
Should I
Run the 10 mile race instead of my 12 mile training run for that weekend?

OR

Run the 5 mile race AND do the 12 mile training run on back to back days?

The 10 mile run I could use to see what pace I can carry for longer distances, but I have an 18 mile race later to do that.
Hal Higdon’s intermediate program has harder runs the day before all long run days so that doesn’t seem like an issue.

Any thoughts?

515amrunner

I would do the 10 mile race in place of your scheduled 12 mile run. I did something similar during marathon training. Replaced a 14 mile run with 10 mile race. It worked out well. I wouldn't race 5 miles and then do 12 miles the next day. That is too much (depending on your running level or course) and would risk injury. Plus doing a 10 mile race early in training is a good way to determine your longer distance pace and can help you with choosing an appropriate training pace.

cheangela

I will oftentimes replace a 15 mile long run with a half marathon... which is pretty much the same thing as subbing a 12 mile easy long with a 10 mile race. Just use mcmillan running calculator to come up with a good race pace to maintain. Later in the day, take a 2 mile walk and take the time to stretch really really well.

misssuperstitious

bump for later, I'm trying to do the same thing!

backinthenines

Run the 10 mile race instead of my 12 mile training run for that weekend?

OR

Run the 5 mile race AND do the 12 mile training run on back to back days?

If those are the only choices I'd pick no. 1.

Generally I'd pick a couple of 10ks early on in the schedule, a Half Mara about half way through and a 20 miler about a month before race day, giving you time for another longer training run after that and still plenty of time to taper.

rybo

Thanks for the advice so far.

I've pretty much been running somewhat serious for the past 2 years, and I am really excited how well training is going so far.
My original idea was to just swap the 10 for the 12 as that weekend is actually a "short" long run. But then I got to thinking about the 2nd option.

The big race that I think will tell me a lot is an 18.6 miler (30K) that will be 6-7 weeks before the marathon.