How demanding is marathon training??

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  • Dragonfly1996
    Dragonfly1996 Posts: 196 Member
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    I ran my first marathon this April & will be doing my second next April. I only found it got in the way of normal life when my mileage for my long runs increased to 16mi +. I am not a fast runner & developed a knee injury so it took me longer. Those really high mileage runs took me around 3-5 hrs, which is a fair chunk out of a Sunday. I also work full time. I did 2 other runs in the week intervals/ hills & a 3miler plus crosstrained with a spinning class & weight based class. I have one or two days off.

    I started training in January & committed myself to the time involved in training & soon get into a routine. I still managed to clean my house etc & cook tea most nights. Hubby did his normal house jobs. I have no cleaner.

    For next years marathon I am starting training this month so I can build my miles up more gradually to try & avoid my ITB knee issues. I will also be doing more leg / glutes strength exercises either at the gym or at home in addition to the above training. Also my first mara wasn't a brilliant time, I just wanted to finish due to my knee. Next time I want to get a much better time so I will be pushing myself more that may require a bit more time & mental strength!!!!

    It is possible but dont rush into a marathon if you are only on C25K now. Build up your running gradually & you will find it easier to fit into your lifestyle & also get used to the mental & physical side of long distance running. I did feel tired but actually not much more than I do on a normal day & Sunday afternoons were usually doing fairly chilled out things. I really didn't find that an issue. However, the mental side I did find a bit more tiring as all I thought about for 4 months was running a marathon!!!! You really do need to be mentally prepared for a marathon equally as much as physically. 26.2mi is a LONG way!!!! Would suggest doing a few smaller races first - 5k, 10k & half mara to see how you get on.

    Good luck though & don't ever let anyone put you off, it is possible - you just have to plan right & really want it!!!:flowerforyou:
  • atsteele
    atsteele Posts: 1,359 Member
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    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.

    Agreed. And even a miserable training experience unless she is careful.

    OP: Take the advice of these seasoned veterans. Go for your dream but take it one step at a time! A marathon is a pretty grueling race distance. Maybe a better approach would be training for and racing a 5k, 10k, 15k, half marathon and THEN a marathon. Good luck!!
  • timboom1
    timboom1 Posts: 762 Member
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    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 agree, once someone is at the point where they are incorporating speedwork, tempo runs ect... then it is important to organize training so each workout achieves its purpose. Runs that compromise subsequent workouts are junk (or in my opinion stupid miles.) I would caveat that with the idea that if you are working in speedwork to the degree that it really matters, you have the aerobic base for the distance you plan to run and are now just optimizing performance.

    All that said, junk miles is something that the OP should not worry about if they are currently doing C25K, all of the miles should be easy endurance building miles, especially if the long term goal is a marathon.
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    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.

    So, you are defining "junk miles" as miles that you run outside of your prescribed training plan. I'm not sure that your definition is the same as what you would find in the book you reference. I've not read it, but to my knowledge, that program has you ONLY doing quality workouts (tempo, interval, etc) and discourages any running at aerobic pace believing that you can get that benefit from other forms of exercise like biking (please correct me if I'm wrong).

    As for compromising quality workouts, as Tim says, that's more "stupid miles" than "junk miles". If I run every day and on days when I don't have a quality workout schedule and I go out and run 8 miles at 7:00 pace, those are "stupid mile". If I go out and run those same 8 miles at an easy, relaxed 9:30 pace, then it's building aerobic base and not going to compromise the next day's workout. Of course, this is going to be different for everyone depending upon their level of fitness.

    My interpretation of you comments initially, based on your book recommendation, was that anything run at aerobic pace and not a quality workout, is "junk". If that's not the case, then mea culpa. If it is, then I strongly, adamantly and ardently, disagree. :smile:
  • Culley34
    Culley34 Posts: 224
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    As someone running my first full marathon in a few days, I can tell you that it's demanding, but it's not overly brutal. You do need to have some type of established fitness base before you begin, since your first long run at the end of week 1 will be around 7-9 miles.

    In terms of demands... it's long, depending on which plan you use. I mean, you're talking 16-20 weeks of training to run one race. That's a long time to train. To be honest - after I got through the first four weeks, the running has gotten easier and enjoyable - and it now has a meditative quality with me. Given that you're building yourself up for endurance (versus focusing on speed) -- you don't have to kill yourself on the runs, but as you start shooting for time goals -- you'll start working these types of workouts in.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    Junk Miles.

    If you build up your aerobic capacity to the level needed for a good marathon then you can complete quality workouts AND do aerobic support runs (some at a strong pace and others at a recovery pace).

    If someone is doing quality workouts and need more than 24 hours to recover then either they are doing them wrong (too fast or too far) or their aerobic capacity is insufficient to support the training.

    Quality workouts done wrong are just as much junk miles as aerobic support runs done wrong.
  • lorierin22
    lorierin22 Posts: 432 Member
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    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!!
  • timboom1
    timboom1 Posts: 762 Member
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    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!!

    Base building miles...opposite of junk.
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member
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    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!!

    Base building miles...opposite of junk.
    Precisely

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