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Considering 1st Marathon – need advice

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Question:

Tom – You should have no problem running the USMC in October, BUT you need to register ASAP. Check out www.marinemarathon.com … The first two Internet sign-ups are over…the only way to get in now is via lottery. This is an extremely popular race… There are a couple of great things about the USMC: – The crowd is fantastic..huge and very supportive. – The Marines are VERY organized. The race is run extremely well. – The course is mostly flat…14th street bridge and Iwo Jima are killer…course redesign this year may add some more elevation, but really boring parts are being eliminated (Haines Point) Start training in earnest in June….Lots of great resources for marathon training programs on the Web. You can easily run a marathon running only 2-3 times a week. Try and do some upper body work at least two days a week…you’ll need the upper body strength, too. ALSO, make sure that you do a LONG run once a week. Try and build up to a 18-20 mile run 4 weeks before the race…then taper, taper, taper. Listen to your body. If you live in the D.C. area, run the Army Ten-Miler on 10/14 (www.armytenmiler.com)…Much of the course is the same and it’s a great taper race. The Army does a pretty good job of organizing, too, and they always have great t-shirts. Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m thinking about running the Marine Corps marathon this October and wanted to get some thoughts on what the best training program would be to follow. First some background info. I ran the Disney half marathon in January and finished without much trouble in 2:50. Yes I know this slow but I had only run a few 8 mile runs before that and I’m about 40 lbs over weight (6′3", 250lbs). Currently I’m running 2-3 times a week about 3-5 miles each run at about a 11:30 pace. Also I travel a great deal and Monday’s and Thursday’s are nearly impossible to run on. So any suggestions for training? Is doing this marathon even possible? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Tom

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Response:

Thank you all for the encouragement. I was able to get my wife and I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon. Now I have to actually do the training. After reading several websites with differing training programs and comparing them to my travel schedule, here is what I came up with. Sunday – Long run starting at 5 miles this Sunday and increasing 1 mile per week with every third week scaling back by a third of the distance. This would give me several runs of 15+ miles and a 20 mile run 4 weeks before the race. Monday – Rest or some weight lifting Tuesday – easy 3-5 miles Wednesday – 50% of long run mileage with an increased pace Thursday – Rest Friday – easy run 3-5 miles Saturday – easy run 3 miles or x-train ( i.e. push a lawn mower) Any feedback or suggestions with this schedule? I know that I’m 27 weeks out from the marathon but since I’m 40 lbs overweight and running 5 miles at about a 11 1/2 minute pace, I thought that I should start training NOW. Thanks, Tom

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Tom – You should have no problem running the USMC in October, BUT you need to register ASAP. Check out www.marinemarathon.com … The first two Internet sign-ups are over…the only way to get in now is via lottery. This is an extremely popular race… There are a couple of great things about the USMC: – The crowd is fantastic..huge and very supportive. – The Marines are VERY organized. The race is run extremely well. – The course is mostly flat…14th street bridge and Iwo Jima are killer…course redesign this year may add some more elevation, but really boring parts are being eliminated (Haines Point) Start training in earnest in June….Lots of great resources for marathon training programs on the Web. You can easily run a marathon running only 2-3 times a week. Try and do some upper body work at least two days a week…you’ll need the upper body strength, too. ALSO, make sure that you do a LONG run once a week. Try and build up to a 18-20 mile run 4 weeks before the race…then taper, taper, taper. Listen to your body. If you live in the D.C. area, run the Army Ten-Miler on 10/14 (www.armytenmiler.com)…Much of the course is the same and it’s a great taper race. The Army does a pretty good job of organizing, too, and they always have great t-shirts. Dennis I’m thinking about running the Marine Corps marathon this October and wanted to get some thoughts on what the best training program would be to follow. First some background info. I ran the Disney half marathon in January and finished without much trouble in 2:50. Yes I know this slow but I had only run a few 8 mile runs before that and I’m about 40 lbs over weight (6′3", 250lbs). Currently I’m running 2-3 times a week about 3-5 miles each run at about a 11:30 pace. Also I travel a great deal and Monday’s and Thursday’s are nearly impossible to run on. So any suggestions for training? Is doing this marathon even possible? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Tom

Response:

It looks like this schedule (at bottom in quoted message) has only two non-recovery type, or "training" runs per week: The LSD run on Sunday, and the half-that-distance run (at MP=marathon pace?) on Wednesday. It is short on medium distance runs, and has no specific pace or repetition work. (Maybe for your first marathon, the pace work could be left out though.) With the schedule you gave, once your long run in is the 15 mile range, a week would look something like this (Sunday last): 0-4-8-0-4-3-15 (lots of 3-5 milers). I’ve found that in the last month before taper, I get a lot of benefit and confidence from running more medium long (7-9 mile) runs: 0-7-9-6-7-0-15 Or if I’m tired that week: 0-7-4-8-6-0-15 The 7-9 milers just feel useful to me somehow. I also like how it feels that they don’t seem so long anymore (compared to normal non-marathon training when my usual run is 4-6, and 7-9 seems quite a step up). I also think they deter you from dichotomizing your runs into L-O-N-G (hard, slow, tiring, boring, get-up-for-it, exhilarating, special effort) and NOT LONG (fast, nice, normal, whatever). The other thing is that once the long runs get above 15 miles, some people switch to doing them every second weekend. The alternate weekends would be a shorter (but longer than half LSD distance) MP run, so: 0-7-5-8-6-0-15 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-11 MP 0-7-5-8-6-0-16 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-12 MP 0-7-5-8-6-0-17 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-12 MP 0-7-5-8-6-0-18 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-12 MP 0-7-5-8-6-0-19 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-12 MP 0-7-5-8-6-0-20 LSD 0-7-9-3-8-0-12 MP Again, this de-emphasizes the LSD slog a bit (they are still very important) and encourages more longish MP running. I find that MP 12 ~= LSD 18 in effort and recovery. Just some thoughts… (Susan) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thank you all for the encouragement. I was able to get my wife and I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon. Now I have to actually do the training. After reading several websites with differing training programs and comparing them to my travel schedule, here is what I came up with. Sunday – Long run starting at 5 miles this Sunday and increasing 1 mile per week with every third week scaling back by a third of the distance. This would give me several runs of 15+ miles and a 20 mile run 4 weeks before the race. Monday – Rest or some weight lifting Tuesday – easy 3-5 miles Wednesday – 50% of long run mileage with an increased pace Thursday – Rest Friday – easy run 3-5 miles Saturday – easy run 3 miles or x-train ( i.e. push a lawn mower) Any feedback or suggestions with this schedule? I know that I’m 27 weeks out from the marathon but since I’m 40 lbs overweight and running 5 miles at about a 11 1/2 minute pace, I thought that I should start training NOW.

Response:

Hi Tom, Maybe you should take a look at the following website: http://www.fit4u.com The site is provided by a Dutch company but you can also run the program in English. You can choose a distance you would like to run and you’ll have to fill in a goal. You’ll have to fill in some background information as well, concerning weight,age,etc. After that the computer comes up with a personalized training program for you,and you’ll be on your way. I used the program and after using it I was able to run the 10K within 45 minutes. The interactive sportscoach was very useful for me. I hope it works for you too. Regards, Olivier —– Posted via NewsOne.Net: Free (anonymous) Usenet News via the Web —– http://newsone.net/ — Free reading and anonymous posting to 60,000+ groups NewsOne.Net prohibits users from posting spam. If this or other posts

Response:

Tommy: I ran the MCM last year (my first marathon) and had the time of my life. What I would strongly recommend is to buy a book or two specifically on the marathon. (I bought three). These cover everything from training schedules (of course), to diet, weather, taper, race day stuff, you name it. Most cost around $15 to $18 so it’s a pretty minimal investment considering your effort. By now, (mid April) you need to concentrate on getting our weekly base mileage up to around 30 mpw by June 15. Most marathon programs last 16 weeks but going in you need to have a comfortable base or 30 mpw. Really, this is only 12 weeks of hard rinning since the last 4 weeks are "taper". If you want more info like books I got or MCM info let me know. I’ll be out of town however for a week and won’t be able to respond if you want something, so be patient, I’ll check my mail next weekend. Doug Burke Age 48 3:54:38 MCM. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m thinking about running the Marine Corps marathon this October and wanted to get some thoughts on what the best training program would be to follow. First some background info. I ran the Disney half marathon in January and finished without much trouble in 2:50. Yes I know this slow but I had only run a few 8 mile runs before that and I’m about 40 lbs over weight (6′3", 250lbs). Currently I’m running 2-3 times a week about 3-5 miles each run at about a 11:30 pace. Also I travel a great deal and Monday’s and Thursday’s are nearly impossible to run on. So any suggestions for training? Is doing this marathon even possible? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Tom

Response:

First, you might want to register as soon as possible. MCM fills up quickly. Sure it is possible. I often start beginners on a 5 day a week program. The key is the long run. I have 2 programs, one is a Galloway based programs with alternating long and short runs on the long run day (Even weeks there is a long run; odd weeks there is a shorter run) once the long run gets to about 12 miles. The second program is more periodized with 3 weeks of ever increasing long runs and then a week with a short (relatively speaking) run. Once the athlete gets a good aerobic base, I add some forms of speed work (tempo runs, fartlek, hills and mile repeats) in the weeks to follow. Your week might look something like this: Sunday Long run Monday Off (you are traveling anyway) Tuesday Easy run Wednesday Speed session (easy run during base building) Thursday Off Friday Easy run Sat Easy run Of course some people will move the long run around and some like to do something the day after a long run or a speed session (I feel better is I run before and the day after a speed session but I can train around work to some extent). There are numerous books on marathon training and websites (I am sure others will add to the list and it is not meant to be all-encompassing): Galloway’s Book on Running Hal Higdon (several books) and www.halhigdon.com www.runnersworld.com has several training programs (Higdon and Benji Durden) Pete Pfitzinger’s Road Racing for Serious Runners (maybe a little advanced) Running to the Top by Arthur Lydiard Good luck.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m thinking about running the Marine Corps marathon this October and wanted to get some thoughts on what the best training program would be to follow. First some background info. I ran the Disney half marathon in January and finished without much trouble in 2:50. Yes I know this slow but I had only run a few 8 mile runs before that and I’m about 40 lbs over weight (6′3", 250lbs). Currently I’m running 2-3 times a week about 3-5 miles each run at about a 11:30 pace. Also I travel a great deal and Monday’s and Thursday’s are nearly impossible to run on. So any suggestions for training? Is doing this marathon even possible? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Tom

Response:

I’m thinking about running the Marine Corps marathon this October and wanted to get some thoughts on what the best training program would be to follow. First some background info. I ran the Disney half marathon in January and finished without much trouble in 2:50. Yes I know this slow but I had only run a few 8 mile runs before that and I’m about 40 lbs over weight (6′3", 250lbs). Currently I’m running 2-3 times a week about 3-5 miles each run at about a 11:30 pace. Also I travel a great deal and Monday’s and Thursday’s are nearly impossible to run on. So any suggestions for training? Is doing this marathon even possible? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Tom

Response:

Your training should consist of trying to increase your mileage as much as possible and losing some weight. Who knows, you might be able to run a marathon right now. Whether they close the finish line before you get there is another story. Seriously though, that’s like 6-7 months away. You can do a lot in that amount of time if you are dedicated. You say you can’t run on Monday and Thursday, but why aren’t you out there the other 5 days? Most beginning runners will take at least 2 rest days anyway. -jeff

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