marathon training burnout?
s35keith
Posts: 122 Member
All you marathon vets I have a question. I'm getting ready for my first marathon. I am finishing up week 16 of a 20 week marathon training plan and I feel spent, tired, and sore. I just want to run the race at this point, is this normal, or do I need to back off a little. I only have one more long run then taper. Any advice is welcome thanks!
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First off, congrats on getting to Week 16 of 20! It is absolutely normal to feel mentally drained from all the hard work, time, and energy you've put into training thus far. I'm not sure what kind of training program you're doing, but I have found that sometimes easing up on my mileage to be a little less than the training programs' suggestions can be ok - especially if you put in the work up until now. Or, if you aren't totally sold on that, I sometimes break my mileage up into two parts of the day to get to my total mileage for the day. While it's not ideal, it sometimes give me the mental break I need to get out there and enjoy the run.0
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now, i'm no vet- i'm training for my 2nd full. but i say that if you've only got 1 long run left until taper then do it. if you need some time and to take a short run off, then do that too. but do the long run. i know it sucks, and it hurts. but you're so close to the end that it would be a shame to start playing around with your training now. at least then, in the full, you'll know you've done everything you could and trained as you should.
unless you're injured. that's different.
you're nearly at the end- this 1 last long run, and you're on the home stretch. you've got this.
FWIW, i'm in week 10 of a 16 week plan, and i understand exactly what you mean. it's hard- all of it. getting the time, the motivation, sorting it out around work- it's hard. but you only have to keep doing these last few weeks, then you can run your marathon and be all proud of yourself!0 -
Only 2 marathons, but yea by about that time the training is really weighing on me & I just want to be done.0
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Take a day off to recharge a bit, then start your taper and just concentrate on how good it is going to feel to finish the race!0
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Yep. Totally normal. Marathon training is hard, mentally and physically. This fatigue will be replaced with a case of being batsh1t crazy when taper time rolls around. Embrace it. :laugh:0
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Thanks for the reassurance that I am not losing my mind and that this is all normal. Pressing on!0
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Yep. Totally normal. Marathon training is hard, mentally and physically. This fatigue will be replaced with a case of being batsh1t crazy when taper time rolls around. Embrace it. :laugh:
LOL....totally agree! I say if you made it this far (only one long run left before taper) you're doing pretty darn good. I usually hit that point a couple weeks out from taper time.
Keep on keeping on....you're almost there!0
