How demanding is marathon training??

I found it very demanding, physically and mentally. I trained once for completion, and once for time. I did a pretty "simple" training plan, but by the time the long run mileage got up there, that was pretty much my whole day. Get up, eat right, wait a bit, run for a few hours, get home, cool down, shower, rest. My energy was pretty much gone the rest of that day, and I would have soreness for the following two.

I slept my best then, though!

And it's not all bad, I am starting to train for my 3rd!

Why not start with a half and go from there? You get "half" the idea for the amount of time it will take and the toll it will take on your body.

I just completed my first half 2 weeks ago, and I am running another half in 2 weeks. Already contemplating the full...

Oh my my my my my...

Well, this seems like a good a time as any to start bursting bubbles. If you think, for one minute, that running a full marathon is the equivalent of running two half marathons, back to back? Oh Dear God In Heaven are you in for some serious hurting. There is simply no comparing the two distances. Running a half marathon is fun and exciting and joyful and a big happy party. Running a marathon is fun the first half, then the second half is like having people kick and hit you as you pass them by. It's gritty and painful and stabbing and throbbing and lonely - oh so lonely - and emotional. It's everything a half marathon IS NOT. A marathon is all about the guts to keep going when all you want to do is quit and go home. It's about feeling uncomfortable, hot, cold, chaffed, exhausted, and defeated for hours on end, and STILL going forward through all of that. Marathoning is about reaching a state of pain and exhaustion and not stopping anyway. It's a dark beauty. And as harsh as this paragraph sounds, it is beautiful. But if you don't - or can't - appreciate the intensity of the physical and/or emotional toll it will take, then you're in serious trouble from your first training day.

Having said all that I have run 22 miles and it won't be the training that gets me across that line in 5 weeks time. Training only brings you so far. Everything above in that elegant paragraph is true but I'm getting a bit tired of people being told what they CAN'T do. That they don't understand.

If you have the will to do it you can get up tomorrow and do a marathon. You won't win, you might not break 6 hours, you will probably seriously injury yourself and hurt really bad but you can do it.

People who have run marathons sometimes give the impression that you need an elitest skill and mental toughness that ordinary people don't have. Guess what ordinary people are tough as nails, you have no idea what they are capable of. My advice, do it in stages and take your time, build up your distance but don't let anyone put you off your goals.

This thread is a head shaker.

While yes it is possible to do & all that rah rah rah go get em stuff, the reality is thinking about running a marathon when you haven't even completed C25K, is like a kid who just had his training wheels removed from his bike, wanting to do the tour de france.
Be patient. There are a LOT of distances between 5K & marathon that you should look to first.

This thread is a head shaker.

While yes it is possible to do & all that rah rah rah go get em stuff, the reality is thinking about running a marathon when you haven't even completed C25K, is like a kid who just had his training wheels removed from his bike, wanting to do the tour de france.
Be patient. There are a LOT of distances between 5K & marathon that you should look to first.

But isn't that the point of an online discussion about what it might take? Would you then tell the training wheel kid he should stop dreaming about the Tour simply because it's beyond his current reach? Or would you tell him to keep at it, anything is possible if you keep dreaming and keep training? And she's not talking about Boston, which could be considered equivalent, she's talking about finishing a generic marathon "strong"... which is entirely subjective and could include a 6 hour plus time.

She's aware that it's not in her immediate future, but is exploring the long term. Personally, I've got my long distance races and training planned out for well over a year - it keeps me motivated and helps me keep things varied and puts all my runs in perspective. I see no reason why she couldn't plan to do a marathon in a year.

This thread is a head shaker.

While yes it is possible to do & all that rah rah rah go get em stuff, the reality is thinking about running a marathon when you haven't even completed C25K, is like a kid who just had his training wheels removed from his bike, wanting to do the tour de france.
Be patient. There are a LOT of distances between 5K & marathon that you should look to first.

But isn't that the point of an online discussion about what it might take? Would you then tell the training wheel kid he should stop dreaming about the Tour simply because it's beyond his current reach? Or would you tell him to keep at it, anything is possible if you keep dreaming and keep training? And she's not talking about Boston, which could be considered equivalent, she's talking about finishing a generic marathon "strong"... which is entirely subjective and could include a 6 hour plus time.

She's aware that it's not in her immediate future, but is exploring the long term. Personally, I've got my long distance races and training planned out for well over a year - it keeps me motivated and helps me keep things varied and puts all my runs in perspective. I see no reason why she couldn't plan to do a marathon in a year.

This thread is a head shaker.

While yes it is possible to do & all that rah rah rah go get em stuff, the reality is thinking about running a marathon when you haven't even completed C25K, is like a kid who just had his training wheels removed from his bike, wanting to do the tour de france.
Be patient. There are a LOT of distances between 5K & marathon that you should look to first.

But isn't that the point of an online discussion about what it might take? Would you then tell the training wheel kid he should stop dreaming about the Tour simply because it's beyond his current reach? Or would you tell him to keep at it, anything is possible if you keep dreaming and keep training? And she's not talking about Boston, which could be considered equivalent, she's talking about finishing a generic marathon "strong"... which is entirely subjective and could include a 6 hour plus time.

She's aware that it's not in her immediate future, but is exploring the long term. Personally, I've got my long distance races and training planned out for well over a year - it keeps me motivated and helps me keep things varied and puts all my runs in perspective. I see no reason why she couldn't plan to do a marathon in a year.

I'm not going to tell anyone to stop dreaming. But I would tell them it may take a bit longer to realize those dreams than they expect. She claimed she could start marathon training in 2 months, in running terms, I consider that pretty immediate future. And unless her training plan is 1.5 years long, it is my opinion, she runs a HUGE, and very likely risk of having a miserable marathon experience, if she is even able to get to the start of the race because she ramped up training faster than she should have.

Running a marathon is TOTALLY doable and yes can be time intensive, but it really depends on your goals. Check out the book Run Less Run Faster. It involves 3 days a week of running and cuts out all the "junk" miles. Make each run purposful.

There is no such thing as "junk miles". Those miles that are commonly classified as such are to build aerobic base, which is what is required to run pretty much any race from 800m on up. Every run is purposeful, regardless of the pace.

I disagree if you don't have a purpose, it is junk. Not saying that an easy run or a recovery run is junk...those have a purpose. But if you are going out to run just to say you ran and compromising your purposful or key workouts, they are junk miles.

I suppose then, that all of my running miles are junk miles. I am not currently training for anything...I'll begin training for a half in december, but until then I am just running to be running. I run 2-3 short runs during the week (2-3 miles) and a longer run on the weekends (up to 8 miles currently) and this is just to say that I ran. However, those junk miles did help me trim 4 minutes off my previous 5K record recently and almost 9 minutes off my best 10K time. I do no speedwork, no tempo runs, no hill training, just "junk" miles. And I LOVE it!!