What to do after full marathon?
PrairieRunner2015
Posts: 126 Member
I have been thinking about what direction I want to head after I complete my first full marathon on the 12th. I believe I have built up a good base over the last year (I started at a 8 miles per week and peaked at a 60 mile week for the full.) but I have lost a little speed and some upper body strength while doing so. I would like to continue running and improving upon my speed and strength while maintaining a decent base which I have worked very hard to build, as well as to start loosing some weight again. I don't think I want to move on to Ultras, as the training for the full was very time consuming and on the upper end of what I can commit to in regards to time. With that being said, I'd appreciate any advice guidance as well as any good books which would help me moving forward.
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I am contemplating the same thing as I head towards my own 1st mara on 26th.
Like you, I don't have the desire to continue with the high number of training hours required for marathon improvement and so I am musing over a couple of things that might interest you too:
1) I have a number of friends who enjoy casual marathon competition and don't do anywhere near the volumes in a traditional plan, running 3 or 4 days an peaking at a 15 mile long run (albeit at a fast speed). I might look at doing that and see how I perform on a second mara.
2) I really enjoy half mara distance. It's far enough to be worth the effort of travelling to a race. It feels like an achievement. The training is much easier to accommodate when you have a high work schedule and demanding family life. I might look to set myself some half-mara challenges; maybe one every couple months, maybe a PB goal etc.
3) I like the sound of adventure style races where you do some trail running, mountain biking and kayaking. I've just taken some kayak training so I start out right and I think this could be fun and challenging, especially those races that have an orienteering element.0 -
If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.0
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Listen to Carson. He's the man!0
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If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.
Do you usually cut out days of running of length of run when you do this kind of off season? or both? obviously the long run gets cut down quite a bit, but how much "base" long run do you keep?0 -
If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.
Do you usually cut out days of running of length of run when you do this kind of off season? or both? obviously the long run gets cut down quite a bit, but how much "base" long run do you keep?
I've been wondering the same thing...0 -
When I get done marathoning, I'll be focusing on triathlon events. I like the variation and the upper body strength I was getting from swimming (even though I apparently suck at swimming!). I have a marathon in few weeks, and my plan once that is done is to do what Carson mentioned; lower my weekly mileage to 30 to 40 a week and do some strength and swimming work over the winter.0
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After a full marathon I take a week off from training plan/tracking food. I still run but I just do what I feel like. After that I start getting ready for the next race.0
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If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.
Do you usually cut out days of running of length of run when you do this kind of off season? or both? obviously the long run gets cut down quite a bit, but how much "base" long run do you keep?
Still keep it at 6 days. During marathon cycle, I'm usually doing 12 to 16 days consecutively with some doubles thrown in for good measure.
10 to 16 miles. Most typically around 12 to 14.0 -
If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.
Do you usually cut out days of running of length of run when you do this kind of off season? or both? obviously the long run gets cut down quite a bit, but how much "base" long run do you keep?
When I was between plans for my "off season" I cut my base down to 120 miles a month and capped my long run at 10. Ran 5 days and did 2 days of cross training.0 -
If you drop your base into the 40 to 50 mile per week range, you'll still improve your running fitness and it should give you time to pick up heavy things and put them down.
Thank you for the response, as well as everyone else. I think this would probably be very doable for me. Once I got to where I was running upper 40's per week, I just felt too tired to continue picking heavy things up and putting them back down.
Should I consider doing speed work during this period as well?
I, too, am not a strong swimmer. I'm not so bad as to where I'd worry about drowning, but it's not something I have ever been enamored with. Perhaps I could look as this as a way to set a couple of new goals to meet and use for cross training days.
I appreciate the feedback from everyone.0 -
I'm thinking next year of concentrating on running a fast 5 & 10k, and a few trail half marathons. I want to to the first & really enjoy the second and hopefully the training won't be as intense as it is for the marathon. But i'm very new, so don't pay too much attention to me
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Should I consider doing speed work during this period as well?
I believe, and many very good coaches agree with me :laugh: , that you only need two speed related elements during base phase. A weekly tempo run (not the whole run, but 20 to 40 minutes of a mid length run, like a 7 or 8 miler) and a set of strides once per week, something like 6 to 10 repeats of 100 meters or 20 seconds.
Those two elements will help you to continue to build your Aerobic Threshold and to work on your form, efficiency and leg speed.0
