Marathon Training (Read 187 times)

SF Marathon is June 16th.  What Marathon is in October?  It maybe in San Francisco, but it isn't the SF Marathon...

It is the Nike Women's Marathon in SF on October 20.

I signed up for Team In Training to run the SF Marathon in Oct. I have 5 half marathons in the next 5 months. That will take me to August. Should I then start picking up a training plan for the marathon or should I start earlier? I am going to follow HH's novice supreme. I run about 20-25 mpw now, but I know that will have to change when I start training. Any suggestions would be great. It will be my first marathon.

Whatever play you are going to follow, figure out when the plan will start.  So lets say that is sometime in August.  What does the plan call for as to your base mileage coming in?  I'll guess that it is probably around 30-35 miles per week for a novice plan.  If that is correct then you aren't too far off now.  You just need to gradually build from your current 20-25 to whatever your base needs to be.  The more weeks that you run at the base of your training plan, the easier it will be for you to build on that base.

So yeah, start gradually increasing your miles now and you should be ready to start training in August.  Good luck!

Start increasing your mileage. Now-ish.

+1.  You are training for that marathon now, whether you know it or not.

For most of us, not being elite runners, the training for a half is very similar to that for a full marathon.

 

By that I mean that most of us have various constraints to the amount of time we can spend training so we want to do as much mileage as possible for either distance. The main issue separating the two, in my opinion, is the need to get used to fueling and relying more on secondary energy sources in the marathon.

 

I assume the several half marathons you plan to run are less important to you than the marathon, but if that is not the case you may want to start the marathon training plan earlier.

Hmmm.  For me, the main issues separating the two distances are mileage, marathon pace runs, mid-week mid-long runs, marathon-specific speedwork, and more beer. In 25 marathons I can't ever remember thinking about fuel issues very much.

The main issue separating the two, in my opinion, is the need to get used to fueling and relying more on secondary energy sources in the marathon.

+1

From Tanya:

Hmmm.  For me, the main issues separating the two distances are mileage, marathon pace runs, mid-week mid-long runs, marathon-specific speedwork, and more beer. In 25 marathons I can't ever remember thinking about fuel issues very much.

Tanya, all of the things you mentioned would be pretty similar for me, if I were training for a marathon vs. a half marathon. Minor changes would be that my longest long runs would be shorter for a half (18 miles instead of 21), and my training paces would be slightly faster for the half. Beer consumption about the same.

Doesn't Team in Training give you a training plan and schedule group runs for you?  Do that.   

+1.

You didn't post much about your running history but...  5 HMs in 5 months...  If you're worried about a full in October, I'm wondering if that's too much racing, too.  But, maybe there's a reason why you're doing that...

I would also start building now.  'Cause, I may be wrong but, I seem to recall SF is not exactly a cupcake course.  I'm not trying to scare you, but, you're already at commitment stage.