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Help me with a running base - advancing mileage question!!

emmaleigh47
emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
edited January 28 in Fitness and Exercise
I am no stranger to distance running -- I have run 17 half marathons and 2 marathons in the last 2.5 years. My last long run was April 20th and another 7 miles on April 27th. After that I injured my foot (and my back later) which required me to take 2 months off of running. I did not sit on my butt, instead I did CrossFit 3-4 times per week and some light running in CrossFit (400m etc).

I am back to running, gonna do 5 miles tonight. I am hoping to still be able to run a full marathon on Sept 22nd ...
I wrote a training plan, but in order to get any serious mileage in, I would have jump pretty quickly back up to 13 miles by July 20th.

I am seeing varying things about my loss of base -- did I really lose all of my base? Will my body just remember it when I start doing it. Remember I didnt sit around ... is this reasonable? After that its a steady escalation of 13 miles, 2 weeks later 16 miles, 2 weeks later 19 miles, 2 weeks later 20 miles, and then 2 weeks the marathon.

Any advice? Or opinions?

Replies

  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
    What you really needed to be concerned about is your body's ability to adapted to the ramp up of mileage, not the aerobic capacity that you may have lost. You will have lost some of the strength and conditioning required in your muscles and connective tissues.

    Your plan seems to be too aggressive, in my opinion. That's a quick escalation from 5 to 20. Depending upon how long you had been running before, it might be possible. Just throwing out numbers here, but I'd say if you have 3+ years of 2000+ miles, then you might be okay. Less than that and I think you need to back off on the plan. Either pick a later marathon or drop down to the half.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    If my memory serves me, I believe you (like many of us) have struggled with injuries while running. I think you need to be really, really careful about ramping up too fast.

    I'm with Carson on this one, either run the half or give your self more time to get in marathon shape.

    Happy running!
  • cbeutler
    cbeutler Posts: 667 Member
    I don't think you really need to build that quickly. I I've only run more than 13 twice and that was for my fulls. I have run Sat Sun back to back halfs. I'm just not convinced you need to build to 22 miles pre marathon..
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
    I don't think you really need to build that quickly. I I've only run more than 13 twice and that was for my fulls. I have run Sat Sun back to back halfs. I'm just not convinced you need to build to 22 miles pre marathon..

    Depends on if your goal is to survive or to perform.
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
    I guess I will have to judge this as I go. I can drop down to the half if I need to at the last minute, but I just love this full course so much that it would make me very sad (because I dislike the half course).

    I think I will have my answer by the next two weeks. I have a 10 miler on July 13th... if that feels like I want to die then I think its a safe bet this is a bad idea.

    I dont want to compete ... I want to do a bit more than survive ... I would like to beat by time from last year by 5 minutes... but maybe this is not possible.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    I don't think you really need to build that quickly. I I've only run more than 13 twice and that was for my fulls. I have run Sat Sun back to back halfs. I'm just not convinced you need to build to 22 miles pre marathon..

    Depends on if your goal is to survive or to perform.

    Not running long sounds like the perfect recipe for a death march from mile 17 to finish = not my kind of marathon.
  • DavidMartinez2
    DavidMartinez2 Posts: 840 Member
    During my last deployment I was not able to get many long runs in and really nothing in double digits. I was able to get marathon ready in 2 months with my longest run only being 16 miles. I did not go in with any lofty time goals and was able to finish pretty well (mostly because I was so afraid of blowing up I kept my pace very slow the first 18 miles).

    So it comes down to Carson's question: do you want to complete the marathon or meet some time goal?
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
    Glad you are getting back to distance running but take your time with your recovery. Coming back too aggressively just leads to re-injury. If you must build your mileage, do it on the long runs and give yourself an extra recovery day afterwards using Active Recovery. The risk you run is reinjuring and missing your event all together.

    Good Luck!
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
    Wow this kills me guys ... I think I might need to drop back to the half ... I was going to finish deciding in 2 weeks. I went out there tonight for speedwork and I am dead (ok in the interest of full disclosure I did 60 burpees and 70 wall balls and 30 clean and jerks before coming out to speedwork). But I had foot pain about 1 mile in ... maybe the body is trying to tell me something.

    :) I am a stubborn girl ... but I listen eventually!
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
    You should not be doing any speed work at all right now. Aerobic running only. You are just asking to get injured.
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
    Thanks Carson -- my speed work is your walking I think!
    I did a mile prior and was supposed to be doing speedwork but I just did 200m runs at a reasonable pace walked 200m and repeated x 4 times around the track. Then did a 200m cooldown run.
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