To cut a long story short i want to raise some money for a local charity and could get a place in a marathon in 2 months time.

Is 2 months taking the mick in terms of being able to get ready? I haven’t done any running for 3 years and even then it would be 5k tops at a time.

Could you realistically get from no running to being able to jog 26 miles in 2 months. I have a good cycling fitness to the aerobic side is there just not running legs and the podge.

No

From no running at all ? it would be very hard

How old are you ?

Breathing is the main issue in my book.

If you are younger you should be able to pack some longish runs on consequtive days which will help get your breathing going. If you are older you have recovery time against you.

Then just slightly lean forward and let the weight of your head help propell you round the 26 miles…

Getting your bones/joints/connective tissue used to long distance weight bearing exercise takes time so I doubt you could jog a marathon with so little training. Depending on the cut-off time a proper run/walk strategy might get you round though. Ime splitting your training into two smaller sessions (one am and one pm) is good for getting in some quality training while minimising injury. Good luck!

I’m 31 and commute to work regularly (8 miles with 1000ft of climbing on White horse bank/Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire) Also have done a fair few 24hr solo biking/audax event so wouldn’t hesitate if it was a big cycling event its just the change over to running.

I’m wanting to do what i can to support the charity and do like a serious chillange i just want to make sure grief isn’t clouding my judgement.

Its something i’m going to sleep on a get a few runs in the next few days and see how i fair.

Thanks for the input.

get a few runs in the next few days

That might end it for you. I think if you are starting from almost nothing you might want to run one day, rest the next, then run again. If you start too quickly you are going to ensure you don’t make it. It’s not the lungs or heart that are the issue. The problem for you will be that you are in such good shape there that you will rip your legs up before you know it :(.

Even if you don’t decide yet, start preparing carefully. Setting off for a ‘long’ run tomorrow could have you on the injured list by Tuesday.

I’ve done plenty of 5 and 10K’s and half marathons in my younger days. I got into cycling as a result of joint injuries (knees). I’ve tried to get back into running, and the temptation is that if I can do a long bike ride then starting with 15 mins of alternating walk and jog is a waste of time. As a result I’ve given myself injuries and setbacks before even getting close to being able to run 5k.

My 2p – if you’re really determined then you could do the distance but you need to be sensible and set yourself a conservative get to the finish plan, not a running one. Think 5-6 hours, not 4 – ie: part run and part walk, 12 minute miles. And use the 2 months between now and then to get your joints as prepared as you can. You mention the podge – cut that back as much as you can in the meantime, weight bouncing on the joints exarcebates what you need to try and avoid.

Really depends on how much pain you want to put yourself through and whether you want to be able to use stairs facing forward the next day 😀 Go out for a 2hr run at a vey steady pace/jog/walk and see how you feel?

Have you got a target time in mind? I would say you could probably get to a point where you could jog/walk it in 5hrs+. If you wanted to go quicker then I say more time is needed to adapt to running for that amount of time.

Also don’t assume that if you go out and do say 10miles comfortably that you could keep it up for 26. The real suffering comes after 20miles!

If you are careful, cautious and determined, you could probably do it. Won’t be pretty and won’t be much fun either though. Significant chance of a injury scuppering your attempt too.

Your only hope is a jog/walk strategy from the start (not from the point that you start to feel tired).

On a typical plan at 8 weeks out your fellow marathoners would have been running around 15/16 miles today. So that’s how far behind you are.

how fit are you? despite the lack of running? In all honesty I’d say no, the main problem is the obvious one, 26 is a shit ton of miles to run, even at run-jog-walk, you’ll still be putting your body through an enormous amount of punishment.

Think very hard before agreeing to this.

The key points have already been made. If you just want to finish, don’t mind the time or whether you enjoy it, are happy to be busted afterwards and run the risk of injury then it’s doable.

If you had more running history then I’d say go for it but on the basis of a few 5ks 3 years ago it’s a big ask and bike fitness won’t be worth an awful lot.

Not a chance, even 16 weeks would be pushing it from a starting point of nothing.

yes, imho

exhibit A

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/apr/25/healthandwellbeing.lifeandhealth

if you really really like pain, and you’re really really lucky with regards injuries, then maybe you’ve got a slim chance of getting around in about 6 hours. The last 5hours will be an horrific descent into a self-inflicted nightmare of agonies.

That’s your best-case scenario…

🙂

I think you could, but what would put me off is (as others have mentioned) the injury potential.

I wouldn’t really run much, maybe the odd 5km, but I would walk a hell of a lot… As many miles as you have time to fit in.

Good luck, it’ll be a great pub story!

The last 5hours will be an horrific descent into a self-inflicted nightmare of agonies.

🙂

Doubt it, the training punishment on your legs / body in such a short time will probably prevent you from even getting there.
Having said that good luck, if you do achieve it it a wonderful feeling.

I’d be almost tempted to just turn up on the day and do it, rather than try and run up to that difference in 8 weeks.

Having never done any running, or long distance walking, I did the Keswick to Barrow walk.

We ran (jogged) the first twelve or so miles to Grasmere, then on to Red Bank. Felt pretty good, (obviously my endurance is pretty reasonable from lots of cycling) and I thought “bloody hell, I’ll probably be finished soon, might get under seven hours.”

Walked up Red Bank, and then it was coming down the other side I realised my legs weren’t right. My hip flexors (I think) were really painful and I was struggling to walk; infact it was easier to sort of fall forwards and put my foot out to stop myself, rather than walking normally. Did the remaining 30 miles in this fashion.

Finished it in nine hours something. Could barely get into the car afterwards (thankfully I wasn’t driving). Fell out of the car into Tesco’s car park; had to use a shopping trolley as a walking aid to get across the car park to the shops. Got into the shops and near enough blacked out from the pain; have never felt anything like it, and probably will never again.

So, I reckon you can do it. But my advice would be: get your legs used to running and do some hip flexor stretches.

Of course you can do it.

You can walk a marathon in 7.5 hours with no training at all. So two months even for a non-runner should get you doing a little bit of jog/walking around.

It will hurt though.

Find a beginner training plan, with no more than three runs a week, build a base, and take it easy. You’ll get round. Whatever you do, don’t fall into the ‘4 hours’ trap, as you’re not going to get anywhere near unless you’re a natural.

Don’t listen to the negative buggers on here, of course you can do it. If you have a good base level of fitness and are in the right frame of mind then you’ll stand a good chance. Pace yourself during training, stretching, the odd sports massage, and running 26 miles on the day really shouldn’t be that difficult.

running 26 miles on the day really shouldn’t be that difficult.

Yeah, it will be..it really will be

If Ben Fogle can do the Marathon des Sables on two months training….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3615983/Sandstorms-sunburn-and-sore-

Painful? Yes. Great sense of achievement. There must be.

Good luck.

Didn’t Eddie Izzard do loads of marathons in a row on no training?.

Eddie Izzard is an even better example.

yes, and he followed the same advice given here. Use a combination of slow jogging and walking. Don’t try and run the whole thing

To put it into context a guy I know from back in school now fell runs. Competes in 50-100 mile ultra races. Those lot wouldn’t even consider 26 miles as a warm up!

26 miles could be completed at a fast walking pace or slow jog in around 5 hours so. Yes it will hurt but if you’re used to dealing with pain (which you must be as a 24hr bike rider) then I’d say no problem. You’ll ache next day though.

I’m wanting to do what i can to support the charity

Work out how much the day will ‘cost’ you, and write them a cheque for that – plus add in the cost of a new pair of running shoes and associated gear.

Probably make more money for them that way.

This is a situation where the term YMMV is very relevant. Maybe you could train for a month and at that point see if you feel you are at a suitable place to ask for sponsorship monies or not.

There are some important things to bear in mind like make sure you have decent trainers/socks and don’t break your body trying to cram in too much training.

Bear in mind that in a marathon race the pace of an average ‘runner’ can be ~10 minute miles / 6 mph in comparison racewalkers can do about 9mph.

You would probably be best advised to run as much as you can over the next 6-7 weeks then little in the final one. You are unlikely to break 3 hours but the training will help.
You may get injured at some point over the forthcoming weeks but thats the luck of the draw.

Walking it at 4 miles/hr & you’ll get round in 6.5 hrs.

So, taking it easy & walking a mile, jogging a mile will get you round I would have thought a fair bit quicker.

I can’t imagine it being very pretty though and you’d have to make sure that you didn’t get carried away with everyone & match other people’s pace.

If it was me, I’d use the time between now & the event going for regular long walks at a high pace, with perhaps a bit of intermittent jogging thrown in for good measure.

Good luck SS – not ideal prep obviously so rule #1 – avoid injury.

Forget the time and concentrate on completing. I would strongly recommend a run/walk strategy in training and in the event.

Try 8 min run/2 min steady/fast walk – use 2 mins to relax and possibly feed
If that works use 9/1 on the day – possible to do pretty good times using this strategy. I have managed ultras (50m+) based on decent base fitness and a conservative R/W strategy so its perfectly possible, if not ideal

Rule #2 – avoid injury
Rile # 3 – as above. oh and try to enjoy it

Chances of injury are high as your body isn’t used to the impact, particularly on the knees / hips and you’ll need to leave plenty of time for recovery – 2-3 days between efforts initially. Must cyclists lack flexibility in their hamstrings / calf muscles so on recovery days you’ll need to work on this as it’ll help reduce the pain. Invest in decent shoes – a good running shop will do a free gait analysis to help ID the shoes that suit your running style. Most running shoes only have a life of a few hundred hours, so don’t drag-out your knackered old shoes. 5 hours jog/walk is manageable if you don’t get injured – trying to do sub-4 on a zero training base is high-risk.

Sorry, but at the risk of being controversial and hurting some folks feelings, run/walk really doesn’t count, it just makes you look like an under prepared muppet.

Hatching a plan to actually run a marathon 2 months before doing it covers the under prepared bit.

Throwing yourself full tilt at it without developing a survive strategy, and finding that after 10 miles you can’t move any more would cover the muppet bit.

Hijack – I ran a trail half marathon last weekend and it destroyed me, although finished in 2.07 (2300ft of up)

there a trail marathon end of November – with about 5k of up. can only fit in 1 long run a week, do you think i’ll die a horrible death in the 2nd half? or will i be OK?

going to enter regardless, should be fun, in the cheviots, in november….

Apparently Jedward did it, so doable but with some caveats:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17456672

I reckon most active people with no existing injuries could walk 26 miles without too many problems, although you’d feel it the next day. So no doubt you could get round, but running 26 miles is a very different thing. I’ve walked 25 miles a few times, and I’ve done a 40 mile fell running event with a mix of running and walking, but I don’t think I could have run a marathon at that time (and I certainly couldn’t now!)