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  • Marathon with 6 weeks training
  • steve-g
    Free Member

    Ok, so I signed up for my first marathon a while back and due to busyness, illness, and injury its now only 6 weeks away and I am not really prepared.

    I run 3 – 4 miles two or three times a week, and then 8 or so miles once a week, 8 – 8:30 mins per mile. I also do a 100k run/walk each year so I have done a few 25 mile plus run/walks recently (circa 6 hours) in preparation for that. What I have not done is run any further than 10 miles in one go for about 2 years.

    In 6 weeks is there any way I can build my running endurance so that I can cover the distance without having to stop and walk on the day? What’s the furthest I should be aiming to run in training?

    Mt plan is to run 12 miles tomorrow (probably about as much as I have in me at the moment) then up it by 3 miles on the long run each week, is that sensible?

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Steve – first of all good luck and enjoy the mara. From what you have said, I would suggest adapting what you have now to your strategy on the day ie, use a run walk strategy. I use this consistently for ultras and for mara training and have mates who run <3:30 using it on the day.

    Try running 9 mins/ walk 1 min in training. Approximates to a break each mile. This will ease the build up in mileage which you do not need to stress too much at this stage. Pointless injuring yourself now.

    FWIW, my friends use (on the day) a 30 second (fast) walk break at every mile marker right from the start and this may drift up to 45secs to 1 min. They do this up to 20-22 miles, then just give it all for the remainder. They still burn out respectable times and feel relatively fresh.

    When I did this in ultras, I was worried about losing time on others but it is interesting how you quickly catch up over the distance and feel much fresher from the short walk breaks.

    Just a thought but maras are v personal things. Do what suits you on the day and good luck

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